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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 1089 asked in the Legislative Council on 14 October 2020 by Hon Alison Xamon

Parliament: 40 Session: 1

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH — ST JOHN AMBULANCE CONTRACT

1089. Hon ALISON XAMON to the parliamentary secretary representing the Minister for Health:

I refer to the new service agreement for the delivery of ambulance services in WA.

(1) Does the new agreement include funding to provide free ambulance services for people on concession cards, consistent with other Australian jurisdictions?

(2) If no, why not?

Hon ALANNA CLOHESY replied:

I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.

(1) No. The St John Ambulance service agreement does not include funding to provide free ambulance services for people on concession cards; however, the Department of Health covers 50 per cent of the cost of eligible ambulance services for Western Australian residents over the age of 65 and provides a discount of up to 50 per cent of the cost of eligible ambulance services for pensioner concession card holders.

(2) Given the short time frames associated with the recent contract negotiations due to COVID-19, the Department of Health was unable to undertake the work associated with concessions. The Department of Health intends to undertake a detailed review of equity and access issues to inform the future SJA services agreement.