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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-06-19 Daily Xml
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Women's and Children's Hospital

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (14:39): My question is directed to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Will the minister update the council on the government's commitment to build a new Women's and Children's Hospital?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:39): I am very happy to do so, Mr President. Through you, I thank the honourable member for his question. Last year, we celebrated 140 years of the Women's and Children's Hospital, celebrating the quality services the hospital has provided to support South Australian families over more than a century. The infrastructure of the hospital is not as old as that tradition, but it is certainly ageing. In the lead-up to the 2018 state election the Marshall Liberal team made a commitment to build a new Women's and Children's Hospital co-located with the new Royal Adelaide Hospital.

We took action soon after the election. We established a task force to develop options. The task force reported back with recommendations for the build. Yesterday, the Treasurer announced the next step in the government's delivery on that commitment, with $550 million invested in the project in the forward estimates. This is on top of $50 million committed in the interim to upgrade and support the continued provision of services on the current site.

The Marshall Liberal government is committed to building the new Women's and Children's Hospital with the input of clinicians and in a financially responsible way. This investment is the first instalment in the build as a final business case is completed and the full plans for the hospital are developed.

The engagement of the expert task force together with the engagement of clinicians within the hospital network already shows the difference between our build and Labor's new Royal Adelaide build. Under Labor, the new Royal Adelaide was built with poor planning and a lack of consultation and we saw a budget overrun of around $700 million.

Building on the advice of the task force, the government will now continue the consultation process, engaging with our clinicians to ensure the hospital gives South Australian women, children and families the cutting-edge treatment and the best facilities available. This will be enhanced by the co-location with the Royal Adelaide Hospital, adding its presence to the biomeds precinct.

Labor failed to properly plan in the new RAH project. The project was delayed, over budget and with significant flaws. They did this without properly engaging clinicians. The secretary of the Ambulance Employees Association raised that point when he appeared before a committee of this parliament recently. He told the health services committee that there was supposed to be new models of care at the new Royal Adelaide Hospital but it was developed in a bubble without listening to practitioners, clinicians or unions. He went on to say that the AEA wrote to the RAH to tell them that the design would mean that the ED was going to be blocked and there would be ramping; sure enough, there was.

Labor was only going to build half a hospital, leaving the children's hospital as an orphan from the women's hospital. The Marshall Liberal government will build the new Women's and Children's Hospital together and makes no apologies for taking the time to get it right. South Australia does not need the world's third most expensive building again. Let's make sure it works.

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