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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-03-05 Daily Xml
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Question Time

Ambulance Ramping

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:04): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier stand by his promise to fix ramping? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: This government has now delivered the worst 21 months of ramping in our state's history, including the worst month of February, which saw 3,757 hours lost on the ramp, the worst February on record.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:05): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. Of course the government is utterly committed to addressing the challenges we see within our health system. The best example of that is in transfer-of-care data, otherwise known as ramping. We did see the results in February contain some good news and some more frustrating news. The results in February were an improvement on the spike that we saw in November in particular, which is a particularly challenging month. You will recall that—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —throughout the course of last year there were a number of months in a row where we saw improvement. That was somewhat heartening for those close to the topic. But then in the month of November we saw this extraordinary spike that was of concern to the government, particularly considering there had been progress up until this point. January was a challenging month, but then in February we have seen signs of some improvement.

I do particularly want to acknowledge the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network (NALHN), more specifically the Lyell McEwin Hospital. The Lyell McEwin Hospital throughout the course of the last year was probably the source of the greatest growth in ramping. There are a number of challenges that the Lyell McEwin faces. The first one is a capacity issue. As those who have been following this discussion know, the government is opening up more beds at the Lyell McEwin Hospital. They open later this year. They were on the back of a funding decision made in the Treasurer's first budget a few weeks after being elected. Ever since then, there has been construction activity, resulting in those beds opening up later this year. That will make a difference, we know, because there is a capacity issue.

But the second issue that NALHN faces, particularly the Lyell McEwin, is around the complete cratering of availability to GPs in the northern suburbs of Adelaide. That problem is exacerbated if you are looking for access to a bulk-billing GP. That is a big problem. It's a problem for which no state government, neither the former Liberal government nor the current Labor government, is responsible, because of course GP services are exclusively within the remit of the commonwealth.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: But of course what we see is that, if people can't get access to a GP, they show up to the emergency department or, worse than that, if they don't get access to a GP, they get sicker and then show up to the emergency department, which of course puts pressure on NALHN. Notwithstanding those challenges that remain ongoing—and I don't suspect they are going away anytime soon—what we saw in the month of February was a dramatic improvement in ramping hours at the Lyell McEwin Hospital. That represents good news. We are not claiming victory—far from it. We are not suggesting for a moment—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We are not suggesting for a moment that one month of good statistics at the Lyell McEwin means that—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —there won't be ups and downs. But what I do demonstrate to the opposition and to the South Australian public more broadly is, as we see those additional resources continue to roll out, expanding the capacity of our health system, making it bigger—more beds, more nurses, more doctors, all over and above attrition—it makes a big difference. We are committed to delivering on that, and we are going to continue to see that roll out throughout the course of this year.

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