AMBULANCE
RAMPING
311. Ms M.J. DAVIES to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the ABC 7.30
report expose regarding ambulance ramping, including insights from the Western Australian
faculty chair for the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, Dr Peter
Allely.
(1) Is it not
time that the minister acknowledged the health system in WA is in crisis, given
the critique of industry leader Dr Allely that, and I quote, ''most
departments are running at almost disaster level''?
(2) If ramping hours that exceed 5 000 hours do not
constitute a crisis, what does?
Mr R.H. COOK replied:
(1)–(2)
I thank the member for the question. It is the same question that was asked
just prior to the break, so it is good to see the material is updated!
Several members interjected.
Mr R.H. COOK: My answer —
Several members interjected.
Mr R.H. COOK: You will shush—the lot of you—and
listen, because you clearly could not listen the last time! You clearly could not listen the last time, so I am
going to tell you this time: we are in the blast zone of a global pandemic.
As a result of that, our hospitals are under significant demand pressures. Our
hospitals are under the same pressures as all hospitals around this country. We
have had a significant increase in demand—14 per cent in emergency department presentations this year alone compared
with last year. There is a significant increase in demand, so what is
the way we respond to increased demand?
Mr V.A. Catania: Fund it properly!
Ms J.J. Shaw interjected.
The SPEAKER: Order, please! Member for Swan Hills, I ask
you not to interject.
Mr R.H. COOK: The way we respond to increased demand
is increased supply. Sadly for the member for North
West Central, that is exactly what is going on. Over 2 000 nurses will be
recruited this year, which will include an extra 600 newly qualified
nurses over two years. We already have 200 of these nurses on the wards. We
will have 400 registered enrolled nurses and
200 mental health nurses come on board. Normally, we have 720 graduates,
so there will be a significant increase of 300 nurses on the previous year.
We had 2 000 people a day attending metropolitan emergency
departments, plus 1 000 a day in regional hospitals. We are increasing the number of ED beds and chairs by about 100. That is
a significant increase in the capacity of EDs. We need to increase the
number of beds available, which is exactly what we are doing.
Dr D.J. Honey: You have done nothing for four years —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER: Order, please!
Dr A.D. Buti interjected.
The SPEAKER: Member for
Armadale!
Mr R.H. COOK: For the
benefit of members opposite, but particularly for the hapless member for
Cottesloe, I repeat that we are increasing the number of beds by over 500. This
will comprise 117 beds from existing capacity across the Perth metropolitan
area and 100 new ED beds. We have committed to over 300 new inpatient beds as
part of our infrastructure development at Joondalup, Geraldton, Peel and
Bunbury. Of those 300 beds, 200 will be in the metro area and 100 beds will be
in the mental health area. This is all part of our infrastructure expansion,
which includes $256.7 million at Joondalup Health Campus, $152 million at Peel
Health Campus and, of course, $1.8 billion for a new women's and
newborns' hospital. No government has had such an expansive and
deliberate response to increased demand in our hospitals than this government.
The reason why we can do this is that we got the finances back under control.
It is through that clear leadership from the Premier and with strong
stewardship of the state finances that we are now in a position to
significantly invest in our hospital system.