CORONAVIRUS —
ELECTIVE SURGERY
798. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I
refer to the latest elective surgery monthly report that shows that waiting
times in October have blown out to 66 days.
(1) Can the minister confirm that
these are the highest ever wait times on record?
(2) What excuse can the minister possibly have for such
terrible figures when there is no COVID-19 in our community?
Mr D.J. Kelly: Why did you
let him ask a question on pipes first?
The SPEAKER: Minister for
Water, I am giving the call to the Deputy Premier. Perhaps we can hear from
him.
Mr R.H. COOK: Madam Speaker,
I do not know where to take the conversation after that!
The SPEAKER: Perhaps you
could answer the question, please.
Mr R.H.
COOK replied:
(1)–(2) We
all know that all our hospitals are under pressure at the moment. Whether they
are at the Bendigo hospital, the Ballarat hospital, the Brisbane hospital or
the Joondalup hospital, all our hospitals are under pressure from a significant
level of demand. As a result, all elective surgery is under equal demand. In Western
Australia, we have not had the mass cancellations of elective surgery that is
currently being experienced in Victoria and New South Wales, but it is under
pressure. We are working as best we can to make sure that we get through the
elective surgery waitlists as quickly and expeditiously as possible, making our priorities priority 1s and urgent
category 2s, ensuring that we get to everyone before they become
over-boundary. That is the reason we invested $36 million last year when we
were coming out of our COVID period, when elective surgery had to be cancelled,
to make sure that we could catch up. We got to that in, I think, around about
January this year. It is true that elective surgery remains a challenge for us.
We are challenged because we have workforce issues and because we have demand
issues, but the WA Health teams are doing an outstanding job under difficult
circumstances to get to everyone. Patient safety is ultimately our prime
objective. We remain resolute in that goal and will continue to make sure that
we put patients first.