HEALTH — AUDITOR GENERAL'S REPORT
853. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Minister for Health:
I note the release of the Audit
results report—Annual 2020–21 financial audits of state
government entities, which found
significant weaknesses in the Department of Health, the North Metropolitan
Health Service, the East Metropolitan Health Service, PathWest and the
Quadriplegic Centre's remote access and network security controls,
exposing sensitive information to unauthorised access, and comments from the
Auditor General in the briefing when she said that issues around health are
incredibly significant. What confidence can the Western Australian public have
that the minister is in any way in control of the health portfolio when the
independent umpire has handed him such a damning report card?
Mr R.H.
COOK replied:
The
''independent umpire'', as referred to by the member for Moore,
is the Auditor General, who provided a qualified report because she,
like the government, accepts that health is a big, complex system dealing with
a large quantity of data.
Mr R.S. Love interjected.
Mr R.H. COOK: Are you going
to shut up or are you going to let me answer the question?
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER: Minister,
continue with your answer, please.
Mr R.H. COOK: This government
is investing significantly in the digital capability of our health system. When
we came to government, we found a system that was moribund and failed to
provide the technology necessary for a functioning,
modern health system. That is why we brought about our digital health strategy,
which is about making sure that we
have the capacity to continue to adapt to the changing health environment and
health technology to ensure that we can continue to provide outstanding
health care. That includes the safekeeping of patient data. It is about making
sure that while we enable our clinicians, particularly our young clinicians, to
work in a digitally informed way, at the same time we have a system that is not
vulnerable to external threats.
Also in my time, we have established
the Health Support Services, which is a specialised team that is dedicated to
serving and continually supporting the health service providers to ensure that
the very best medical equipment and technology is brought to bear. I am
impressed that during the time of the COVID pandemic, we brought out an
entirely new digitised imaging system. That was implemented at a time when our
health system was under a lot of pressure and people's movements
throughout that system were obviously under pressure, but it was flawlessly
implemented in a live situation. From that perspective, there is a lot for the Western
Australian community and, in fact, our health teams to be very proud of.
Recently, we completed the business case for the electronic
medical record, which is something that we have committed to. I very much look forward to making sure that it becomes a reality
in the not-too-distant future, despite the fact that it is a massive and
complex piece of work.
No government has done more to digitise and enable our health
system than the McGowan Labor government. We have already invested hundreds of
millions of dollars in this particular way. I have never claimed the health
system to be perfect, but I know it is a damn sight better than when members
opposite were in control.