South Australian Bills South Australian Bills[Index] [Search] [Download] [Help]
This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
South Australia
Health Care (Country Health Guarantee) Amendment
Bill 2011
A BILL FOR
An Act to amend the Health
Care Act 2008.
Contents
Part 1—Preliminary
1Short
title
2Amendment provisions
Part 2—Amendment of Health Care
Act 2008
3Insertion of Part 10A
Part 10A—Special provisions relating to
services delivered in the country
89Interpretation
89AClosure of a country hospital
site
89BReduction in
emergency services at a public country hospital
89CReduction in financial support to a private country
hospital
89DAnnual
report on steps to expand services
The Parliament of South Australia enacts as
follows:
This Act may be cited as the Health Care (Country Health Guarantee)
Amendment Act 2011.
In this Act, a provision under a heading referring to the amendment of a
specified Act amends the Act so specified.
Part 2—Amendment
of Health Care
Act 2008
After section 88 insert:
Part 10A—Special provisions relating to services
delivered in the country
89—Interpretation
In this Part—
country area of the State means an area of the State outside
Metropolitan Adelaide;
Metropolitan Adelaide means Metropolitan Adelaide within the
meaning of the
Development
Act 1993;
private country hospital means a private hospital that
provides health services at a hospital located in a country area of the
State;
public country hospital means the undertaking of an
incorporated hospital undertaken at a site in a country area of the
State.
89A—Closure of a country hospital
site
(1) A public country hospital cannot be closed except in accordance with
the following provisions of this section.
(2) The Minister must first give notice of a proposal to close a public
country hospital—
(a) by publishing a notice—
(i) in a newspaper circulating generally throughout the State;
and
(ii) in a newspaper circulating in the area where the public country
hospital is situated; and
(b) by giving notice, in accordance with the regulations,
to—
(i) persons who provide health services at the public country hospital,
whether as employees, contractors, consultants or visiting health professionals;
and
(ii) persons who are receiving ongoing or regular health services provided
at or by the public country hospital; and
(iii) local community bodies, organisations or groups that the Minister
assesses as having a reasonable level of connection with the public country
hospital.
(3) The notice must
set out or include—
(a) a statement indicating that it is proposed to close the public country
hospital; and
(b) the grounds for the proposed closure; and
(c) information relating to—
(i) where replacement or ongoing health services will be provided to the
local community; and
(ii) the likely effect that the closure of the public country hospital
will have on the local community; and
(d) an invitation for
interested persons or bodies to make representations in writing to the Minister
in relation to the proposed closure within a period (of at least 28 days)
specified by the Minister.
(4) The Minister must
also, within the period specified under
subsection (3)(d),
cause a public meeting to be held in the local area in relation to the
matter.
(5) The Minister must
consider any representations received by the Minister within the period
specified under
subsection (3)(d)
or made at the meeting under
subsection (4).
(6) The Minister must then prepare a report on the proposal and ensure
that the report includes responses to the representations considered under
subsection (5).
(7) The Minister must cause a copy of the report to be laid before both
Houses of Parliament.
(8) If it is still proposed that the public country hospital be closed,
the closure cannot occur without the approval of both Houses of
Parliament.
(9) This section does not apply to the temporary closure of a public
country hospital in an emergency, for health or safety reasons, or for the
purposes of carrying out building work.
89B—Reduction in emergency services at a public
country hospital
(1) Emergency services provided at a public country hospital cannot be
discontinued or reduced to a significant degree except in accordance with the
following provisions of this section.
(2) The Minister must first give notice of the proposed discontinuance or
reduction—
(a) by publishing a notice—
(i) in a newspaper circulating generally throughout the State;
and
(ii) in a newspaper circulating in the area where the public country
hospital is situated; and
(b) by giving notice, in accordance with the regulations, to persons who
provide health services at the public country hospital, whether as employees,
contractors, consultants or visiting health professionals.
