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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-10-16 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

Hospital Beds

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (15:09): Today, we heard of the very distressing case of Mr Dennis Murphy, who lives in the southern suburbs and who a couple of days ago had very severe back pain. He called an ambulance, went to the Flinders Medical Centre and, following that, did not receive the care that he should have. He did not receive the appropriate care that he should have in our health system. He was discharged early—discharged home in excruciating pain.

Today, he has circulated an email to the Premier, to the Minister for Health and to others, outlining his concerns about what he says are significant problems within the health system. The video shows him in a very distressing state of extreme pain, being unable to properly get around the house by walking and having to crawl around the house in extreme pain. This should not happen in our health system in South Australia. People should be able to receive the care that they need when they go to major hospitals.

Unfortunately, our hospitals and our public health system are under unprecedented stress at the moment. The doctors and nurses, who are first-class clinicians, are under incredible stress because this government's priority is cuts to Health, cuts to doctors, cuts to nurses and cuts to beds. People will remember this government got elected on the platform of saying they were going to fix Health, they were going to improve services and everything was going to be a nirvana in Health. The actual result has been nothing but the complete opposite of that.

We have seen ambulance ramping in this state at levels that it has never been before—levels that are far exceeding what is happening in other states. In the last month, we had 2,300 hours where ambulances were not out on the road and responding to calls, but were stuck outside emergency departments with patients in the back who could not get inside. That impacts not only those patients in the ambulances but also the next patient who needs that ambulance urgently and who is delayed in getting that ambulance.

That situation is spiralling out of control and this government's response is not to get more doctors and nurses or to open more beds but to actually embark upon a massive program of cuts to doctors, cuts to nurses and cuts to hospital beds. Last year, in November the Premier committed to this parliament that he was not cutting doctors and nurses in the health system. He said, 'We made it very clear in the lead-up to the election that we wouldn't be cutting doctor and nurse numbers going forward.'

Mr Malinauskas: Not true.

Mr PICTON: It's not true, because they are doing exactly the opposite now. They have embarked upon voluntary separations at five of our major hospitals in South Australia. These are now targeting doctors and nurses. They are not targeting bureaucrats: they are targeting those clinicians on the front line we need for services. If those doctors and nurses decide to take a package, as I am sure many of them might do, they are not going to be replaced with somebody else. Those positions will go. They will not be replaced and there will be more pressure on the existing doctors and nurses and, importantly, the patients in our system.

Last Friday, we had another devastating blow from this government when they announced that they are cutting 60 beds across our central hospitals: 32 at the Royal Adelaide, 16 at The QEH and the remainder split across Hampstead and St Margaret's. This follows 40 beds they closed late last year at Hampstead and Flinders Medical Centre. Back then, they said what they are saying now: 'These beds will be opened if they are needed. They will be flexed up when they are needed.' We have had record demand and those 41 beds have never been reopened.

Today, we had the farce of the Premier in here, saying, 'It's all up to clinicians. It's all going to be up to clinicians,' and then, five minutes later, saying, 'Well, it's the department, really. There is probably no clinician I can name who could order these beds open.' We know that the clinicians want these beds open and the clinicians are calling for these beds—in fact, they want more beds—but the government are the ones who are reducing them and KordaMentha, their corporate liquidators, are the ones who are reducing them.

A KordaMentha partner in Melbourne was the one making the calls to industrial groups on Friday, informing them about the closures of these beds. It is KordaMentha who are getting paid $20 million more than the ICAC, as we have heard today. As we heard yesterday, the Auditor-General has criticised their appointment with nine separate criticisms of the way that they were appointed without a tender process, breaching the state procurement guidelines. This is a government that is obsessed with cuts in our health system, not focusing on the patients who need support. They stand condemned for what they are doing right now.

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