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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-11-28 Daily Xml
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Question Time

Queen Elizabeth Hospital

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:30): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Health a question in relation to The Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Last Friday morning, the government announced, at short notice, that patients assessed as having had a heart attack will bypass The Queen Elizabeth Hospital on weekends, after 8pm or before 8am. A few hours before, the minister attended a press conference, where Dr Tom Soulsby, the Network Director of Emergency Services for the Central Adelaide Local Health Network—the person responsible for the emergency services at both the new Royal Adelaide Hospital and The QEH—called for a range of issues to be addressed before the government implemented its plan.

Dr Soulsby referred to the current stress in the Royal Adelaide Hospital emergency department where, he said, staff were working with about 30 to 40 admitted patients each morning, the majority of whom didn't leave the ED until the afternoon. Dr Soulsby said:

We have spent much of this week ramping because of access block. We do not have the capacity to absorb an increase in presentations or admissions without a significant improvement in discharges (both total number and time of discharge).

Given this, my question to the minister is: why did the government ignore the clinical advice of Dr Soulsby and implement the changes last Friday?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (14:32): I thank the honourable member for his question. There is a very important tenet to the honourable member's question which is something this government takes very seriously, and that is the need to be able to take into account the expert advice provided to the government by clinicians when we are making decisions orientated towards clinical matters.

Throughout the time I have been health minister, and that clearly has not been an extensive period of time, the government has had to make decisions—decisions that have principally rested with me as the health minister—that do require clinical advice, and that is an important part of the process. Clearly, the government has had to take clinical advice in order to be able to make sound, competent decisions that are in the interests of patients' wellbeing. That is certainly the case in respect to our decisions around The QEH.

This government is very serious about making sure that suburbs in and around western Adelaide enjoy the full suite of benefits that a modern public health system can provide for. This is a government that has regularly fronted difficult challenges and made substantial investments to ensure that that can take place. That will very much be on show in the lead-up to this election. The state government is delivering a $270 million upgrade to The Queen Elizabeth Hospital and that reflects just how much our government values the role that that hospital plays as part of our metropolitan hospital network and how much we understand that the hospital is an important, iconic institution for the provision of public health services for the western suburbs of Adelaide.

I emphasise the word 'public' because this government believes in public hospitals. This government believes in hospitals that are owned by the taxpayers and the constituents of South Australia and are in their hands so they can be responsible for future policy direction in and around those institutions. We will never be a government, we will never be a party, that will support the privatisation of key public institutions. Public hospitals are very much in the forefront of that. We know—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: It's amazing—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Don't respond. Just answer the question, minister.

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: I am happy to. It is insightful that every time a government minister in this place stands up and starts talking about the value of public ownership, those on the other side start to rankle. They start to squirm; they start to pipe up. They are listening to an answer quietly, listening to the information, and then as soon as we start talking about the value of public hospitals, they start to respond; they start to arc up. I think that is telling, personally.

Nevertheless, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, we believe, is an iconic public institution that is worthy of investment. That's why we are committing $270 million. As part of that $270 million investment, we are going to achieve a number of things. The first thing is that we are going to build a brand-new car park. Last week, I was very proud to be able to release the design for that car park.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: The car park is important because it has to be built first. It might be a learning for those members opposite, who again seek to interject, that the car park needs to be built first, because the existing car park site, on the southern side of the iconic tower at The QEH, is where we are going to build a brand-new clinical facility, which will include a brand-new emergency department—a brand-new and, I am advised, larger emergency department, which will be a great result for everyone who relies on the ED in the western suburbs.

Also part of that redevelopment will be brand-new theatres, brand-new operating theatres. We will also be including brand-new cath labs, which will be a great outcome for those people who are seeking cardiac services in the western suburbs. This government is serious about The QEH. We are serious about The QEH remaining in public hands for many years to come, and not just because that sounds good but because this government actually believes in high-quality health care delivered by the government of South Australia, for the people of South Australia, in public hands.

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