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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-07-06 Daily Xml
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Parliamentary Committees

Public Works Committee: Edwardstown Ambulance Station

Mr BROWN (Florey) (11:38): I move:

That the 30th report of the committee, entitled New Edwardstown Ambulance Station, be noted.

The Department for Health and Wellbeing, or SA Health, proposes to establish a new Edwardstown ambulance station to provide a significant expansion of service delivery capacity and capabilities to the South Australian Ambulance Service (SAAS). SAAS is the state's provider of emergency ambulance transport, clinical care and patient transport patient services. It operates 119 ambulance stations across South Australia and the MedSTAR emergency medical retrieval service at Adelaide Airport.

The new station forms part of the state government's 2022 election commitment to improve infrastructure, increase staffing and provide additional resources for SAAS. It will provide alignment with the SA Health strategic plan by strengthening primary health care and enhancing hospital care by providing more services close to where people live by ensuring, firstly, that patient-centric emergency services are designed around community needs; secondly, that SAAS emergency preparedness and response capacity are commensurate with state and national emergency management arrangements; and, thirdly, that ambulance services evolve in line with the health system.

The entire program of works will deliver four new and four rebuilt ambulance stations, 10 upgraded ambulance stations, the purchasing of 36 new vehicles and the recruitment of 350 additional staff. The total budget to deliver the scope of the election commitment is $70 million. The allocated investing budget for the new Edwardstown ambulance station is $8 million. Construction is anticipated to commence later this year, with practical completion in December 2024.

SAAS has identified increased demand for its services in South Australia over the last few years. For the Edwardstown locality, the required demand and increased capacity cannot be accommodated within the existing stations. This additional station will house 16 paramedics and 12 emergency support service ambulance officers.

It will be a modern, fit-for-purpose facility for additional workforce to meet operational needs and complement stations in Glengowrie, Marion and Mitcham. As a result, SAAS will improve its ambulance coverage and demand response through the provision of both new crewing and station in this high-demand area, increasing health care and services and enabling appropriate emergency services provision to the surrounding community.

The new ambulance station will be located on Daws Road, Daw Park, adjacent to the Repatriation General Hospital precinct. This parcel of land was identified as the preferred location following a detailed investigation process in consultation with SAAS and Renewal SA. The station design has been strongly influenced by the site constraints and shape, including the overall size and north-south configuration.

The design considers how vehicles arrive and depart the facility via surrounding roads by locating the facility at the southern part of the allotment so that ambulances depart the station directly onto Daws Road. Ambulances can turn right via traffic management signalling and a designated break in the central median strip. The station garage houses four ambulances, with space for two light fleet operational vehicles, and uses a herringbone layout to maximise space and allow for a drive-through function to enable ambulances to enter and exit the building without restriction. The plans submitted by SA Health detail how the station will comprise key functional areas including:

garage space for ambulance vehicles, one being bariatric, and light fleet vehicles;

a training room with seating for 26 persons;

office spaces, study room and meeting room;

a kitchen-dining room;

a crew rest room;

six personal work/rest/break rooms for staff;

staff and visitor car parking spaces, including two accessible spaces; and

covered light fleet parking for four vehicles.

The expected outcomes of the project include:

an improved ambulance response coverage for consumers in the southern suburbs;

an increased capacity for additional crews and vehicles in order to meet increasing demand;

enhanced consumer care;

expanded SAAS crew training facilities; and

the opportunity for expansion to meet future growth.

The Department for Infrastructure and Transport has confirmed a general building contractor will be appointed under a design and construct form of contract. The elected contractor will provide input into detailed design of facilities as stage 1 of the contract, with progression to stage 2 to construct the main works.

Ecologically sustainable development strategies have been incorporated into the design, construction and operation of the new ambulance station. Ecologically sustainable development principles will be included in all phases of the project life cycle. SA Health notes the facility will have environmental qualities to enable a positive environment and workplace for staff, patients and occupants, supporting better healthcare outcomes and improved wellbeing.

SA Health states that engagement and clinical consultation has been a key theme throughout the concept planning, and will continue with various stakeholders during the design and construction process. Stakeholders include clinical and non-clinical staff, consumer reference groups and industrial bodies. Consultation with the local community is underway and will be supplemented by targeted letter drops and community engagement sessions.

The committee examined written and oral evidence in relation to the new Edwardstown ambulance station. Witnesses who appeared before the committee were Tim Packer, Executive Director, Infrastructure, Department for Health and Wellbeing; John Harrison, Director of Building Projects, Department for Infrastructure and Transport; and Rob Elliott, Chief Executive Officer, SA Ambulance Service. I should note for the house the support of the local member, the member for Elder, for this particular project, and I thank her for not only her diligent service on the committee but also her support for this project.

Based upon the evidence considered, and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee reports to parliament that it recommends the proposed public work.

