Question On Notice No. 555 asked in the Legislative Council on 22 February 2022 by Hon Martin Aldridge
Question Directed to the: Leader of the House representing the Minister for Health
Parliament: 41 Session: 1
Question
I refer to reports from ABC Mid-West and Wheatbelt on 18 January 2021 regarding significant staffing shortages at Geraldton hospital's emergency department, and I ask:
(a) for the month of December 2021, on how many days was the emergency department roster able to be filled;
(b) for the month of January 2022, on how many days was the emergency department roster able to be filled;
(c) is the Minister aware of any specific issues impacting recruitment at
Geraldton Health Campus and, if so, please outline these issues;
(d) what specific measures is the State Government undertaking to address staff shortages at Geraldton Health Campus; and
(e) please table any correspondence from the WA Country Health Service in relation to staffing shortages at Geraldton Health Campus?
Answered on 7 April 2022
(a) - (b) The following table provides details of nursing and medical rosters that were filled between 90-100%, over the traditionally difficult to staff Christmas period.
|
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December 2021
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January 2022
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Medical
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22 days
|
23 days
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|
Nursing
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18 days
|
23 days
|
(c) - (d) Like most hospitals and health services, we’re working in the context of state, national and international workforce shortages that have been exacerbated by border restrictions and the ongoing demands of a global pandemic. Several strategies are being employed to ensure additional staff are able to be deployed to regional areas:
· Established an Operations Hub with daily oversight of workforce shortages across country WA
· Enacted the State Business Continuity Leadership Team to provide system wide oversight of regional workforce challenges
· Deployment of staff from other WACHS sites and metropolitan Health Service Providers
· Priority deployment of nursing staff by NurseWest
· Promotional social media recruitment campaign
· Direct engagement with recruitment agencies
· Engagement with local government
· Incentive payments for staff deployed to priority sites
(e) Not applicable.