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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-02-12 Daily Xml
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Health and Hospital Care

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (15:54): Since coming into government, the Marshall Liberal government has been cleaning up disasters left for us and the people of South Australia by the former Labor government, and there is almost no greater example of where the new government is cleaning up Labor's mess than in Health.

In fact, just yesterday we heard from administrators tasked with fixing the mess describe the Central Adelaide Local Health Network as the most broken organisation they had ever witnessed, both financially and culturally. This is an organisation haemorrhaging $300 million in the last financial year and operating at almost 30 per cent above the national efficient price. Think about what $300 million could do for Health, what it could do for our schools and what it could do for our transport networks instead of being wasted by poor financial management and through a very poor culture. This is indeed a disgraceful legacy left to us and the people of South Australia by those opposite.

Of course, in the north-east and the nearby Adelaide Hills region, the new government is fixing up Labor's mess at Modbury Hospital. It was certainly very exciting to be at the unveiling of the designs for the $96 million redevelopment of Modbury Hospital with the Minister for Health and Wellbeing, my friend and colleague the member for King and, of course, the member for Florey.

The community have made their assessment of the Transforming Health cuts of the previous Labor government abundantly clear: white-hot anger at downgrading and ripping out services from Modbury Hospital and also a great sense of betrayal, as so many residents have made the point to me that they chose to live in the area because they believed they would be living near a hospital that would provide the services they need if they are in trouble.

The Marshall Liberal team went to the election committed to reversing Labor's cuts and restoring key services to Modbury Hospital and now that is precisely what the new government is doing. The $96 million upgrade includes a new purpose-built palliative care ward. Palliative care will be brought down from the fourth floor to the ground floor, where it will have dedicated external access, a private garden area and 20 individual rooms with ensuites. This is an already wonderful service. In fact, I have never heard a bad word said about the service. It is full of caring and very committed staff who will now be backed up by a modern, purpose-built facility.

There is also a new short-stay general medical unit, a 26-bed unit for patients who need longer than 24 hours but less than 72 hours, reducing the number of transfers to Lyell McEwin Hospital; an extended emergency care unit with eight additional beds created for patients who do not require admission but who can be assessed and treated for up to 24 hours; and an expanded surgical unit, a total redevelopment of the surgical floor. The expansion will include four theatres, a purpose-built surgical suite and additional procedure rooms, dramatically increasing capacity. This will mean that more people will be able to have their surgery and recovery closer to home.

This also includes space for a four-bed high dependency unit. A working group charged with developing the model of care for this high dependency unit has already begun its important work that will ultimately enable the greater complexity and range of procedures to be performed at Modbury Hospital. The upgrade will also include the relocation of the outpatients department to allow more streamline access in a more efficient location, and also external infrastructure work on the facade to modernise and, in fact, stop bits falling off from the outside and ultimately make it safer. All this work will start this month.

Modbury Hospital is a community hospital that is very much loved by our community. Where the previous government cut services from Modbury Hospital, we are bringing services back. The Marshall Liberal government is undoing the damage done under Labor's Transforming Health cuts and ensuring that our local community in the north-east has access to the health services that we need and deserve.

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