Thank you Deputy Speaker well look we are now seeing the impact of what an election of a Liberal State Government are having on the health system particularly on the southern suburbs of Adelaide.
Now I’d like to say that it was a surprise, but we know that before the State Election it was very, very clear that the State Liberals where out of their depth when it came to planning to invest in our health system.
We are also seeing in the southern suburbs when it comes to the Federal system – out of pocket costs to see a GP or Specialist are soaring. Waiting times are blowing out. Private Health insurance companies are putting up their profits rather than looking after consumers.
It is disappointing that we’ve seen both Liberals in the State and Federal cut millions from our public hospitals in South Australia including the hospitals that residents in my electorate reply on.
Slashing funding from hospitals has real consequences.
We are hearing report after report of patients being stranded for hours in ambulances waiting for emergency departments to admit them.
Indeed, there have been some unfortunate reports that people have died while waiting to get into emergency departments.
But not only are we hearing about significant waiting when it comes to our hospital and emergency departments, but we are hearing waiting lists when it comes to elective surgery.
Now for the people that rely on this surgery, it is not elective for them. Whether it is having cataract surgery whether it’s having hip surgery, knee surgery these are types of things that improve residents’ quality of life. It improves patients’ quality of life.
I had a number of local people coming to me saying to me that they have been waiting over a year or over two years to actually access elective surgery and that is just unacceptable.
But in addition what has been incredibly concerning is people that have done the bowel cancer testing kit are waiting months and months for a colonoscopy.
I’ve had one local say that they had to after a positive test – so a red flag out there – have to wait over a year to get a colonoscopy to actually check. Now this is a serious issue.
You need to expect better, and residents expect better from their public health system. This is putting people’s lives at risk and it is time that both the State Liberal Party and the Federal Liberal Party rock up with some cash and actually invest in our health system and actually make sure that the health system is there for everyone when they need it.
