I am pleased to announce that a re-elected Coalition Government will fund significant improvements at the Noarlunga and McLaren Vale and Districts War Memorial Hospitals.
These are:
- $1.8 million for the construction and fitting-out of a 10 bed high-dependency unit at the Noarlunga Hospital; and
- $1 million for the upgrade of facilities at the McLarenVale and Districts War Memorial Hospital, including the upgrade of the Manning Wing of the hospital to support a Community Health Clinic.
The State Government will be expected to meet the operating costs of the facility. These could be funded by the savings from the hospital budget of not having to send as many patients by ambulance from Noarlunga to Flinders Medical Centre.
This high-dependency unit will enable Noarlunga to stabilise and treat more emergency patients and to support a wider range of surgery being performed at the hospital.
The McLaren Vale Hospital has long been under pressure in the area from a shortage of general practitioners. The recent relocation of a four-doctor GP service to the hospital has gone a long way to relieve some of this pressure, but it also has highlighted the hospital’s age and that of many of its facilities.
The McLaren Vale Community Health Clinic could also benefit in the future from the Coalition’s $433 million Family Emergency Medical Centres plan to bring more extended-hours and family-friendly alternatives into the suburbs and regional areas.
Both these important projects could not be funded had it not been for the tireless advocacy and commitment of the federal Member for Kingston, Kym Richardson MP, who welcomed the funding:
“The Southern Suburbs have been growing rapidly and Labor continues to fail the South. Over the past two years the Rann Government has ignored petitions seeking an upgrade of the Noarlunga Hospital to enable it to cope with more emergencies, rather than send people on to long waits in the emergency department of Flinders Medical Centre,” Mr Richardson said.
“The South deserves better than to be ignored by this State Labor Government, and their health needs are such that something must be done about the situation here at Noarlunga hospital. That is why I took this matter to the Federal Government and why I am so proud to deliver this funding commitment with the Treasurer for the South,” he said.