HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Subject Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-07-23 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

COUNTRY HEALTH SA

Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop) (15:38): Today, I rise to bring to the attention of the house the disturbing outcomes with regard to the delivery of health services in my electorate. We all know what has happened in the Keith area, in the north of my electorate, over the last couple of years because of the government's withdrawal of funds from that community's hospital. Now I want to bring to the attention of the house what is happening in the south of my electorate, in my home town of Millicent, where there is to be a serious downgrade of services if Country Health SA is allowed to get away with the proposal.

Country Health SA has been in negotiations with the doctors of the Millicent medical clinic for at least two years. Similar negotiations have been ongoing in other parts of the state. Those negotiations have been quite protracted in some parts of the state; Millicent is one of those places, and Victor Harbor is another, which I am sure members are aware of.

The stumbling block in the negotiations seems to be Country Health insisting on the doctors in the clinic providing a certain number of hours of on-call duty to provide service in the local hospital. Because of the requirement that the doctors in the clinic to provide for their own clinic, it means that only a certain number of hours are available—and doctors these days also like to enjoy some sort of work-life balance, which seems to be the buzz phrase around these days. Unlike years ago when doctors committed themselves to a community 24/7, 365 days a year, that just does not happen in today's world.

The most disturbing thing that has happened in Millicent is the proposal to shift the birthing unit at the Millicent Hospital completely to Mount Gambier. Over a period of years, there has been a move to shift expectant mothers to Mount Gambier if there is any sign the birth might be risky, including mothers who are having their first child where there is no history of their ability to deliver a normal delivery. They are automatically shifted to Mount Gambier. As a consequence, the number of births occurring in the Millicent Hospital has dropped from about 110 a couple of years ago. Before that, it was over 200 but that has dropped back to about 35 in the last year.

Rumours have been around for about a month now about the possibility of the birthing unit in the Millicent Hospital being moved. As recently as late June, early July Country Health has been denying those rumours and has been saying quite publicly that there is no move to downgrade the services, yet there now has been revealed through a leaked letter that the acting head of Country Health, Acting Chief Officer, Dr Peter Chapman, wrote a letter on 12 June, and I will quote from the letter:

Further to my correspondence dated 31 May 2013 and our meeting held on Thursday 6 June 2013, I confirm the following expectations...

He went on to say under the heading of 'Obstetric services':

Due to local workforce shortages, obstetric services will in future be offered from the Mount Gambier District Health Services.

Back in late May, early June the decision had already been taken to shift the service to Mount Gambier, yet right up until the end of June the Country Health Service had been denying that to the local community. Not only that, but more recently after the announcement about a week ago, Country Health has said that they will continue the antenatal and postnatal services at the Millicent Hospital. Again, I believe that my local community are being deceived because, without a birthing unit, it will not be possible to continue to provide those postnatal and antenatal services simply because we will not have the doctors or nurses with the relevant skills available to deliver those services.

Country Health has failed this community in my electorate at Millicent miserably. What they should have been doing over the last couple of years is ensuring that we had the GPs in the local community, in the local clinic, with the relevant skills to provide the suite of services that the community deserves. I am very afraid that there is an agenda within Country Health to close down the acute services in my local hospital at Millicent. I am very afraid that this is furthering the work of Country Health in diminishing the role of acute hospitals throughout regional South Australia.

Time expired.

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