CORONAVIRUS —
MENTAL HEALTH
668. Mr Z.R.F. KIRKUP to the Minister for Mental Health:
I have a supplementary question. Has
there been a significant increase in the number of mental health patients
presenting to our state's emergency departments as a result of
COVID-19; and is that one of the reasons that we are experiencing record high
ambulance ramping levels, especially considering that there is virtually no flu
or respiratory illness in Western Australia?
Mr R.H.
COOK replied:
I can confirm for the house that
presentations to our emergency departments for mental health issues dipped
significantly during our early experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, but they
have moved back to pre-COVID levels. People presenting with mental health
issues to our emergency departments continue to be a challenge for us. That is
why we have continued to upgrade our EDs by including mental health observation
areas, expanding the EDs in Peel Health Campus and Joondalup Health Campus,
introducing a short-stay unit at Armadale Health Service to make sure that that
ED gets the support that it needs, and introducing an urgent behavioural
assessment unit at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. These are great investments
that will make sure that our EDs continue to get the investment they need to
meet the demand for their services.
It is perhaps due to some of that
investment, but definitely due to the great work of our doctors and nurses,
that our emergency departments are the best
in the country. For the January to March quarter, Western Australia had the
best emergency access target numbers of any ED system in Australia, with 76 per
cent of all people being admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
Queensland and Western Australia are, by a country mile, the best in the
country, and Western Australia is better even than Queensland. We have every
reason to be confident and proud of our emergency departments and the great
people who work within them. The member for Dawesville has made some commentary
about ramping. I can confirm that we are no longer focused on ramping because
we are not concerned about ambulances —
Mr Z.R.F. Kirkup: You're
not focused on it? That's evident! You have the worst ramping record in
history.
The SPEAKER: Member for
Dawesville, it is not a shouting match. I call you to order for the second
time.
Mr R.H. COOK: I am not so
much concerned about the welfare of ambulances; I am concerned about the
welfare of the patients inside them! It is about outcomes and how quickly we
transfer those patients into emergency departments and into the great care of
our consultants and nurses. Our transfer-of-care performance has improved on
last year. Our transfer-of-care median wait time has been 22 minutes right
across this year. Last year, 69 per cent of
all patients were transferred to the ED in under 30 minutes. This year it is
almost 72 per cent, so the situation is continuing to improve. We can
always do better but we know that transfer of care is the best measure of how
well our EDs are performing. It is how quickly we get the patient out of the
ambulance and into the hands of our medical practitioners.
Mr Z.R.F. Kirkup interjected.
The SPEAKER: Do you want to go home early, member for
Dawesville?
Mr R.H. COOK: It is not how quickly we get ambulances
back on the road. That is the job of St John Ambulance, which is why we focus
on transfer of care. The McGowan government puts patients first. We have the
best EDs in the country and are continuing to improve on how quickly we get
patients into those EDs.