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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 815 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 23 November 2021 by Mr D.R. Michael

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

HOSPITALS — MODULAR CONSTRUCTION

815. Mr D.R. MICHAEL to the Minister for Health:

I refer to the WA safe transition plan and the McGowan Labor government's efforts in ensuring that Western Australia's hospitals remain well prepared for COVID-19. Can the minister update the house on this government's significant investment in expanding the capacity of our health system and delivering more hospital beds, including through the use of modular construction at existing hospital sites?

Mr R.H. COOK replied:

I thank the member for Balcatta for the question and, in particular, his tireless advocacy for Osborne Park Hospitalsome would say almost too much advocacy! I am very pleased to say that we have announced four sites for the new modular hospital beds, and the member for Balcatta will be very pleased to hear that one of those is Osborne Park Hospital, but also Rockingham General Hospital, Bunbury Hospital and Bentley Health Service. Each site will house a new 30-bed modular ward facility, delivering 120 beds to enhance our bed capacity across the WA health system as we start to open up in relation to our COVID-19 transition plan. These will form part of the 270 additional hospital beds announced by the Premier in early November. The 270 new beds, costing approximately $206.8 million, will be supported by $191.2 million to find 410 extra nurses and more than 100 extra doctors to work across our wards.

The commissioning of these modular beds marks a new era for the WA public health system, and the surges in our hospital capacity as WA learns to live with COVID-19, and is part of a historic expansion of our system as we continue to travel in these challenging times. Modular beds have been successfully used throughout the world during the COVID-19 pandemic and offer a clinically safe, expedited option over bricks-and-mortar site construction. The delivery of the four modular facilities, which will be part of the new 270 beds, will be used primarily by patients who do not need acute care and who are likely awaiting placement in more appropriate community-based settings. The Department of Health is working closely with the Department of Finance in progressing this project. A letter of intent has been issued to a contractor to enable work to begin immediately and this will fast-track the project and allow the state to work collaboratively with the contractor to make sure that this work is undertaken as quickly as possible. Construction of the new facilities is expected to be completed by 2022. This is an important addition to our current hospital capacity. It is making sure that we are ready to surge at the time that we transition, as previously outlined, and is an important part of making sure that we are COVID ready.