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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-02-08 Daily Xml
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Public Works Committee: Noarlunga Hospital Mental Health Rehabilitation Unit and Inpatient Unit Expansion

Mr BROWN (Florey) (11:57): I move:

That the 47th report of the committee, entitled 'Noarlunga Hospital mental health rehabilitation unit and inpatient unit expansion', be noted.

The Department for Health and Wellbeing, or SA Health, proposes to develop a new mental health rehabilitation unit and inpatient unit at the Noarlunga Hospital through a comprehensive expansion of the existing facilities.

Delivering an additional 48 beds, the expansion forms the key component of the state government's election commitment to increase the number of mental health rehabilitation beds, as well as the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network's infrastructure master plan to construct additional inpatient capacity at Noarlunga Hospital. The total investing budget is $74 million, with construction works anticipated to commence in March this year and practical completion to be in October 2025.

Noarlunga Hospital was built in the mid-1980s, and is operated by the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network. The hospital is co-located with a range of primary health care and mental health services, including geriatric evaluation and management care, surgical services, a renal dialysis service, outpatient, and emergency department services. The hospital currently operates an overnight bed base of approximately 89 beds and approximately 41 same-day equivalent points of care, inclusive of renal dialysis, medical infusion and emergency department bays.

There has been an identified demand for clinical services in southern Adelaide due to an ageing population, resulting in a greater reliance on the public health system. The Southern Adelaide Local Health Network and SA Health have developed the southern redevelopment in response to this rising demand for health care within South Australia.

The project will support the enhancement of clinical service capabilities and bed bases at Noarlunga Hospital which, in turn, will minimise transfers to heavily utilised hospitals such as Flinders Medical Centre, and ensure delivery of care closer to home. The expansion will support the closing of the service gap for consumers requiring access to acute mental health rehabilitation services through providing temporary facilities. It will also improve the hospital's broader asset condition to support the future development facilities and infrastructure in line with broader infrastructure planning being progressed by SA Health.

The hospital expansion will deliver:

a new 24-bed mental health rehabilitation unit to enable the delivery of non-acute, rehabilitation-focused adult mental health services for the community of southern Adelaide. The configuration of the unit will provide discrete and dignified access via a controlled secure access foyer and reception zone;

a new 24-bed inpatient unit to provide overnight acute medical care, configured to enable effective circulation and promote effective line of sight from central clinical support service spaces; and

targeted site engineering services upgrades to support the expansion, including fire services, hydraulic and electrical upgrades.

Upon completion, there will be increased accessibility to inpatient mental health services for the communities of southern Adelaide, as well as the accommodation of acute medical functions at Noarlunga Hospital.

The project will provide a contemporary, deinstitutionalised, homelike environment for consumers requiring access to mental health services with a longer length of stay that reduces reliance on the use of finite points of care in higher-acuity mental health services. After taking written and oral evidence, the Public Works Committee recommends approval of this public work.

Motion carried.

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