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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-02-07 Daily Xml
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SA Ambulance Service

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (14:29): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. How does the minister respond to comments made by Dr David Pope following the release of the Ambulance Ramping Review Report on 11 January 2024? With your leave, sir, that a house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mrs HURN: On FIVEaa radio, Dr Pope agreed that the report was, and I quote, 'a whitewash'. He doubled down on his earlier claims and said, and I quote, 'there [were] no reality checks done by the reviewers to see whether the data that they were looking at reflected [what was] truly going on'. He went on to add, and I quote, 'If you take the review on face value it will say that everything's fine and there's no problem whatsoever, which is clearly not the case.'

The SPEAKER: The last portion of the purported facts is plainly argument, but I am going to permit the question. It is a difficulty—

Mrs Hurn: It's a quote.

The SPEAKER: I see. Alright, well that is sustained in its own facts. Minister.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:30): Similar to my previous answer, the government took the matters that were raised very seriously. We asked for an independent review that was undertaken by two eminent clinicians who looked at the evidence, who gave Dr Pope the opportunity to provide evidence to their review, who looked at the data, who looked at reports from our emergency departments. They provided a report that clearly set out—and I don't need to repeat what it said—that in relation to a number of claims that were made they were not supported by the evidence that was available to them. That is a report that we have accepted the recommendations from.

We believe that some sensible recommendations have been made through that review, that we are taking seriously, and we are seeking to work cooperatively with the industrial bodies, whether that be SASMOA, also the ANMF and the Ambulance Employees Association to make sure that we have got the appropriate decision-making in relation to the clinical need of patients in the waiting room, on the ambulance ramp, but also those people who are calling 000, because all those patients need to be seen appropriately.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call. The exchange between the Premier and the shadow minister will cease. Minister, you have the call.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: It is an important point that is raised, and I don't believe we have had a request from the opposition to have a briefing from the reviewers.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: Not even at 1.57?

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: That's right. I checked my emails—not even at 1.57 today, which is usually the member for Schubert's approach to question time.

Mrs Hurn interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: But if the opposition is interested in this matter—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The exchanges to my left and right will cease. The minister has the call.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: Thank you very much. If the opposition is interested in meeting with Professor McNeil and Dr Griggs in learning about how they reached their conclusions, we are very happy to facilitate that for them to outline the report, outline the understanding of the issues and outline their recommendations. We have in the government listened to them, we have met with them, we have accepted their recommendations and we now want to constructively work with our industrial bodies who represent the staff in SA Health to make sure that those are implemented.

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