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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-03-03 Daily Xml
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GLENSIDE HOSPITAL, AGED PATIENTS

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:13): Will the Minister for Mental Health immediately investigate why so many aged mental health patients at the Glenside Hospital campus have suddenly been reassessed as fit for transfer to an aged care facility?

Patients' relatives have been meeting over the last months or so with Mr Derek Wright and other departmental officials to discuss the future relocation of patients from the hospital. There are 42 resident patients in this category currently on the site, but there is room for only 24 under the planned redevelopment. This is the temporary refit to accommodate the Premier's film hub.

The patients' relatives have now received notice that many patients have been reassessed from category 3 to category 1, and staff confirmed at the meeting that there was a reduction in lifestyle and leisure services for these patients, including the withdrawal of pets being able to visit, and that they were being medicated during a number of procedures.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: On a point of order, today, repeatedly, the explanations of the opposition have been at great length—a discourse, not an explanation, on the subject matter. If we are going to guarantee people 10 questions they simply cannot exhaust the time with lengthy, unnecessary explanations.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Explanations should be relatively brief and contained to what is necessary to the explanation of the question. I point out that any member here has the right to withdraw leave from the member to explain their question.

Ms CHAPMAN: In addition to the withdrawal of services, and the fact that they are being medicated during a number of procedures, the concern raised by the relatives is that the patients are deemed to be chair-ridden, as there is nothing else they can do, and then reassessed as suitable for aged care.

The Hon. J.D. LOMAX-SMITH (Adelaide—Minister for Education, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (15:15): I begin by saying that experience has taught me not to take on face value anything the deputy leader says and that one really wants to look at the information and interrogate what she claims.

What I do know (and I am probably better qualified than she is) is that one would not want the deputy leader to assess the medical wherewithal or the capacity of any patient. That is a job that should be done by professionals—people with qualifications who know precisely what they are doing. So, whilst the member might like to believe that she understands how patients are assessed, I think it would be appropriate if healthcare professionals did that job and made decisions in the best interests of patients.

Clearly, no doctor medicates people unnecessarily, as she claims. Clearly, their care is not a secondary level of interest compared with accommodation. I find it deeply offensive that she attacks the medical profession—the psychiatrists and the health professionals—and claims that they are doing something that would be inappropriate, dangerous and immoral. I will not accept her explanation of the facts because I doubt that it is accurate.

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