❓ Mr. Hatton asks about the progress of the government's commitment to increase school health staff. The Minister details funding allocations and the initial appointments of school health nurses, a coordinator, and speech therapists, highlighting the government's focus on early intervention and addressing deficiencies in school health services.
AnsweredQoN 636Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
SCHOOL
HEALTH NURSES
636. Mr C.D. HATTON to the
Minister for Health:
Firstly, on behalf of the member for
Perth, I acknowledge here today the WA Rotary Club of Northbridge.
I commend the minister on welcoming the first tranche of new
school health nurses to be employed under the state government's
commitment to increase nurse and other health staff numbers in Western
Australian schools. Can the minister please update the house on how many and
what type of new school health staff have started at schools in term 4?
HEALTH NURSES
636. Mr C.D. HATTON to the
Minister for Health:
Firstly, on behalf of the member for
Perth, I acknowledge here today the WA Rotary Club of Northbridge.
I commend the minister on welcoming the first tranche of new
school health nurses to be employed under the state government's
commitment to increase nurse and other health staff numbers in Western
Australian schools. Can the minister please update the house on how many and
what type of new school health staff have started at schools in term 4?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question. Today, we jointly had
the pleasure of going to one of the schools in his electorate, Balcatta Primary
School. The member kindly decided to invite some of the students there to lunch
at Parliament House, which was very good of him. While we were there, we had a
great time with not only the two students who welcomed us, but also two other
students who are obviously just starting their years at the primary school, as
some of our new school health nurses were doing some tests of both their
eyesight and their hearing. This is part of the program that this government
has started. It must be remembered that when we were in opposition, we started
an inquiry by the Education and Health Standing Committee into the provision of
services that look after children in this state, and that inquiry was continued
subsequently during our first term of government. That committee found a serious
deficiency in a range of areas in providing school health services—namely,
child health services and the services provided by school nurses, speech
therapists and the like.
Initially, we provided just under
$50 million for the extra services. In last year's budget, we provided
a significant increase to cover the child health nurses. In this year's
budget, we provided an extra $38 million for 155 extra school nurses across the
state. Over 40 of those are in country areas and the rest are in the metropolitan
area. The first 22 of those extra staff—it must be remembered that the
budget was handed down only in August—have been appointed. Nineteen of
them are school health nurses, one is a coordinator and two are doing speech
therapy to look after the concerns we have about recognising very early those
children in primary school who have speech difficulties. It is a great new
program. We will be rolling out the $38 million over the next four years for
155 additional school nurses and speech therapists across the state to better
look after the children in our schools.
the pleasure of going to one of the schools in his electorate, Balcatta Primary
School. The member kindly decided to invite some of the students there to lunch
at Parliament House, which was very good of him. While we were there, we had a
great time with not only the two students who welcomed us, but also two other
students who are obviously just starting their years at the primary school, as
some of our new school health nurses were doing some tests of both their
eyesight and their hearing. This is part of the program that this government
has started. It must be remembered that when we were in opposition, we started
an inquiry by the Education and Health Standing Committee into the provision of
services that look after children in this state, and that inquiry was continued
subsequently during our first term of government. That committee found a serious
deficiency in a range of areas in providing school health services—namely,
child health services and the services provided by school nurses, speech
therapists and the like.
Initially, we provided just under
$50 million for the extra services. In last year's budget, we provided
a significant increase to cover the child health nurses. In this year's
budget, we provided an extra $38 million for 155 extra school nurses across the
state. Over 40 of those are in country areas and the rest are in the metropolitan
area. The first 22 of those extra staff—it must be remembered that the
budget was handed down only in August—have been appointed. Nineteen of
them are school health nurses, one is a coordinator and two are doing speech
therapy to look after the concerns we have about recognising very early those
children in primary school who have speech difficulties. It is a great new
program. We will be rolling out the $38 million over the next four years for
155 additional school nurses and speech therapists across the state to better
look after the children in our schools.
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