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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-11-19 Daily Xml
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ROYAL ADELAIDE HOSPITAL

Ms THOMPSON (Reynell) (14:54): My question is also to the Minister for Health. Would building on the emergency car park at the current RAH site affect the capacity of the hospital?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Health.

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:54): I thank the member for Reynell for this important question. You would have thought common sense would tell you that building at the entrance to an emergency department might cause some problems, but that is the proposition the Liberals are putting forward. I have sought advice on this, and there are two main concerns with—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley is warned a second time. Minister.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Thank you, Mr Speaker. The advice I have is that there are two main concerns with building on the emergency car park. First, it would block access to the emergency department entrance, both during the construction phase—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Somehow or another that is amusing: you block in the emergency department and you get laughter from the other side. It is extraordinary, Mr Speaker. So, first, it would block access to the department entrance during the construction phase and in the longer term; and, secondly, it would block access to the emergency helipad. The emergency car park at the current RAH, of course, has a vital function: it allows clear access for ambulances to the entrance of the emergency department, and it allows for emergency car parking for both patients and medical staff. Both these functions of the emergency department car park would be considerably compromised if the car park was replaced with a 12-storey building.

It was also revealed in March that a 12-storey building would block access to the helipad. At that time, Dr Matt Hooper, who is the doctor heading up the MedSTAR retrieval service, said that his helicopter pilots advised that a building this high could cause significant problems. As I explained to the house in March, architects have advised the government that a 12-storey hospital building would be between 51.7 and 55 metres tall. This is 16.6 metres higher than the existing 38.4 metre tall helipad building. This is based on standard hospital buildings with a ground floor of 5.5 metres tall and subsequent floors of 4.2 to 4.5 metres. A 12-storey building would not provide the necessary clearance for helicopters. As Dr Hooper explained at the time, if a building is within 250 metres and is 35 feet or more higher than the existing helipad, it will significantly limit the accessibility to the current RAH helipad.

To comply with safety standards, any responsible government would have to close the helipad. Instead, helicopters transporting critically sick patients would need to land at Adelaide Airport and the patients would then be transferred to the hospital by ambulance. I am advised that this would add more than 30 minutes to each transfer to hospital at a time when every second is vital for survival. The propositions put by the opposition are not only half-baked and have a $700 million black hole but also dangerous to the health of patients in our state.

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