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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-04-09 Daily Xml
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Millicent Hospital

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (15:15): My question is to the Minister for Health. Will the government fund an upgrade of the sterilisation unit at the Millicent hospital? With your leave, Mr Speaker, and the leave of the house I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr McBRIDE: I am told that the new nationwide standards will mean that the Millicent hospital sterilisation unit will no longer meet the quality requirements. This will impact the hospital's ability to offer surgical procedures.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:15): I thank the member for MacKillop for his question and his significant passion for his local health services, including those at the Millicent hospital. As the member outlined in his question explanation, the standards that have been put in place for healthcare services, public and private, in relation to sterilisation units have changed in recent years and that has meant that upgrades have been required in both public and private settings to meet those standards. This is something that we are not only addressing and working through in relation to the issues in Millicent but also in other public hospitals across, particularly, regional South Australia.

This is an area where there are a number of upgrades that have happened already. There are still a number of upgrades that we need to work through, of which Millicent is one. There has been some work that has been undertaken already. I am advised that some $40,000 has been spent so far in relation to the design works through Studio Nine Architects to make sure that we have the plans in place for when funds become available for this project. This is obviously something on which we will undertake further consideration through appropriate government and budgetary processes in relation to future funding.

In relation to the standards themselves, similar to many other hospitals around the country that are facing this situation, we have been seeking extensions for those arrangements to be put in place, working with the Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, that have been constructive in terms of working with public and private hospitals around the country in terms of those extensions for those arrangements being put in place.

This is something that is actively being considered. There is some work that is being undertaken already, but obviously we know that having access to those local surgery services in somewhere like Millicent, where I understand the current theatre is being used some three days a week at the moment, will need further consideration in terms of through the budgetary processes and any further upgrades required to meet the standards in the long term.

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