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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-10-14 Daily Xml
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Hospital Transfers

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:06): I have a further question to the Minister for Health. Can the Minister for Health tell the house what is the average time for a transfer of patients between Modbury Hospital and the Lyell McEwin?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (15:06): I don't have those figures, but what I can say is that if the patient was critically ill and needed immediate or very urgent surgery, then that patient would be prioritised and they would have a very short waiting period.

I don't think you can equate a patient, a non-critical patient, who is simply being transferred to a patient who is absolutely not five hours. That's a silly thing to say. To suggest that a patient who is in urgent need of surgery, emergency surgery, would be left waiting for five hours just reflects the Leader of the Opposition's inherent lack of knowledge and lack of interest in our health system.

Ms CHAPMAN: Supplementary.

The SPEAKER: Supplementary.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: I haven't finished.

The SPEAKER: You haven't finished.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: I haven't finished; I haven't sat down.

Ms CHAPMAN: Then I have a point of order because the minister is now entering into debate.

The SPEAKER: I don't think so at all. Minister.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: The waiting period for someone who needed to be transferred would be a very short time indeed. It would be similar to any patient anywhere in South Australia who needs urgent medical treatment; we are able to dispatch ambulances to that very, very quickly.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: These are not standard transfers. The Leader of the Opposition is saying, 'How much for a standard transfer?' Someone who needs urgent medical attention is not a standard transfer. They would be transferred very, very quickly indeed.

The other point I would say is that patients who do require transfer, because they are critically unwell and they need urgent surgical intervention, would be stabilised and looked after by highly skilled staff at the Modbury Hospital. In terms of the medical cover at the Modbury Hospital, that would continue to be what it is; that is, basically, we have consultants at the Modbury Hospital during the day, we have after-hours covered by a senior registrar at 10pm, and then after hours—so between basically 10pm and 7.30am—we have a consultant who is available on call to come to the hospital at very short notice. That is the arrangement we have at the moment and that will continue to be the arrangement; there will be no change to that whatsoever.

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