Question On Notice No. 2666 asked in the Legislative Council on 31 October 2019 by Hon Alison Xamon
Question Directed to the: Parliamentary Secretary representing the Minister for Health
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
Question
I refer to the provision of public speech pathology services to children, and I ask:
(a) for each geographical region and for each health service provider in the Perth metropolitan area, what were the mean speech pathology wait times in:
(i) 2016;
(ii) 2017;
(iii) 2018; and
(iv) 2019;
(b) how many speech pathologists were employed in each geographical region and for each health service provider in the Perth metropolitan area (please provide both head count and FTE) in:
(i) 2016;
(ii) 2017;
(iii) 2018; and
(iv) 2019; and
(c) how many of the positions in (b)(iv) are currently vacant?
Answered on 4 December 2019
I am advised:
(a)
|
(i) 2016
|
(ii) 2017
|
(iii) 2018
|
(iv) 2019
|
Community Health South metro (Sou)
|
4.7 months
|
4.2 months
|
4.1 months
|
6 months
|
Community Health Central metro (Cen)
|
4.9 months
|
4.0 months
|
3.4 months
|
3.2 months
|
Community Health North metro (Nor)
|
5.5 months
|
3.3 months
|
3.6 months
|
4.1 months
|
Perth Children’s Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital for Children (Hosp.)
|
· Inpatient referrals are seen within two working days.
· Outpatient referrals are triaged and seen within 30 days if urgent.
· All accepted referrals are seen within 90 days unless they are second opinion referrals already in the care of community service providers. Second opinion referrals are seen within 365 days.
· These standards have remained consistent across this time period.
|
JHC
|
· Inpatient referrals are seen within 24 hours of referral and this has remained consistent over the period of 2016-19
|
Peel Health Campus (PHC)
|
· An onsite speech pathologist provides services to all inpatients including paediatric patients.
· Inpatient referrals are seen within 24 hours of referral except for a weekend where there is no speech pathology service. Inpatients admitted over a weekend requiring speech pathology input will be prioritised and seen on a Monday. This has remained consistent over the period 2016-19.
|
(b) (i)
|
2016
|
|
Nor
|
Cen
|
Sou
|
Hosp.
|
PHC
|
|
FTE
|
23.4
|
16.7
|
32.2
|
13.2
|
0.6
|
|
|
HC
|
28
|
26
|
41
|
21
|
2
|
|
(ii)
|
2017
|
|
Nor
|
Cen
|
Sou
|
Hosp.
|
PHC
|
|
FTE
|
23.4
|
16.6
|
32.3
|
12.2
|
1
|
|
|
HC
|
30
|
23
|
45
|
18
|
3
|
|
(iii)
|
2018
|
|
Nor
|
Cen
|
Sou
|
Hosp.
|
PHC
|
|
FTE
|
23.9
|
16.1
|
32.3
|
12.2
|
1
|
|
|
HC
|
36
|
23
|
39
|
18
|
4
|
|
(iv)
|
2019
|
|
Nor
|
Cen
|
Sou
|
Hosp.
|
PHC
|
|
FTE
|
25.4
|
16.2
|
33.2
|
12.8
|
1
|
|
|
HC
|
34
|
25
|
43
|
18
|
3
|
|
(c)
North
|
Central
|
South
|
Perth Children’s Hospital
|
PHC
|
0.7
FTE
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|