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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-11-06 Daily Xml
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SA Health

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:16): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing, the Hon. Stephen Wade, about SA Health's petty practices.

Leave granted.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: I have been contacted by two constituents about the service they received from SA Health. One is a critically ill patient in Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre who has difficulty in breathing and is fed intravenously because this patient is unable to swallow anything because it will cause life-threatening lung infections. The condition causes the patient to constantly cough up phlegm, requiring nursing staff to wipe it with tissues. The patient has been told that, because the ward is allocated just six boxes of tissues a week, they must pay for their own supply.

In another matter, a constituent recovering from a broken leg requested to hire a commode. When it was delivered to her home, she and her husband were disgusted by the condition of the chair. It was in a poor state and covered in stains from previous use, raising hygiene concerns. The constituent was told that equipment was not maintained to a standard because of funding cuts.

My question to the minister is: while appreciating the situation of the health budget, are the government such tightwads that it is now policy that patients will need to supply their own incidental items, like tissues and wipes, in our public hospitals and care facilities? Is there a policy regarding the cleanliness of equipment delivered to clients, and does the minister believe it's acceptable that medical hire equipment can be delivered unclean and pose a possible health risk?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:18): I thank the honourable member for his questions. I am more than happy, as always, to follow up concerns from constituents about the quality of care they receive from SA Health, so I will certainly speak to the member and get what details I can about the care that he refers to. First of all, I would like to clarify whether or not it was an SA Health service. We are not large providers of home-based equipment, so I will be keen to identify whether or not it's a public health service. To the extent that the service falls short of community expectations, I will pursue that matter on behalf of the honourable member.

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