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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-04-07 Daily Xml
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Viral Respiratory Disease Pandemic Response Plan

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:30): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing regarding public health.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: The SA Health Viral Respiratory Disease Pandemic Response Plan (including influenza, COVID-19, SARS and MERS) provides a strategic outline for the South Australian government and SA Health's response to a viral respiratory disease pandemic in Australia and describes the high-level decisions and broad approach the government and health sector will take to respond to the pandemic. The plan covers infection control, vaccination, clinics, primary care, borders, and Aboriginal health, amongst other things. Each of these has multiple elements. My question to the minister is: can the minister outline how each of the following are being managed in accordance with the plan:

1. screening procedures in SA Health facilities;

2 implementing earlier-than-planned flu vaccination programs;

3. establishing respiratory clinics; and

4. implementing new triage systems for hospital emergency departments?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:31): I would regard that as a series of questions rather than a single question. Let me pick up one element of that, which is the issue of respiratory clinics. The government is very proud of its responsiveness to the need for COVID-19 testing clinics and respiratory clinics. The second drive-through COVID-19 clinic in the world was established under this government at the Repat site, a site that was only available because this government was elected and was able to tear up the contract of the previous government to sell it. Since then, we have established more than 50 clinics. Six of them are within metropolitan Adelaide; the remainder in country South Australia. A number of those are drive-through facilities. A number of them are walk-in clinics, and many of them are hospital based.

Those clinics are being coordinated with the PHN, both Adelaide and country respiratory clinics. The latest update I have had is that the commonwealth is in the final stages of operationalising three clinics in South Australia. My understanding is that we would be expecting more than that. Certainly, the state government is contributing a significantly larger number of clinics to the pandemic response than the commonwealth. We welcome the commonwealth's contribution, particularly because their clinics are slightly different. First of all, they are GP based and they will also involve an element of ongoing treatment. A person may present not merely for testing and assessment but also for ongoing treatment. We look forward to those clinics being put in place. As the disease progresses, we do expect that there will be more pressure on our EDs and our hospital services, so having those respiratory clinics around the state should be very helpful.

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