SIR CHARLES GAIRDNER HOSPITAL — LEGIONELLA
16. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the deaths of at least
two people with legionella at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital since April 2020.
(1) How many
patients at the hospital have received treatment for suspected or confirmed
contamination of legionella since April 2020?
(2) Why did the government deny an attempt to cover up
the deaths when questioned in this place last November?
Ms A.
SANDERSON replied:
(1) If the member wants specific data and numbers that
go back a number of months, she knows full well that she needs to put
the question on notice. I am happy to answer that part of the question if she
puts it on notice—that is completely reasonable.
(2) I completely
reject the premise of the question, which is that somehow there was a cover-up.
That is completely wrong. Again, opposition members, particularly the member
for Vasse, are scratching around for the politics in every situation. I completely
reject her suggestion. Essentially, two patients have passed away. One of those patients was in palliative care
and we have not been able to determine whether legionella was the cause
of death in the other patient. The premise of the question is incorrect. Again,
this is another example of this terrible opposition. I am very confident that
the hospital and the director general have taken this issue seriously. The
director general and the chief executive of the hospital have provided very
clear information and time lines about the issue of legionella at Sir Charles
Gairdner. It is a very ageing hospital—there is no question about that—with
a challenging plumbing network. The hospital undertakes constant testing and
remediation. The safety of patients is always a priority. On top of that, the
director general has requested that the environmental health directorate in the
Department of Health undertake a full review of the North Metropolitan Health
Service and all the other health service providers for waterborne communicable
diseases. It will provide consistent testing and reporting advice. There was an
error in briefing the minister at the end of
last year, which has been well acknowledged by the health service and
apologised for in writing. That does not make it a cover-up. It is an
acknowledgement of an error, and the department has been very open about the
steps that it has taken to remediate the issue.