Labor attacks South Australian health budget repair plan

Consultants plan to cut 178 beds and 4500 operations as part of cuts to South Australia’s public hospital system, Labor says.

South Australian Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas. Picture: AAP

KordaMentha plans to cut at least 178 beds and at least 4500 operations as part of $460 million worth of cuts to South Australia’s public hospital system, the opposition says.

Labor, which oversaw massive budget blowouts in health spending during its 16 years in government in South Australia, yesterday ramped up its attack on the eight-month-old Liberal government over a radical plan to save money.

A damning report by corporate advisory and restructuring group KordaMentha, released by the Marshall government on Monday, identified a likely budget blowout in 2018-19 of more than $300m in the Central Adelaide Local Health Network.

The network, responsible for the new $2.4 billion Royal Adelaide Hospital, had “fallen into fin­ancial disrepair” and was a “basketcase” with a systemic and widespread lack of respect for ­financial controls with little commitment to reducing costs.

Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas, a former health minister, said it should be business as usual because putting corporate liquidators in charge of financial decisions means “there is a real possibility of ­adverse outcomes when it comes to patients and that’s not an ­acceptable way to be running a modern health system”.

Yesterday in parliament, Premier Steven Marshall and Health Minister Stephen Wade defended their “turnaround” plan that will see KordaMentha take charge of all financial decisions within CALHN and introduce tighter controls on procurement, recruitment and rostering. KordaMentha will be paid $18m to deliver the first stage of the government’s plan, with savings of $41m expected by the middle of next year, $101m to be recovered in 2020 and $134m the following year.

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation state secretary Elizabeth Dabars welcomed the plan, saying it “incorporates and adopts many of the central themes and solutions that we’ve been raising for months”.

Ambulance Employees Association state secretary Phil Palmer said it appeared the new government was “keen on fixing the problem”.

Australian Medical Association state president William Tam yesterday sought assurances “there will not be bed ­closures or reduction in services to the community”.