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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-04 Daily Xml
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Health Workforce

The Hon. T.T. NGO (16:13): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing about health.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.T. NGO: There have been 120 nursing positions made redundant by the Marshall Liberal government in the past two years. These include nurses in emergency departments, intensive care, cardiology, general medicine, gastroenterology and neurosurgery. The Auditor-General has confirmed that in the past 12 months there was a reduction of 112 nurses overall across the health system. My question is: why has the government approved redundancies for frontline nurses in vital positions across the health system?

The PRESIDENT: In calling the minister, there was a fair bit of opinion in that explanation, but I'm sure the minister will handle it as he sees fit.

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (16:14): This government is proud that we continue to invest strongly in health. In terms of the health workforce, it continues to grow, particularly in relation to nurses and midwives. What the Auditor-General's Report shows is that, since the election, nurses and midwives have increased by 286. The honourable member almost gives me an opportunity to start my International Nurses Day speech now, because one thing that I think has been a very strong demonstration through the pandemic is the versatility and skill of the nursing community.

We have had nurses running medi-hotels and we have had nurses running vaccination clinics and testing clinics and providing in-reach mental health services. The success of the SA Health response to the COVID-19 pandemic is fundamentally built on the skill and professionalism of the nursing workforce, and that's why we continue to invest in nurses and midwives.

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