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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-04-30 Daily Xml
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GLENSIDE HOSPITAL REDEVELOPMENT

Mrs GERAGHTY (Torrens) (15:01): My question is to the Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse. Will she provide an update on the work being done during the transition phase of the Glenside redevelopment?

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) (15:02): I thank the member for Torrens for her question and her continuing advocacy for those who have a mental illness. As members would know, following the Social Inclusion Board's Stepping Up report in 2007, the Rann government began the task of rebuilding, reforming and redesigning our mental health system with services and facilities across the entire state. This includes community recovery centres, new hospital wards, supported accommodation and modern drug treatment centres so that people with mental health and substance abuse issues can return to lead normal lives within the community.

A key part of this process is the $130 million being spent on the redevelopment of the Glenside Hospital site. In April 2008 the Glenside Campus Redevelopment Master Plan was released as the starting point for the government's plan to construct a state of the art 129 bed entirely new hospital for both mental health and substance abuse patients.

Improvements on such a massive scale require the need for services to be temporarily moved whilst the new hospital is under construction on the southern side of the campus. To ensure minimal disruption, the department consulted with staff, patients, their carers and families, patient and consumer groups, as well as the unions, in undertaking these temporary moves in an open and sensitive transition phase.

The first clinical move associated with the construction of the new hospital was undertaken on Tuesday 7 April this year. This involved the short-term relocation of 13 patients from the Karingai Ward to the existing Greenhill Ward. I have been advised that the move went smoothly and that the ward is now fully operational and functional. Parents and their families, I understand, are happy with the new accommodation.

The next transition is scheduled for late May/early June with the Cleland inpatient unit of 20 beds being moved to the Cedars north-west area where building works are currently in progress to ensure the ward is at a high standard for continuing patient care.

At the same time, the engineering and building services, as well as the cleaning services, have been moved from the old transportables at the back of the campus to the refurbished supply building at the eastern end of the campus. A critical move of the planning of the transition phase is ensuring that transition accommodation is of an appropriate standard not only for clinical care and safety but also for those other staff who work on site in office accommodation.

This initial move and the ongoing accommodation for patients is designed to give good quality accommodation during the interim period when the whole site is being redeveloped. Each area of the campus has a focus group of senior staff which coordinates the details of movements for their area, with work on the Cleland Clinical Focus Group and planning for relocation to the Cedars Downey House currently occurring.

Our government is committed to providing South Australians with a high quality mental health service, and the construction of a new facility at Glenside is a really significant move, a very large investment and an important part of our reform agenda.

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