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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-07-03 Daily Xml
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Modbury Hospital

Ms LUETHEN (King) (15:21): I rise to speak today about the important investment and development that the Marshall Liberal government is delivering for the Modbury Hospital. Our health system should provide the very best care to patients and put the wellbeing of South Australians first at every stage of their lives.

I still remember a King family pulling over to sign my 'Fix the Golden Grove Road' petition and a lady telling me, in tears, how she had recently lost her father-in-law after waiting in the corridors of Modbury Hospital for over 11 hours. She said that on this occasion there was a spare palliative care bed but not enough staff. This man had little dignity in the last hours of his life. Thank goodness this experience is changing with the investments and care of the people in our hospitals and the people-focused Marshall Liberal government.

When my local constituents raise concerns about health care, I reiterate that I believe all South Australians, including every person living in the north, are entitled to world-class, accessible and effective health care. This is what I will fight for every day that I am elected to represent the people in King. I again express my thanks to the caring staff and nurses at my local hospitals of Modbury and Lyell McEwin who my community are always commending and saying, 'It's not them; it's the resources around them that affect the level of care.'

As members know, 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. There is almost no greater example of where the new government is cleaning up Labor's mess than in Health. The member for Newland and I visited Modbury Hospital again recently to view the updated plans and to meet the project director of the $96 million upgrade of Modbury Hospital, a plan that will see the important services restored and expanded upon at our local hospital.

Finally, people in the north and north-east have a government who is listening to their priorities and putting health care at the forefront. Highlights of this fantastic investment at Modbury include the expansion of the surgical floor to allow for more surgeries to occur in our local community, eight additional beds created in the extended emergency care unit and the co-location of the EECU with an upgraded 26-bed, short-stay general medical unit. A new purpose-built, 20-bed palliative care unit to ensure patients are cared for in a suitable environment with dignity will also be established, as will a four-bed high dependency unit.

The most obvious change, which some residents have already noticed, is the much needed upgrade to the outer facade of the facility. South Australians should have confidence when they visit a hospital in South Australia that a brick will not fall off the outside of the hospital and hit them on the head. Our improvements will modernise our local hospital and repair the damage that was done to it through the former Labor government's destructive Transforming Health reforms. On my most recent visit to Modbury Hospital, I was told that the plans will be available soon in the entry foyer of Modbury Hospital for all our community members to view.

The Marshall Liberal government is leading some of the biggest governance reforms in our health system and one of these is introducing the local board structure, which will facilitate decisions to be made at a local level to ensure they are customised to suit the needs of our local communities. As at 1 July this year, 10 local health network governing boards are fully operational and responsible for delivering health services in South Australia.

This is important work that will help deliver real, tangible outcomes for the people of the King electorate and the greater north-east area. This will facilitate greater clinician and community engagement, while service responsiveness and innovation in the way services are provided will be considered by the people closest to providing front-line support. We are working hard to restore our community's confidence in our state public health system.

The financial trajectory of SA Health is on the improve and the government remains committed to implementing its health reforms. Best practice public health care is essential, and I am just so thankful that we are seeing significant changes not just locally at Modbury but across the wider community because health matters to South Australians.

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