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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-09-29 Daily Xml
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TORRENS HOUSE

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:47): I rise to indicate my support for the work done by the nurses and associated staff at Torrens House. Torrens House is a community residential unit located on South Terrace here in the city and is part of the Children, Youth and Women's Health Service. Torrens House offers a free service to families with infants aged up to 12 months who are accommodated for 3½ day stays from Tuesday mornings to Friday afternoons. The unit is not open at other times.

Families are admitted to Torrens House when they require assistance with a baby with more complicated feeding, settling and sleeping issues. I also understand that many babies with a cleft palate, in particular, are admitted to the service due to the additional needs that that condition can impose. One of my staff recently attended the service to resolve general feeding issues with her own child, and she speaks in the most glowing terms of the service—particularly the nursing staff—at Torrens House.

Torrens House, as I understand it, was the first facility of its type in Australia. It was opened on 24 August 1938 by Lady Dugan, wife of the then governor of South Australia. The Torrens House service was of such benefit to new mothers dealing with difficult parenting issues that other states soon followed. Tresillian Family Care and Karitane are the New South Wales equivalents, the Queen Elizabeth Centre and the O'Connell Family Centre operate in Victoria, the Ellen Barron Family Centre works in Queensland, and an equivalent service called the Ngala Family Resource Centre operates in Perth.

It is noteworthy that South Australia was a leader in the field of parenting care for new mothers in the past; however, it must be pointed out that we seem to have now fallen behind other states in providing this service because of what appears to be limited funding being provided to the service. One only has to go to the websites of the comparable interstate services to see images of brand-new buildings and equipment at those services. In contrast (and all the Torrens House staff really do an outstanding job), the facilities in the centre are now far beyond their use-by date.

Further, while all other centres around the country, to my understanding, operate on a five-day basis—that is, people can come and go within that five days (or what generally happens is the mothers and fathers, if they like, stay from Monday morning right through to Friday)—Torrens House has been scaled back to allow just three nights and it is the only one of its type in South Australia. That is, parents are admitted on Tuesday morning and are required to leave by midday Friday. This shortened stay is not sufficient in some cases, particularly for chronic children's sleep issues and a number of other issues.

I would ask the government to consider this particular issue in the lead-up to the next budget. This budget is gone and it seems nothing has changed at this stage. A service like Torrens House needs to be continually funded, and funded appropriately. After all, a good start in life is a recipe for healthy children, healthy families and a healthy state. I call on this government in the next budget to increase funding for this important service, restore a full week of care for new mums who have babies with difficulties, as they do in other states, and provide the funding for long-overdue renovations to the facility and for the purchase of desperately needed new equipment.

I would like to also just re-emphasize my praise for the staff at the facility. I notice that I have a minute or two left so I will just tell a quick tale along the same lines. Many people would know that, when I had my own child a few years ago, we chose to go through the public health system at the Women's and Children's Hospital and it was an excellent experience. The nursing staff, the medical staff—all the staff—were just outstanding and it shows the commitment of the people that work in these areas. In our case, they worked beyond their knock-off times on many of the days that my wife and daughter were in the hospital, and I cannot speak highly enough about them.

As a new father at that time, I appreciate the difficulties that parents can have when their children just will not sleep or will not feed properly, or whatever it is, and hence the value of a place like Torrens House. To fund it properly would be, in real terms, a drop in the bucket and it would make a massive difference to so many parents out there and indeed their children. I urge the government to put this as a significant priority in their agenda.

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