GERALDTON HEALTH CAMPUS —
REDEVELOPMENT
35. Hon MARTIN ALDRIDGE to the parliamentary secretary
representing the Minister for Health:
I refer to the $73.3 million business
case for the stage 1 redevelopment of Geraldton Health Campus.
(1) Is it correct that the business
case is predicated upon meeting demand for services by 2025–26?
(2) Is it correct that the stage 1
redevelopment is not due to be complete until March 2023?
(3) Is the
minister aware that the option selected from the business case by him under a heading
''Negative Impacts/Risks'' states —
No change to number of inpatient
beds, and increase in the number of Emergency Department treatment spaces will
result in an increase in number of ward inpatient bed block episodes. Patients
will stay in the Emergency Area for longer periods of time while they are
waiting for an inpatient bed;
(4) Given the
recent event of an 84-year-old grandmother waiting on the floor of the
Geraldton emergency department and the minister's own admission that
this was ''appalling and unacceptable'', when will he acknowledge
that the government's hospital upgrade is grossly inadequate and over
budget?
Hon ALANNA
CLOHESY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question. I am advised of the following.
(1) Yes. The
business case for the stage 1 redevelopment of Geraldton Health Campus
addresses current demand and increasing activity and accommodates the projected
demand for services to 2025–26. The business case for redevelopment of
the GHC was outlined as a staged approach. Stage 2 and 3 redevelopments are
expected to address the remaining service objectives.
(2) No. The
construction, completion and commissioning of the stage 1 redevelopment of the
GHC is projected for the first half of 2022.
(3) The stage 1
redevelopment of the GHC will deliver the following new build additional beds:
12 mental health inpatient unit beds; four mental health short-stay unit beds;
eight high-dependency unit/intensive care beds, co-located with the emergency
department; and 10 additional emergency department treatment bays. An
additional four emergency department short-stay beds have been able to be
accommodated within the available funding and this will increase the additional
new beds to a total of 38.
Existing
beds currently occupied by mental health and high-dependency inpatients on the
general ward will become available for general ward patient utilisation,
therefore providing additional inpatient capacity.
(4) The business
case for redevelopment of the GHC outlines a staged approach. The stage 2 and 3
redevelopments are expected to address the remaining service objectives.