Health Minister Peter Malinauskas to review Modbury Hospital services and may rewind Transforming Health changes
NEW Health Minister Peter Malinauskas will review services at Modbury Hospital and possibly wind back changes made under Transforming Health.
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PREMIER Jay Weatherill has ordered a review of services at Modbury Hospital which could lead to the contentious Transforming Health cuts and changes being wound back.
It would be the latest in a series of backflips or dropped plans for health reform, which Mr Weatherill conceded was a “political process” playing out six months from the next state election.
Modbury Hospital sits in the northern suburbs electorate of Florey, where former Labor MP Frances Bedford is considering whether to run against the Government as an independent.
Ms Bedford has vocally campaigned for the reinstatement of some services at the hospital.
Mr Weatherill denied the review was an admission that Transforming Health reforms there had failed.
However, he said if changes “receive implacable opposition, they become unworkable”.
“It’s a concession that we always should be listening to the community, and to local Members of Parliament,” he said.
“This is a political process ... but electoral imperatives are really just the community telling (MPs) what they want for their communities.”
It comes less than a week after Mr Weatherill lost longstanding Health Minister Jack Snelling from his Cabinet.
Mr Snelling is credited with pushing through many of the tougher reforms needed to rein in the spiralling health budget and streamline services.
Any further policy reversals would come in the wake of a backflip over proposed changes at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in June.
The Government reinstated cardiac services, which were slated for relocation, and pledged a new emergency department, operating theatre and day surgery suite.
The review of Modbury Hospital services is expected to take a matter of weeks but the Government will not release its findings — only policy decisions made as a result.
New Health Minister Peter Malinauskas will lead the review.
He and Mr Weatherill visited the hospital in the northern suburbs yesterday with Ms Bedford.
Mr Weatherill is trying to convince Ms Bedford to rejoin the Labor Party after she quit earlier this year following a bitter preselection battle in which Mr Snelling was chosen by the party to be the candidate for her seat of Florey at the March poll.
Earlier this week, Mr Snelling revealed he would bow out of Parliament at the next election.
Ms Bedford is weighing her options but said was not considering retiring.
An announcement on her future is now likely weeks away.
Mr Weatherill reiterated his preference for Ms Bedford to run for Florey on behalf of the Labor Party.
The party is yet to reopen nominations for candidates for the seat.
Mr Weatherill left open the prospect that it may not run a candidate against Ms Bedford if she ran as an independent.