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (11:44): I would like to thank the member for Florey for bringing this to the parliament. It was a very productive discussion in the Public Works Committee. I do note that I do not think that in the 10 minutes the honourable member spoke he mentioned the word 'ramping' once. I find that quite remarkable given, as the honourable member did point out, this formed part of the government's overall election promise not just to fix health in South Australia but also to fix ramping in this state.

Now what we know is that under this Labor government the pressure on our paramedics, the pressure on our health system, has frankly never been worse; in fact, it is going backwards on nearly every single metric. What this means is that not just are we seeing more ambulances stuck outside our emergency departments on the ramp but we are also seeing so much more pressure inside our hospitals in our emergency departments. I believe that is highlighted on a number of different metrics.

First of all, if we cast our eyes over the last month, over the month of June, nearly every second day we saw our entire health system on a system-wide Code White. That is a pretty shocking situation because, when we look at the Code White, it is so much more than a colour palette. What Code White means is that our health system is at breaking point. It means that there are not any beds available, and as a direct result we are seeing ramping that is absolutely through the roof.

I have made this point many times in this place, but for a government that went to the election promising to fix ramping, to see our health system crumbling under their watch is a particular affront. It is an affront to communities right across South Australia, whether they are regional communities or whether they are in the city. If we look at the month of June, we saw ramping reach 2,973 hours. That is worse than any single month under the former Liberal government—2,973 hours of our paramedics' and patients' time spent stuck outside our emergency departments, stuck on the ramp waiting for care.

That is worse than any single month under the former Liberal government in their four years in office, yet those opposite went to the election promising to fix it. If we look back on the last 13 months, what we know is that our paramedics and patients have spent an eye-watering 44,000 hours stuck outside on the ramp waiting for a bed in an emergency. That is the equivalent of five entire years—five entire years that our paramedics and patients have spent stuck outside our hospitals waiting for a bed.

It does not matter if you look north or south; patient outcomes are dwindling. Patient outcomes are going backwards under the watch of this government, and it is the opposite of a Midas touch. The government has an opposite effect. If we look at the recent budget papers, I think the full picture of the crisis under this government is pretty stark. In fact, if you look at the emergency care our patients should be getting in the clinically accepted time frame of about 10 minutes, four out of five patients from north to south are not getting that on time. Four out of five patients are not getting the care that they need in our health system on time.

All of this is from a government that promised to fix ramping. We expect, just like the people of South Australia expect, that the new ambulance stations we are seeing in Norwood, Woodville and Edwardstown will go some way in alleviating that extraordinary pressure that our health system is under, the significant pressure that our paramedics are facing under this government. Our paramedics fought really hard at the election, and they delivered a government. They worked hard with many people on the benches opposite because they voted for a clear promise to fix ramping, and now we know that the results have never been worse.

From east to west and north to south, we do hope for the sake of all South Australians that this will go some way to addressing the challenges in our health system. I would like to take this opportunity to touch on some of the concerns that were raised about one of the ambulance stations, the Norwood one in particular. There were some practical issues that were raised in relation to some of the parking issues around that area of Norwood. The honourable member—

Mr BROWN: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: There is a point of order from the member for Florey.

Mr BROWN: Relevance, sir: we are actually talking about the Edwardstown project, not Norwood. That is a different motion.

The SPEAKER: Yes, I will bring the member for Schubert to the subject matter of debate.

Mrs HURN: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I also note that when these three projects were brought to the Public Works Committee they were presented as one bundle. I find it interesting that for the benefit of this committee business we need to do them bit by bit, but I do take the member's point—and there are still five minutes to go when I can touch on a number of issues.

There are a number of practical concerns that people from right across South Australia have raised with a number of these stations. We are hearing from people who live in the local areas. These are issues around car parking and issues around what traffic studies, if any, have been done, and they are also asking—certainly, I asked this question through the committee—about whether some of the heat maps could be provided to the committee to really outline where the pressure is. Where is the pressure on our SAAS crews? I am looking forward to that information being provided to the committee.

Overall, this type of action is absolutely required from the government. The situation in our health system shows that we need the government to act and we need the government to take the health system seriously. This is a government that are paralysed by politics when it comes to health because they know that at the election they really overreached in what they promised, and now we expect, just as people in the member for Elder's electorate expect, that ramping will be fixed at the next election.

It is our job on this side of the house to remind South Australians about what is exactly happening under our health system, under our hospitals, at the moment—because guess who is not talking about it anymore? All those opposite. No-one on the opposition benches wants to talk about the dreadful things that are happening in our health system anymore. Why not, I wonder? Why not, you ask? It is because things have never been worse from the north to the south, and that is highlighted across nearly every single metric.

Our paramedics want to be fighting to save people's lives. They do not want to be fighting against Labor's record ramping and they do not want to be fighting to get a bed for their sick patient, but that is the reality under this Labor government, under this government who went to the election promising to fix ramping. We do support this new infrastructure, and we support it because we know that it is part of the government's plan to fix ramping. They have set that target themselves and that is what we expect to see at the next election.

