HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Member Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-10-14 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

PRIMARY HEALTH CARE

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (14:40): My question is to the Minister for Health. What is the government's response to the commonwealth government's Building a 21st Century Primary Health Care System draft report?

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:41): I thank the member for Florey for her question and for her strong support for the health care system. The Building a 21st Century Primary Health Care System draft report builds upon the broad health reform agenda of the current federal government. This reform agenda acknowledges that preventative care, primary health care and acute or hospital care are all intertwined and interdependent elements of our health system. In fact, earlier today the Prime Minister delivered a presentation to health people in Murray Bridge, in the member for Hammond's electorate. I am sorry that he was not there, but the federal member was present, representing the Liberal Party.

Mr Pederick interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL: No, it is true, you cannot be in two places at once; you are not Dr Who. So, the Prime Minister went through the reform agenda in front of that audience today and made that very point, that all of the elements in health—acute, primary, preventative, nursing, aged care facilities—are all intertwined and you cannot fix up one bit in isolation from all of the others.

That view underpins South Australia's Health Care Plan, which was released in 2007. We do welcome strongly the commonwealth's agenda and we look forward to continuing to working closely to progress our shared reform agenda. In fact, I am very enthusiastic about the reform agenda that the Rudd government has proposed. I think there are real benefits for South Australia in it. It is to good to see a commonwealth government, for a change, engaged in health care reform, wanting to be partners and wanting to put dollars on the table.

In the past, the health system concentrated on treating people only once they were sick, and that usually occurred in a hospital. The aim of the health reform being undertaken at both the state and federal level is to recalibrate our health care system so that it focuses on keeping people fit and healthy and out of hospitals in the first instance, but if they do become ill we want to detect and treat their illnesses early so they can be managed outside of hospital settings. So, there is a greater emphasis on chronic disease management and also out-of-hospital care.

Our most significant initiative in the preventative health field is the Obesity Prevention and Lifestyle (OPAL) program. This is a $22 million, five year program, which is being jointly funded by the state, commonwealth—with the majority of the funding, I must say, coming from the commonwealth—and local government. OPAL will work across the whole community—in schools and sport and recreation organisations, as well as with a range of health, transport, retail, community and other sectors—to increase the amount of healthy eating and physical activity, particularly, of course, for young people. The member for Florey's noble efforts and endeavours to improve the image of broccoli have been noted and are most welcome.

Aside from encouraging people to take up healthier diets and to do more exercise, we are also increasing our primary health care network to detect and treat illness before those illnesses become acute and to help people manage existing conditions outside of hospital settings.

Our GP Plus network, which now has operational sites in Aldinga and Woodville, with major sites being constructed at Marion and Elizabeth, will bring primary health care closer to where people live. These centres will provide various combinations of doctors, allied health professionals, dentists and community health staff, who will work together under the one roof. They will offer high quality and well coordinated primary health care services in modern, accessible and family-friendly surroundings.

Another focus of the GP Plus health care centre will be helping people to manage chronic disease and to stay healthy and out of hospital. The GP Plus model has been adopted, largely, by the commonwealth government, and here in South Australia we are jointly developing GP super clinics at Modbury, Noarlunga and Playford North.

One area which I know is of particular interest to the member for Florey and which is covered in the Building a 21st Century Primary Health Care System draft report is the development of the e-health project which aims to see all medical records kept electronically. The national e-health strategy was endorsed by health ministers in December last year, and the strategy provides a framework and plan aimed at delivering a safer, better connected and more sustainable health care system and, in the longer term, a national electronic health record.

I am very pleased that the Prime Minister made particular reference to this in his commentary today at Murray Bridge. He understands how important it is that wherever you are in Australia your health records can be obtained by those in hospitals or GP centres. An e-health record will be particularly important heading into the future where, as the member for Florey often points out to me, increasingly people do not have what we refer to as a family doctor. A record that can follow the patient easily will have enormous benefits.

Here in South Australia we are working towards an integrated electronic health records system across the South Australian health system. The aim is to establish a personal web-based entry point or portal to access integrated patient health information. The state government will invest over $300 million over the next 10 years to achieve this aim and create other efficiencies in how we manage our ICT networks. We look forward to continuing to work with the commonwealth to progress the e-health record and our shared health reform agenda.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT