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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-03-08 Daily Xml
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HOSPITAL EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS

Mr SIBBONS (Mitchell) (14:22): My question is to the Minister for Health. How are state government efforts improving waiting times in the emergency departments of South Australian public hospitals?

An honourable member: This is going to be good.

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:23): Well it is good. I thank the member for his faith.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! You will listen to the Minister for Health.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am very pleased to report that there has been an overall improvement in the average wait times in the emergency departments of South Australia's metropolitan public hospitals, despite what some might be saying. Figures from SA Health show—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: They laugh about patients in emergency departments, Madam Speaker. That's what they do. That is their response. Figures from SA Health show that the average wait time between being triaged and clinical treatment starting across all hospitals has improved from 50 minutes—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Please ask a question about it. I am happy to answer any of your questions. The average time across all hospitals has improved from 50 minutes in 2007-08 to 45 minutes in 2009-10, and the year to date to the end of January this year shows a further improvement to 41 minutes. So, despite the fact that our emergency departments are getting busier and more patients are going through the door, the average waiting time before treatment (after triage) has continued to fall down.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the deputy leader will be quiet!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: At the Flinders Medical Centre, which was the subject of attention yesterday, average wait times have in fact improved from 39 minutes in 2007-08 to 34 minutes in 2009-10, and 31 minutes for the year to date. That includes the patients, whose photograph was on the front page of yesterday's paper, who, I am told, had already been triaged by the time they got to that state. So, it is 31 minutes from the time that the triage happens to the time that treatment happens. That is a remarkable improvement in that hospital despite the fact that it is undergoing building and construction works at the same time.

In relation to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, the year-to-date figure is 43 minutes. The average time that patients spent in the emergency department receiving treatment in the Royal Adelaide Hospital year-to-date is 328 minutes. That is 5½ hours. This compares to a system-wide average time spent in emergency departments of 293 minutes or just under five hours.

Flinders reports that patients are spending less time in the emergency department. In January 2010, admitted patients, that is, patients who ended up being admitted into a bed, spent an average of seven hours in the emergency department. In January 2011, this reduced to five point four. That period of time, of course, is when they are being treated for the cause of the emergency.

This is an outstanding outcome for the Flinders Medical Centre which is currently, as I said, being upgraded as part of a $163 million redevelopment. It is no secret that our emergency departments are very busy places, and I understand that during the past week or so it has been particularly busy at a number of our city hospitals. However, the average times that I have just quoted show that the system overall is improving.

Yesterday, the shadow spokesman claimed, and it was reported on ABC radio that at the Royal Adelaide Hospital last week the average wait was 18 hours for a bed in the emergency department. That is plainly untrue. I am advised that the actual average emergency department time last week was 5½ hours, and the average wait for treatment to start was 42 minutes. Just to be more—

Mr Williams: After triage.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Patients are triaged as soon as they get to the hospital.

The SPEAKER: Order! Deputy Leader of the Opposition, be quiet.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Just to be more precise about the Royal Adelaide Hospital, the average visit time year-to-date for patients who were admitted was 490 minutes, which is just under seven hours. The average waiting time for patients who are about to be admitted—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL: They go through a treatment process, where in the emergency—

Dr McFetridge interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: The member for Morphett said that the average was 18 hours. That is a Lib fib—a Lib fib. He said 18 hours. He made it up.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: He said the average time was 18 hours. He is wrong.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I am advised that the actual average emergency department time last week was 5½ hours and the average wait for treatment to start was 42 minutes. On the one hand, the Liberals complain that the Royal Adelaide Hospital has insufficient capacity, yet on the other hand they attach—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order.

Mr WILLIAMS: Point of order: the minister is now debating the answer.

The SPEAKER: I am sure the minister is concluding his remarks fairly shortly.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I conclude with this remark. We have an excellent hospital system in South Australia—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: —which is under pressure all the time from an increasing number of patients. In fact, we are increasing new patient numbers in emergency departments across the board by around about 2 per cent, which is a stunning turnaround in the numbers that were going to the emergency department—it used to be about 5 per cent increase a year. We are now down to about 2 per cent because we have been able to put in place—

Mr Marshall: They've given up waiting. They have a seven-hour wait.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Norwood, you are warned.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: We have been able to put in place measures outside of the emergency department so that patients have other places to go to for attention. Despite the increasing numbers of patients going to emergency departments, we have been able to reduce the waiting times before they start treatment. We have been able to reduce the waiting times before they are admitted, if they have to be admitted. This demonstrates that the strategy that we have in place for running our hospitals is successful.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I wish the member for Bragg would ask me a question along those lines. There is still more to be done and this government is getting on with the job. I compare what we are doing to the other side which has no plans whatsoever other than to oppose infrastructure—

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order.

Mr WILLIAMS: The minister is again debating the answer to the question.

The SPEAKER: Order! I think you are debating some of what the minister says across the floor to him also. Minister, have you finished?

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I was just making a comparison between what the government's plans are, which is to improve the hospitals—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: It is factual, absolutely factual. They oppose our plan to have a four-hour turnaround in emergency departments for all patients. They oppose that, and we are in favour of it. That is the big difference.

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