Every single day we will continue to remind South Australians what they voted for. We will continue to go from suburb to suburb and region to region to remind people that the number one priority this government had was to fix health. Now that the election is over, they do not want to talk about it anymore, and the reason they do not want to talk about it is that the results are getting worse and worse. In fact, if you are in the south, the results of people in the south are going south, and that is something that is particularly concerning.

It is fantastic that throughout the Public Works Committee we do have the opportunity to ask a series of detailed questions because I think often the devil is in the detail. The devil is often in the detail and so, through the Public Works Committee, we were very grateful to have SAAS representatives come forward so that we could ask questions. We were able to ask questions across all three sites, and we are looking forward to some of those answers being provided to the committee in due course.

We will continue to hold the government to account. We will continue to remind people in the honourable members' seats—the member for Elder, the member for King, the member for Newland, the member for Adelaide and all those opposite—that they knocked on doors throughout the election promising one thing: a fix to ramping. They have yet to deliver it. In fact, things are going backwards under this government, and the people who are actually paying the price are South Australians.

Ms CLANCY (Elder) (11:54): I thank the member for Schubert for my promotion to honourable. I always tell people that I am dishonourable when they refer to me as honourable, so I appreciate it, and who knows what will happen in many, many years to come? I want to stand in support of this. I am really pleased to be a member of the Public Works Committee. We get to see so many incredible projects. I have wonderful colleagues on that committee.

I would probably say that the last meeting, a couple of weeks ago, was the most exciting for me because we got to talk about the Edwardstown ambulance station. I was incredibly excited when I found out during the campaign that we had secured a station for that community. It is an area that is in need of that extra support, and I am really glad that instead of waiting until the new station was built to put in those extra paramedics, we actually got them online as soon as we could.

In November, we saw 32 new paramedics start at the Marion station, which is based in Mitchell Park, and 16 of those paramedics will be moving to the new Edwardstown station when it opens. There was a community engagement session last Monday night at the Pasadena Community Centre. As a side note, I am really proud that I was able to advocate for funding to the City of Mitcham to be able to help turn that old Sea Scouts hall into a community space that can be used for events such as these and for community consultations.

That was last Monday, and the focus was on the station and also on the development of the Repat more generally because the new Edwardstown station will be at the Repat, on the Daws Road side. There is some exciting bunting up there, letting everyone know where it is going. I am really excited that construction will begin on that project quite soon, in the next few months, hopefully by the end of the year. I understand it will likely take 12 months to build, but once it is built those 16 paramedics who are currently over in Marion will be, I think, very happy to be moving over to the brand-new station.

It is important to thank the Marion crew, who have been so welcoming of the Edwardstown crew and have been able to make the space and have them there. As a side note, it is important to recognise that the Marion station will also be receiving an upgrade. It will not be a brand-new one, but it will be getting a redevelopment soon as well. I also want to draw attention to the fact that while, yes, we have the new paramedics and we will have the new ambulance station, obviously we are very conscious that we need other health infrastructure to support this project, which is why we have also hired more doctors and nurses and we are bringing online over 200 extra beds in the southern region. That is across Flinders, the Repat and Noarlunga.

This new station forms part of our government's 2022 election commitment to improve infrastructure, increase staffing and provide additional resources for the South Australian Ambulance Service. It will provide alignment to the SA Health strategic plan by strengthening primary health care and enhancing hospital care, by providing more services close to where people live, and by ensuring patient-centric emergency services are designed around community needs, SAAS emergency preparedness and response capacity is commensurate with state and national emergency management arrangements, and ambulance services evolve in line with the health system.

I know the member for Schubert has claimed that we have not wanted to talk about this. We do. We are really proud of the work that we are doing in this space. We knew it was never going to be a quick fix. There is not a silver bullet, but it is why we are doing so many different things in this space to improve our health system: more beds, more doctors, more nurses and more ambos, and additional infrastructure that makes a real difference to members of our communities. I really look forward to seeing what comes next to the Public Works Committee. Hopefully, it is as exciting as the Edwardstown ambulance station, but I think that would be tricky.

Mr BROWN (Florey) (11:58): I would like to thank all those members who have contributed to the debate: the member for Schubert, as usual very much illuminating the issue from her particular perspective, and also the member for Elder for her impassioned support of the project on behalf of her local community. I would like to take the opportunity to thank all members of the Public Works Committee, again the member for Schubert and the member for Elder, for their assistance on the committee itself but also the member for Hartley and the member for King for all they have done.

It bears repeating that, as a committee, I have been very, very pleased with the way that the committee has worked together to actually not only consider these particular projects, but consider them in a reasoned way and make sure that we give proper consideration and also a proper recommendation to this house. With those words, again I endorse this particular project.

Debate adjourned.

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