Kelly Vincent – 5RPH interview on Transforming Health
18/03/2015
Richard Morgan: Time to welcome to 5RPH Dignity for Disability MLC Kelly Vincent. Hi Kelly.
Kelly Vincent: Hello Richard.
Richard Morgan: Kelly, I understand the Minister made a big announcement in a media conference, also in Parliament yesterday, about Transforming Health; can you give us some more details?
Kelly Vincent: Well certainly, one of the big announcements that was made in the statement on Transforming Health in Parliament yesterday was that the level 6 neonates, babies who are born at the Flinders Medical Centre Neonatal Intensive Care Unit will continue to be serviced there, so that unit will not be moved to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, which is very pleasing. There was a lot of community concern about that proposal, so it’s great to see that it will be remaining at the great service at Flinders. However, unfortunately the Minister is continuing with some other areas of concern, despite the strong representations that have been made to him from both professionals and community members.
Richard Morgan: Now, has the Minister backed down in any other areas?
Kelly Vincent: Not so much. He will be maintaining the Modbury and Queen Elizabeth Hospital as 24/7 Emergency Departments after the massive public outcry that I’m sure you are aware of, but he’s still unfortunately planning to proceed with the downgrading of Noarlunga Hospital at this stage, so we’ve had some wins but our work isn’t over yet.
Richard Morgan: Now, what concerns do Dignity for Disability still have about the current iteration of Transforming Health?
Kelly Vincent: Well certainly it seems to us that the proposal is based on lies, damn lies, and statistics, and statistics I have to say that have been skewed in a particular way to support the project, certainly from what I’m hearing from professionals in the health sector. The Minister has failed to consult a wide array of relevant clinicians in each area, such as rehab, OTs, physios, and so on, and unfortunately he’s gone with a few particular people who are willing to publicly support the project, without acknowledging whether or not they have expertise in the areas to talk about those particular areas, so it ignores the reality of Adelaide being a very geographically spread and diverse population, and attempts to implement models from the UK, and London specifically, and we just can’t expect that to be realistic given the due to the diverse and geographically spread population that we have as we said. So again, we’re ignoring many of the specialists, who do not agree with many of these proposals, and also ignoring the needs of many veterans in continuing with the proposal to close down most services at the Repat Hospital. So that as I say, we’ve had a few wins, particularly with the Flinders Medical Centre Neonatal Unit and the Emergency Departments at Modbury and the Queen Elizabeth, but we have a long way to go, so we’ll continue to be vocal about this to ensure the right information is being used to support this project and the voices of the South Australian community are heard.
Richard Morgan: As you’ve said, there’s a long way to go about Transforming Health yet.
Kelly Vincent: Indeed. I hope to have some more good news to share with you in the next few weeks.
Richard Morgan: Looking forward to it. Thanks for talking with us tonight.
Kelly Vincent: It’s a pleasure. Thanks, Richard.
Richard Morgan: Dignity for Disability MLC Kelly Vincent.
