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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 210 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 15 June 2021 by Ms L. Mettam

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

PAEDIATRIC SERVICES — WAITLIST

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

Why are parents being forced to wait up to two years to see a paediatrician in this state while their children languish with undiagnosed and untreated conditions on a waitlist?

Mr R.H. COOK replied:

Our health system is under enormous pressure—everyone knows that. In particular, at Perth Children's Hospital we have seen an increase of over 80 per cent in the number of children presenting with eating disorders since July last year. That is an example of just the explosion that we have seen in healthcare services in WA. Obviously, that puts the system under significant pressure, which is why there has been such a significant expansion of hospital beds and staff that this state has ever seen. Over 117 beds will be added to our system by August this year—81 of those are already open. That does not include the extra 20 beds that we opened at PCH alone. As part of that program, we are expanding our nursing workforce by 600 over the next two years, which means that 1 000 nurse graduates will get an opportunity to be recruited into the health system this year, and another 1 000 next year. This massive expansion of our workforce and our capacity is all about responding to the needs of the Western Australian community. Those needs have significantly increased in volume, acuity and severity since the COVID-19 pandemic of last year. Every health system around Australia is suffering from that fate. The difference in Western Australia, of course, is that the government has looked after the state's finances and ensured that we got over the debt and deficit years of the Barnett government. That has meant that in times of strain and demand on these sorts of health services, we are in a position to fund their expansion. As I said, 117 new beds will be brought on by August this year, and there will be 600 new nurses over the next two years, over and above those nurses we would have otherwise recruited. Two hundred of those young nurses are on the wards today. We have a plan for how we will respond to this situation—a situation that is confronting all health services throughout the country.