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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-02-22 Daily Xml
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Ambulance Ramping

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (12:44): I move:

That this house—

(a) notes that the Malinauskas Labor government has presided over the worst ambulance ramping in South Australia's history;

(b) condemns the Labor government for failing to deliver on its promise to fix ambulance ramping; and

(c) expresses its deep concern at the impact that ambulance ramping and poor patient flow has on frontline health workers, as well as South Australian patients.

One of the litmus tests of successful governments of any political persuasion is doing what you said you would do, delivering what you said you would. In the country, we talk a lot about character, and one of the things that really does bring it undone is saying one thing and doing another, failing to act with a sense of integrity. Voters care a lot about it, and history shows that over a series of elections. They do not want their politicians, particularly the Premier, saying one thing before the election and delivering another after the vote. Unfortunately, that is what has happened with ambulance ramping.

It brings me no joy to bring the house's attention to this issue of record ramping and the genuine impact that it is having on the people of South Australia, on our health system and on our frontline doctors and nurses. But for many, many reasons, I felt compelled to do so. I felt compelled on behalf of the countless frontline workers who are crumbling under this seemingly insurmountable pressure of our emergency departments that are overcrowding under the record ramping of ambulances lining up outside our emergency departments day after day after day. They are telling us that things have never been worse.

It brings me no joy to have to speak about this today but I felt compelled on behalf of the voters who have contacted our offices, certainly on this side of the chamber, about frustration that the Premier's very clear promise to fix ramping in this state—the central tenor of the entire election campaign—is now seemingly sliding further and further down the Premier's priority list. It has been replaced by things like celebrity invitations and events.

That is something that the people of South Australia care about, and I felt compelled to speak about this issue today because there are patients who are being left out in the cold, there are patients who are left lying on footpaths for hours and hours on end, waiting for an ambulance to rock up on time—the very types of gut-wrenching stories that those opposite exploited day after day after day during the recent state election campaign.

I felt compelled to let South Australians know that, despite what was a really aggressive political campaign from those opposite—'Vote Labor like your life depends on it,' they said, 'and when you need help, an ambulance isn't going to rock up'—it was tapping into that central fear that South Australians have. All this, despite those opposite saying that they had the plan to fix it, that they had the plan to fix ramping in this state. I felt compelled to tell South Australians that under the Labor Malinauskas government things have never been worse. That genuinely saddens me, and it saddens everyone on this side of the chamber. I thought it was important, for the benefit of the house and the benefit of South Australians, that I outline some of the statistics.

Since March 2022, ambulances and our patients and paramedics have been stuck at hospitals, outside the ED, on the ramp for over 37,000 hours. That is the equivalent of nearly 1,500 days. That is over four entire years that our ambulances, our doctors and our nurses have been waiting for these patients to come in so that they can treat them, and all of this despite the central promise to fix it. The past nine months have been the worst on record. I hear those opposite basically trying to insinuate that we are fudging the statistics, and I wish we were—I genuinely do—because, if you look back over the last nine months, they are the nine worst months of ramping that South Australia has ever experienced.

If you compare our last full month, February 2022, 1,500 hours were lost. Fast-forward to where we are now: it is nearly double, over 3,000 hours. Those opposite say, 'Look at what elective surgery looked like at that time.' That was when you were telling South Australians to vote like your life depends on it—1,500 hours, and now it has doubled. That is an absolute disgrace and that is why we are compelled to move these motions on behalf of the people of South Australia, on behalf of the doctors and the nurses who are raising these genuine concerns with us.

It is actually quite an emotive thing. I remember looking back at a video that the then opposition leader, the member for Croydon, the now Premier did. He was explaining some of the situations that he had experienced, some of the stories that he was being told by mothers who were left waiting, cradling their young baby, waiting for an ambulance to come. Those stories have not stopped. It was really disingenuous to behave in such a political way over such an issue.

I do not know what those opposite now tell their constituents. How do they explain that to the people of South Australia, to the people who voted them in, or is it that those opposite have decided that they, too, are going to deliberately brush this down their priority list because it is no longer politically convenient to talk about some of the dreadful situations in our emergency departments and in our health system? 'It's not politically convenient anymore to talk about ramping, so let's just forget about it.'

We knew that it was the number one issue that South Australians voted for in March last year. They sent a very, very strong message to every politician: they expect health to be front and centre. What we see post election is a Premier with completely wrong priorities, and that does concern us on this side of the house. I do understand that this would be very hard for those opposite to listen to because they went to their communities with the now Premier promising people that they would fix it. They said it when they were doorknocking, they said it when they were at their street-corner meetings, they said it when they were holding their supermarket stalls at shopping centres right across the state. 'We will fix ramping,' they said.

