Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-10-23 Daily Xml

Contents

Ministerial Responsibility

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (15:01): A further supplementary arising from the answer: the minister correctly said that there are enormous challenges in the health system. Does he think those challenges are exacerbated by having a minister who doesn't know from one week to the next what he has read, what he has signed or can't remember the advice he has been given?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:01): I thank the honourable member for his question. What I cannot forget are the failures of the former Labor government in terms of the RAH. Now we are focusing on one in particular, which is the failure to properly design an ambulance bay for the Royal Adelaide Hospital, but it wasn't the only one.

We also had the resuscitation room that was not fit for purpose. The outpatient capacity is dramatically reduced. Clinical research space is at a shortage to the point where university space is being used. We have problems with the chest clinic, the emergency department flow, which is bad, and there are problems with the mental health units. I remind honourable members that the former government's failure to have an ambulance bay that worked was by no means the only failure in relation to the new RAH.