Labor backbenchers in Adelaide have spoken out against their own Government’s plans to downgrade a southern suburb’s hospital Emergency Department.
The South Australian Government has proposed scaling back Noarlunga Hospital’s ED and replacing it with a nearby walk-in clinic.
The plans were revealed as part of its Transforming Health paper released one month ago, which included major changes to the roles of public hospitals and the likely closure of three other facilities – the Repatriation General Hospital, the Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre, and Saint Margaret’s Hospital.
Labor Member for Reynell Katrine Hildyard said she would join fellow first-term members and southern suburb MPs Chris Picton and Nat Cook in opposing the changes at Noarlunga.
“Certainly people in the south want to make sure they have access to good quality care first time every time and that they have somewhere reasonably close by that they can actually go to when situations are pretty difficult,” she said.
Ms Hildyard said she had spoken to Health Minister Jack Snelling and he was receptive to their concerns.
“He is listening to us. He is absolutely committed to listening to the broader community and I have faith that he will do that and take good heed of community concerns in terms of making his final decisions,” she said.
The MP’s lobbying comes several days after the minister already indicated he would reconsider plans to scale back Noarlunga’s ED in the face of health sector concerns.
Mr Snelling said he would take their views on board, along with 2,000 other submissions he had received.
“The Government needs to take into account not just the views of the local MPs but we need to make decisions based upon the interests of a health system for the whole state,” he said.