KING EDWARD MEMORIAL HOSPITAL FOR WOMEN — STAFF
430. Ms M.J. DAVIES to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the second rally that is
being held today at King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women by the Australian
Nursing Federation and the hospital staff who are scared, anxious and
overwhelmed by the crisis in our health system and the private hospitals giving
cash incentives to recruit nurses. Why is the minister refusing to implement
short-term measures put to him by the Australian Nursing Federation, such as
improved parking for staff and more flexible rosters to retain existing nurses
and attract additional critical staff?
Mr R.H.
COOK replied:
Last week we announced a range of
measures to create incentives to make sure that nurses are supported better in
the workplace, making sure that we can create a good clinical environment for
the people they care for. In addition, we continue to work with the Australian
Nursing Federation around a range of its proposals. Mark Olson has come up with
about a dozen 10-point plans recently. I am very close to Mark, and we work
through those on an ongoing basis. To some extent, the nurses at King Edward
Memorial Hospital for Women are anxious about safety outside the hospital as
well as the parking issue. Obviously, parking remains an issue, as it does in
hospitals anywhere in the world. The hospital leadership continues to work on
these issues with both the staff and the City of Subiaco to see what remedies
we can put in place.
However, the best thing we can do
for the doctors, nurses, allied health support staff and patients, particularly
the women of Western Australia, at King
Edward Memorial Hospital is to build them a brand new hospital. That is why
the government has committed $1.8 billion to ensure that we can provide for the
needs of women and babies into the future. At the moment we are actively
engaged with clinical staff around that major project.