The Opposition pledges to restore services at Modbury Hospital
THE Opposition has made a $20 million election promise to restore emergency and surgical services at Modbury Hospital — which were downgraded under Transforming Health.
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THE State Opposition has pledged to restore surgical and emergency department services at Modbury Hospital as the health system grapples with ongoing pressure.
Opposition Leader Steven Marshall on Wednesday made a $20 million election promise to restore surgical capacity as well as emergency services at the hospital which were downgraded under the Transforming Health reforms.
Ambulances with complex and urgent emergency cases now bypass Modbury in favour of Lyell McEwin Hospital — which on Wednesday morning was dealing with more patients than its emergency department capacity and had an average waiting time of 101 minutes, excluding high priority cases.
Mr Marshall said if the Liberals win government they will establish a four bed High Dependency Unit at Modbury Hospital to enable the return of more complex surgical cases.
“The heart of the Liberal policy is the restoration of first-class health services for the local community,” he said.
“The return of a High Dependency Unit will reduce the risk to patients undergoing treatment at Modbury and enable a wider range of surgical procedures to be performed at the hospital.
“This investment will support the reintroduction of emergency surgery at Modbury Hospital and support clinicians in responding to emergencies, both within the Emergency Department and
elsewhere in the hospital.
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“A High Dependency Unit will restore the local community’s confidence in attending Modbury’s
Emergency Department and reduce the incidence of people needing to travel to the Lyell
McEwin Hospital in an emergency.
“Minutes matter in medical emergencies and strengthening the capacity of the Modbury
Emergency Department will be a great relief to the local community.
“Restoring surgical capacity at Modbury Hospital will ease the enormous pressure on the Lyell
McEwin Hospital and Adelaide’s wider hospital network that Labor’s Transforming Health budget cuts have produced.”
He said the injection of additional resources into Modbury Hospital will allow surgical inpatients to stay longer at Modbury Hospital to support their recovery.
Modbury Hospital has become a political headache for the Labor Party as the election looms — its catchment includes the marginal seat of Florey, now held by independent Frances Bedford, who quit the Labor Party after then-health minister Jack Snelling was preselected to contest the seat.
Mr Snelling now will not contest the 2018 election while Ms Bedford may run as an independent.