(3) The notice must
set out or include—
(a) a statement indicating that it is proposed to discontinue or reduce
emergency services provided at the public country hospital; and
(b) the grounds for the proposed course of action; and
(c) information as to where and how emergency services will continue to be
provided to the local community; and
(d) an invitation for
interested persons or bodies to make representations in writing to the Minister
in relation to the proposed course of action within a period (of at least
28 days) specified by the Minister.
(4) The Minister must
consider any representations received under
subsection (3)(d)
or otherwise received by the Minister in relation to the matter.
(5) The Minister must then prepare a report on the proposal and ensure
that the report includes responses to the representations considered under
subsection (4).
(6) The Minister must then cause a copy of the report to be laid before
both Houses of Parliament.
(7) If it is still proposed that emergency services at the public country
hospital be discontinued or reduced, that course of action cannot occur unless
the Minister has prepared a statement in relation to the matter and caused that
statement to be laid before both Houses of Parliament.
(8) This section does not apply—
(a) in a case that is also within the ambit of
section 89A;
or
(b) to the temporary discontinuance or reduction of emergency services in
an emergency, for health or safety reasons, or for the purposes of carrying out
building work.
89C—Reduction in financial support to a private
country hospital
(1) This section applies to a private country hospital that is in receipt
of significant financial support from the State Government on or after the
commencement of this section.
(2) For the purposes of this section, significant financial support is
financial support—
(a) that equals or exceeds $100 000 per annum provided
towards the provision of health services at the hospital; or
(b) that is less than $100 000 per annum but that the
private country hospital has, by notice in writing to the Minister, declared to
be financial support that, if discontinued or reduced to a significant degree,
would have an adverse affect to a significant degree on the provision of health
services at the hospital.
(3) The provision of significant financial support to a private country
hospital cannot be discontinued or reduced to a significant degree except in
accordance with the following provisions of this section.
(4) The Minister must first give notice of the proposed discontinuance or
reduction—
(a) by giving notice, in accordance with the regulations, to the private
country hospital; and
(b) by publishing a notice—
(i) in a newspaper circulating generally throughout the State;
and
(ii) in a newspaper circulating in the area where the private country
hospital is situated.
(5) The notice must set
out or include—
(a) a statement indicating that it is proposed to discontinue or reduce
the financial support; and
(b) an invitation for
interested persons or bodies to make representations in writing to the Minister
in relation to the proposed course of action within a period (of at least
28 days) specified by the Minister.
(6) The Minister must
consider any representations received under
subsection (5)(b) or
otherwise received by the Minister in relation the matter.
(7) The Minister must then prepare a report on the proposal and ensure
that the report includes responses to the representations considered under
subsection (6).
(8) The Minister must then cause a copy of the report to be laid before
both Houses of Parliament.
89D—Annual report on steps to expand
services
(1) The Minister must,
within 2 months after the end of each financial year, cause a report to be
prepared that sets out, in relation to that financial year—
(a) a statement of the amounts spent or provided by the State Government
on expanding health services delivered to the country areas of the State (with
the information applying to both public country hospitals and private country
hospitals and being set out on a hospital by hospital basis), and an assessment
of the effectiveness of that funding in providing improved health outcomes for
communities within those areas; and
(b) information about the steps taken by the State Government to support
health professionals who provide services in the country areas of the State, and
to attract health professionals to those areas; and
(c) insofar as is reasonably practicable, information about the number of
health professionals who are estimated to work (in some capacity) in the country
areas of the State, as at the end of the financial year (expressed as a number
of Full Time Equivalents).
(2) The first report under
subsection (1) must
also include—
(a) a statement setting out the levels of services provided by each public
country hospital on 1 July 2008; and
(b) a statement setting out the levels of services provided by each public
country hospital on 1 July 2011; and
(c) a comparison between the 2 levels of services.
(3) The Minister must cause a copy of the report to be laid before both
Houses of Parliament.