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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-03-02 Daily Xml
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Ambulance Ramping

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (14:34): My question is to the Premier. Has the Premier spoken to any paramedics about their current concerns regarding ambulance resourcing and, if so, what was the Premier told?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:34): In fact, I actually had an opportunity while I was out with the member for Newland on the weekend. We were out in his electorate and I did meet some paramedics. They didn't raise concerns with regard to the issues that are raised by the member; in fact, they said that they were very much enjoying working within SA Health. In fact, it was a couple who had moved here from overseas.

There are issues that are associated with ramping at the moment. We are not sweeping this problem under the carpet; in fact, we are taking it head on with a comprehensive program. This is a problem from an entire system's perspective and so there are many things that need to be done to correct the situation we are currently experiencing here in South Australia. One of those things was announced today in fact, where we are expanding the Mental Health Co-Responder program which started as a pilot in the Central Adelaide Local Health Network and is now going to go across other local health networks in South Australia.

As the Minister for Education updated the house only a few moments ago, the Urgent Mental Health Care Centre was proposed last year in response to very high-level presentations of mental health patients at the Royal Adelaide Hospital experiencing delays. We went out to the market, we have now resourced that project and that will be opened in the coming days.

There are many things that need to be done to fix the mess that we inherited from those opposite: part of it is capital upgrades, part of it is new programs that divert patients from our emergency departments and put them into alternative care that is more appropriate. Some of it is patient flow through the hospitals and, of course, some of it is to do with the ambulances.

That's why we feel very proud on this side that we have had some very significant upgrades to our ambulances, the physical ambulances in South Australia, since coming into government. We have also put more money into the South Australian Ambulance Service budget and have had a very significant increase in the number of personnel who are in there. There is still much more work to be done, and that's precisely what we are focused on.

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