WOMEN'S AND
BABIES' HOSPITAL
529. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I refer to an allocation in the
budget that provides $5.4 million over two years from 2021–22 to the
women's and newborns' service relocation project.
(1) Given that the study is commissioned for two years,
when will the minister actually break ground on the project?
(2) How many
years will it be until the minister expects the hospital to be operational
given we have a crisis now; and, will it be within the next five years?
Mr R.H.
COOK replied:
(1)–(2) The
one group I will not be lectured by on the opening of hospital infrastructure
is yours! Really, member? I can tell the member for Vasse what will not happen.
It will not be years overdue. It will not sit idle while we try to work out what is happening with the
asbestos in it and what is happening with the lead in the water.
Mr M. McGowan: The doors
wouldn't fit.
Mr R.H. COOK: That is right.
The doors would not fit.
The
fact of the matter is that the building of a new women's and newborns'
hospital at the cost of $1.8 billion, which will be invested by this government,
will be a complex project, and one that will require a good deal of planning and careful stepping through in terms of the
business case. As the member would be aware, it is very early days yet.
At the moment, investigations are going on to determine the best site for the
hospital. Obviously, we need to sit down and
carefully plan, with the clinical teams at King Edward Memorial Hospital for
Women, what we need to do to make
sure that we have a facility that is futureproof, unlike what the former Liberal–National
government did at Perth Children's Hospital. We must actually listen to
the clinical staff and put things in there in a manner that makes sense
to them, unlike what the former Liberal–National government did at
Fiona Stanley Hospital. Fundamentally, and most importantly, we must make sure
that it is a hospital that will provide world-class health care to women and
babies in the future.