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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-05-02 Daily Xml
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ROYAL ADELAIDE HOSPITAL

The Hon. M.J. WRIGHT (Lee) (14:29): My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. What health services will transfer from the existing Royal Adelaide Hospital to the new hospital when it opens in 2016, and will this include oncology, ophthalmology and obstetrics?

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Ageing, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts) (14:29): I am very pleased to inform the house that the full range of clinical service specialties currently provided at the Royal Adelaide Hospital will move to the new hospital when it opens in 2016. These clinical service specialties will be in line with a high acuity care model that reflects the level of complexity associated with a tertiary quaternary hospital.

On 18 April the opposition leader stated at a press conference, 'Things like oncology, ophthalmology, obstetrics—I don't know why they all start with 'O' but they're not going down to the new hospital.' That's what she said: obstetrics, ophthalmology and oncology were not going down to the new hospital—'OOO'. The new Royal Adelaide Hospital will have 132 outpatient consulting rooms which equates to 400,000 outpatient appointments a year. The current RAH has 370,000 outpatient appointments a year but 100,000 of those are over the phone. So, there will be a net gain of 130,000 face-to-face outpatient appointments at the new hospital.

There will be 11 dedicated ophthalmology rooms at the new hospital: seven consulting and four treatment rooms. This figure follows detailed reviews and modelling of the current activity of the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Ophthalmology requires specially designed and fitted rooms so it is best, for both patients and efficiency, if they are used to their full capacity. This means providing outpatient services throughout the entire day, five days a week, which is currently not the case.

The full range of oncology and cancer services currently provided at the existing RAH will be provided at the new site, including inpatient beds, day beds and outpatient clinics. Supporting this service will be the relocated radiation oncology service, with five linear accelerator bunkers to be provided in 2016 and provision for a sixth in the future. This compares with four now.

Obstetrics have never been provided at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, contrary to the Leader of the Opposition's assertions. That is because they are provided at the Women's and Children's Hospital in the city. However, there will continue to be gynaecology services, including outpatients, at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. So, 'OOO': there will be oncology, there will be ophthalmology but there will not be obstetrics at the new hospital.

As I have stated repeatedly, there are discussions with doctors about which gynaecology appointments need to be in hospital and which could be better provided closer to patients' homes. The bottom line is that the new hospital will have bigger capacity, will operate more efficiently, will have more staff and will provide more services. Once again, the Leader of the Opposition was wrong, wrong, wrong.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Kavel, be careful. Leader of the Opposition.

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