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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-03-30 Daily Xml
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Women's and Children's Hospital

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (14:59): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Can the minister please update the chamber on recent developments in the $50 million sustainment works at the Women's and Children's Hospital?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:59): I thank the honourable member for his question. I am very pleased to update the chamber on the work that the Marshall Liberal government is doing on the current Women's and Children's site while we plan for a brand-new Women's and Children's Hospital next to the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

I was delighted to attend the opening of the new Mallee Ward at the Women's and Children's Hospital last week. This is a brand-new inpatient facility for South Australian children and adolescents experiencing significant mental illness and is yet another example of the Marshall Liberal government's commitment to building what matters to the community of this state.

The Mallee Ward is managed by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service and replaces the former Boylan Ward at the hospital. The new facility is just one part of the government's important $50 million upgrades to the Women's and Children's Hospital. The Mallee Ward is the only specific psychiatric inpatient facility for children and adolescents in South Australia and features a range of new co-designed spaces that will ensure staff can continue to provide high-level support and care to young people experiencing mental distress and who are in mental crisis.

We are the party that has been committed to building a women's and a children's hospital in the same location, unlike others who think it's okay to have a standalone children's hospital, thereby stranding separately mothers who need urgent care from their newborns. We were the only ones to offer this new integrated facility to the South Australian community at the last election. In the intervening period, as we implement the new Women's and Children's Hospital, we will not neglect the services on the current site.

The Mallee Ward has a courtyard, which means consumers can access an outdoor area with a basketball ring, and it has the option of gardening, with growing and producing one's own food. The ward also makes spaces available for several therapeutic activities—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Conversations across the chamber are unhelpful and out of order.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: —and an environment to support children and young people with their recovery. It includes a four-bed high-dependency, low-stimulus unit that can be separated from the rest of the ward and provide more acute care, if necessary. There are individual patient rooms with ensuites, consult spaces, sensory rooms, large recreation spaces as well as a staff-led kitchen and laundry.

On admission, patients will be given an e-bracelet that gives them access to their room only. Picking up on the question that we were discussing earlier with the Hon. Frank Pangallo, e-bracelets again are an example of technology being used to provide care for young South Australians.

The kitchen and the computer areas are completely lockable to block unsupervised access. The design of the Mallee Ward incorporates attention to detail to promote the care and comfort of patients, including soothing colours and natural light as well as safety features essential to a mental healthcare environment. The larger exercise space and equipment will also provide an opportunity for the activity therapist to hold group sessions.

I am advised that the first patients were admitted into the Mallee Ward yesterday. I convey my best wishes to the children and young people who will access this service and wish them all the best in their mental health recovery and wellbeing.

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