HEALTH — 2021–22
STATE BUDGET
501. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I
have a supplementary question. Given that emergency department presentations
have been predictable and on trend since 2019, what confidence can the Western Australian
public have that the government is taking this issue seriously when all we hear
is spin and deflection about the issues facing WA patients and health workers
in this state?
Mr R.H.
COOK replied:
As
usual, the member for Vasse is just plain wrong. The premise of her question is
entirely incorrect. No-one could have predicted that we would have an 18 per
cent increase in triage 2 category presentations between July 2018 and July
2021. That was a significant increase. No-one could predict the shocks
associated with the demands on our system, in particular, the impact of
long-stay patients because of the federal Liberal government's failure
to deliver a National Disability Insurance Scheme that would ensure that people
could get the care they need. Over 100 patients have been in hospital for over
150 days because of the failure of the federal government to manage the NDIS
properly.
Even though the member for Vasse
completely predicted the global pandemic, I suspect that the rest of us did not
have those insights. The global pandemic has been a significant shock to the
system. No-one could predict that our GPs
would be spending many of their waking hours immunising people against COVID-19
rather than seeing them for other
issues, so therefore people have to go to their local ED. No-one could predict
that we would have an increase in anxiety in our community, which has
tipped people into mental health episodes. We saw an 86 per cent increase in
kids presenting with eating disorder problems between July 2020 and July 2021.
These are extraordinary times. We have a government that can invest in the
health system and stands by the health system. Unfortunately, we also have an
opposition that is continually trying to undermine public confidence with its
negative commentary.