SA Health Chief Executive, Dr Robyn Lawrence, has stunned the Budget and Finance Committee when she claimed that the billion dollar SA Health budget overspend, was “not a budget blowout”.
Dr Lawrence, whose annual salary package is around $700,000 per year, failed to answer basic questions and admitted that the budget blowouts are likely to continue this financial year.
Has the Government fixed ramping?
According to SA Health’s top doctor, “We have not achieved what we set out to.”
Leader of the Opposition, Vincent Tarzia said it was made clear that the Government has lost control of the health system and failed in its key election promise to fix ramping.
“The excuses put to us by the second highest paid public servant in South Australia were simply extraordinary. Factors such as aged care demand were existent at the last state election. Labor has had carriage of the health system for 18 of the last 22 years, they are the architects of this crisis,” said Mr Tarzia.
“Not only is it clear that the Government is failing to attract and the retain the workforce it needs, it is failing to keep the staff they have safe, with revelations today that Royal Adelaide Hospital staff have been given duress alarms due to the unsafe work environment.”
Labor’s bad track record on health infrastructure is likely to continue, with Dr Lawrence admitting the Project Director of the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital resigned months ago, with no replacement yet on the horizon.
Shadow Minister for Cost of Living and Chair of Budget and Finance, the Hon Heidi Girolamo said It is no surprise that SA Health is set to once again blowout their budget by millions, if not billions of dollars.
“This failure to plan, means the Government is planning to fail when it comes to our health system,” said Ms Girolamo.
“The Auditor General highlighted the risks around this Government’s ability to deliver major projects and it is no surprise given that key staff are walking off the job. This Government has spent billions of dollars on health, yet outcomes for South Australians are worse than ever.
Dr Lawrence tried to deny the impact of the GP Payroll Tax grab on South Australians, later forced to admit that it “potentially” increases the cost of seeing a GP in our state.
“We understand since the introduction of the GP Payroll Tax grab this year, many South Australians have been paying an extra $10-$15 in gap payments to visit their GPs. This is exacerbating the demand on our public hospital system and causing South Australians to delay their care due to cost of living pressures.”
When the SA Ambulance Chief Executive was asked about the delivery of ramping statistics, he said while the Ambulance Employees Association was given statistics around the 15th of the month, the Minister was provided them “much earlier”.
“This begs the question about the transparency of this Government on its key election promise,” said Mr Tarzia.