You could not drive through any single town, down any single street, from metro Adelaide to the country regions of our state, without seeing the promise up in lights: 'We will fix ramping.' I genuinely do not know what they say now to our paramedics. I do not know what they say now to the people who voted them in on the basis of this promise. 'I am sorry that our doctors, paramedics and nurses have never operated under such extraordinary pressure. I am sorry that people are still dying waiting for ambulances, despite the fact that this was our central election campaign. I am sorry that when we told you that we had the plan to fix it, what we meant was that we know how to run a marketing campaign to get you to trust us, to get you to believe us, to get you to believe in our Premier who claims to have the plan.'

Now, when you start to wind back those layers, you realise that it is all a facade. This is the absolute difference between the Labor government and the Liberal opposition—and it does not matter which side of the house we sit on—and that is that we are always up-front and honest about the challenges. We were up-front and honest about the challenges that we were facing with ramping in South Australia and we acknowledged that it was an issue. We invested in our health system. COVID played a significant part, and there was much more to do when we left office—make no mistake about it; there was so much more to get on with—but it was this government and this new Premier who promised South Australians that he had the plan to fix it.

It was all those opposite, all of those local MPs who played a role in one of the most disgusting fear campaigns that has ever been seen in South Australia's history, forcing these dreadful situations into the spotlight of the media here in South Australia, absolutely using their political weight to get political mileage out of a really emotional issue.

Regardless of whatever excuses members opposite feel comfortable with, regardless of what they say to their constituents, we will continue to shine a light on this, and it does disappoint me that I am standing here with this motion today, because I want there to be improvement. I want patients to get the care they need when they need it. I don't want our patients, doctors and nurses to be crumbling under the weight of such serious overcrowding, because it is not good for anyone. It is certainly not good for our state and it is certainly not good for our loved ones, for our family or for our friends.

But, it was Peter Malinauskas and the Labor government who promised South Australians they had a plan to fix it; unfortunately the results are showing the complete opposite, more than doubling since our last four months in office.

Ms THOMPSON (Davenport) (12:55): I move to amend the motion by the member for Schubert as follows:

Delete (a) and (b) and insert:

(a) notes that under the former Liberal government's watch ramping drastically increased by 485 per cent between 2017 and 2021;

(b) reaffirms the Malinauskas Labor government's commitment to addressing the ramping crisis inherited from the former Liberal government through delivering a generational $2.4 billion investment to rebuild the health system;

Insert:

(d) commends our frontline health workers for their continued hard work and acknowledges the Malinauskas government's steadfast support for health staff across the system.

The Liberals left the health system in disarray and now spend their time criticising us for doing the hard work to turn around the system.

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member, can you just take your seat for a second. The member for Schubert was heard in silence.

Ms Stinson interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, please, member for Badcoe!

Mr Pederick interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I don't need advice from the member for Hammond. If there is one more interruption, those members will be going to lunch early. The member for Davenport.

Ms THOMPSON: The Malinauskas Labor government inherited a health system under significant pressure, driven by a lack of investment in beds, staff and services under the former Liberal government. Their inaction or blatant neglect of the health system resulted in ramping increasing 485 per cent during the Liberal's term in government.

In March 2018, the first month of the Liberal government, ramping was at 750 hours. In their final month of government ramping had escalated to 2,729 hours. The Liberals had no plan or policies to address ramping and hospital system capacity. In contrast, the Malinauskas Labor government's number one priority is addressing the ramping system we inherited.

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

Ms THOMPSON: The member for Schubert asks, 'What do we say to our paramedics and what do we say to our communities now?' We say that we are delivering a generational investment to rebuild the health system.

Our government is taking every possible step to reduce strain on emergency departments. We are reducing pressure on ambulances and freeing up hospital beds for those who need them most. We say that we are opening every hospital bed possible to improve patient flow, and we are investing a record $2.4 billion to open more than 550 additional beds, recruit hundreds more doctors, nurses and ambos and build and upgrade key health infrastructure to provide the capacity our health care system needs.

In my electorate of Davenport we have partnered with the federal government to deliver $400 million of funding for a once-in-a-generation upgrade to the Flinders Medical Centre. This major project will deliver at least 160 beds across the FMC and the Repat. We are delivering on these commitments in partnership with our health workers. This is in stark contrast to the approach under the previous Liberal government, who failed to listen to frontline workers of the ramping crisis—our doctors and nurses who repeatedly raised their concerns, but were ignored for years.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Odenwalder.

Sitting suspended from 13:00 to 14:00

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