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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 714 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 9 November 2021 by Ms L. Mettam

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

PERTH CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL — AISHWARYA ASWATH — INDEPENDENT INQUIRY REPORT

714. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:

I refer to the response to the report of the independent inquiry into Perth Children's Hospital, and I quote —

We acknowledge ongoing concerns about staffing shortages � with available bed numbers and resources � underpinning risks to our ability to meet our patient's needs �

At the time, why did the Minister for Health say that understaffing and under-resourcing were not issues in Aishwarya Aswath's death, when they clearly were, especially given that frontline and relatively junior health staff were quickly referred to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency?

Mr R.H. COOK replied:

The selective quotes used by the member for Vasse refer to the comments I made about staffing on the evening of 3 April. It is true that there was a full roster of staff available and working that particular evening. The report's author also said that that particular evening was not a busy evening in terms of both the number of presentations and the complexity. The staff who were rostered and available were adequate and certainly consistent with that roster. That is the truth of the matter.

It is also true to say that we were at that time, and have been since then, continuing to look at the configuration of staff at that hospital and in that ED in particular. That is why we have made significant changes to the number of staff available. That includes an uplift of 49 FTE at the PCH ED. An additional 21 FTE nurses have started working in that ED since April, and there are currently 22 FTE nursing vacancies. Six have just been recruited, with another round being completed yesterday. It is anticipated that 15 staff will be offered posts in this process. This will leave a total vacancy of just seven FTE nurses in the PCH ED.

As I have said before repeatedly, because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions around our borders, we are constrained in terms of the number of doctors and nurses that we can recruit. This was acknowledged in the report itself. We will continue to make sure that we put maximum effort into increasing our numbers. As I just mentioned in answer to the previous question, we are having a great deal of success in that, and I look forward to further success.