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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 691 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 27 October 2021 by Ms L. Mettam

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

STANDING COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION —INQUIRY INTO THE DELIVERY OF AMBULANCE SERVICES IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

691. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:

I have a supplementary question. Given the Productivity Commission's report, which highlights the efficiencies of St John, what assurance will the minister provide that he will reflect on the report in the best interests of the patients and the volunteers of Western Australia?

The SPEAKER: Minister, it is quite a hypothetical question; the report has not yet been delivered. If you do respond, I would ask you to do so briefly.

Mr R.H. COOK replied:

I simply draw the Parliament's attention to some very important statistics. In 2019, St John Ambulance had 8 145 call-outs. In 2021, that has now reached almost 10 000—9 751—a 20 per cent increase since 2019. This is putting untold pressure upon our ambulance services and the hospitals that they take patients to. As a result of that, I am not surprised that Parliament has seen fit to examine St John Ambulance: Are we doing enough to support it? Are there other ways that we can better support the great work that it does?

I was advised of a statistic the other day by the South Metropolitan Health Service, which said that 60 per cent of ambulance arrivals at Rockingham General Hospital are not admitted—that is, well over half the people who are brought to the hospital by ambulance walk away or drive themselves home from the hospital. There is something going on out there that I think it is important to inquire into. I do not reflect, as the member for Vasse is doing, that somehow St John Ambulance is letting us down or that we need to attack it. I think it is doing a great job. It is one of the best ambulance services in this country, and if there is more that we can do to support it, then we will take the opportunity to do so.

The SPEAKER: Members, that concludes question time.