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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-09-04 Daily Xml
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Country Health Services

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:01): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing on country health services.

Leave granted.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: On my recent visits to regional South Australia the two main issues that were constantly raised with me was the drought in parts of Eyre Peninsula and the Mid North and also the lack of appropriate medical services. My questions to the minister are:

1. What is the minister doing to alleviate the critical shortage of doctors, medical specialists and mental health councillors on Eyre Peninsula, where towns like Kimba and its children are crying out for a GP and mental health support?

2. Is he aware that patients from Kimba are being turned away from the overloaded system in Wudinna, making them reliant on a locum service, two nurses in the hospital ED and an ambulance service manned by volunteers?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:02): I thank the honourable member for his question, and I am certainly very concerned about the state of the rural health workforce. I should stress that the GPs and primary health care are primarily funded by the federal government, but certainly both the state government and local government are active partners with the federal government to try to build the rural health workforce.

A good example of that is the town you mentioned, Kimba. Local government there has been active in two waves to try to recruit and retain a GP. They were successful, I suspect, about 18 months ago, and a GP and his partner were able to provide services for some time, but that wasn't sustainable. My understanding is that they are currently recruiting. If my recollection serves me rightly, there is at least some service at Kimba.

I am not aware of the suggestion you made that the Wudinna practice is turning people away. Let's remember that GPs are self-employed and it is their right to manage their practice as they see fit. It may well be that the GP at Wudinna is giving priority to local people. I will certainly look into that. The goal has got to be to make sure that we have GP services at Kimba, not asking everybody from Kimba to travel to Wudinna.

There are problems in other Eyre Peninsula towns. I have actually met with local government representatives from Streaky Bay who, like Kimba, have invested a significant amount of money to try to recruit and retain GPs. I am planning, in the not-too-distant future, to travel to Eyre Peninsula to try to meet with representatives from across the peninsula to discuss this issue. I mentioned that all tiers of government can contribute to progress in this area.

In terms of the state government's commitment, we have an election commitment for a $20 million rural health workforce strategy. One of the elements that is part of that policy is to foster the development of a rural generalist pathway in South Australia. There is a lot of interest amongst rural GPs in that support because, as a network, they can support one another with advanced procedural skills, and it is particularly beneficial for our country hospitals that they can access support. It might be, for example, a rural GP with procedural skills supporting an inbound medical specialist. That makes a medical specialty provision at a country hospital more sustainable.

I certainly agree with the honourable member that the rural health workforce, particularly the GP workforce, is a challenge, and we will continue to work with both federal and local government to do what we can to try to address that need.

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