HEALTH — FUNDING
288. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I
have a supplementary question. When will the minister accept that the
government's one-eyed quest to cut corners, despite a record
budget surplus and regardless of the impact on health staff and patients, has
led to this crisis in our health system?
Ms A.
SANDERSON replied:
I consistently try to bring some
facts and some evidence back to this debate, and I will consistently bring the
opposition back to the reality and the truth. The reality is that the health
budget has increased consistently over the life of this government, full stop.
In every single year, it has increased. That is a fact.
Another fact that is lost on the
member for Vasse and the opposition is that we are seeing consistent increases
in presentations in our hospitals. Despite some of the commentary that is in
the public arena, the evidence shows, the numbers
show, the people walking through the door and coming in an ambulance show, that
more people are coming through the door. There has been an increase in
demand and an increase in acuity. In this year alone, emergency department presentations
are up by 24 600—that is a more than four per cent increase in ED
presentations. The 000 calls are more than 6.5 per cent higher than at this
time last year, and significantly higher than pre-COVID levels. This is an
extraordinary time that we are in. We have extraordinarily high COVID numbers
and there are a number of staff on leave, on furlough, because they have to be—it
is critical to them that they care for the people in their families, or they have COVID. That is the strain on the system
right now. The facts are clear—our investment has gone up
significantly and steadily every single year of the life of this government.
The SPEAKER: Before I give the member for Nedlands the
call, I note that we are dealing with limited time today; if people could take
that into account.