Patients, nurses, doctors and concerned members of the public can now have their say about the state’s failing health system.

 

The Liberals today launched a Health Hotline for people to leave messages about their experiences with the state’s hospitals.

 

Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond said the Liberals were prompted to set-up the Health Hotline after receiving huge numbers of complaints.

 

“The Opposition receives complaints about our hospitals and the wider health system day after day so we have now set-up a dedicated phone line for people to ring and let us know their experiences,” Ms Redmond said.

 

The Health Hotline – ph: 8294 8515 – will be located in Shadow Health Minister Duncan McFetridge’s office and callers can leave a message for the Opposition to reply to.

 

Dr McFetridge said the Australian Medical Association’s recent Public Hospital Report Card revealed the dire state of South Australia’s hospital system.

 

“AMA’s report revealed the bed occupancy of the state’s public hospitals remained consistently above the recommended rate of 85 per cent.

 

“This means there are many people being affected by an overcrowded and overworked health system.

 

“The Rann Government hasn’t been listening to the people being let down by its failure to manage the health system.

 

“The Liberal Opposition is listening and is keen to hear from people who have had personal experiences with the state’s failing health system.

 

“The Rann Government has had eight years to get South Australia’s health system in order and has failed.

 

“The Liberal Opposition wants to hear from people about what they think can be done to fix our hospitals so we can get started on the job on forming government in March 2010.”