❓ Hon Sue Ellery asks about waiting lists and times for therapy services (speech, physio, audiology, OT, dietetics) for children aged 0-3 in WA health services. The response provides data from Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) and Child Development Service (CDS), noting data limitations and variations in data collection methods.
AnsweredQoN 1211Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
(1) How many children; aged between 0 and 3 years, and in each of the health services are on waiting lists for the following therapy services, -
(a) speech therapy;
(b) physiotherapy;
(c) audiology;
(d) occupational therapy; and
(e) dieticians?
(2) What is the waiting time for each of the therapies, in each area of health service?
(a) speech therapy;
(b) physiotherapy;
(c) audiology;
(d) occupational therapy; and
(e) dieticians?
(2) What is the waiting time for each of the therapies, in each area of health service?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
22 October 2009
Responded by
Minister for Transport representing the Minister for Health
Response time
36 days
It should be noted that metropolitan child development services are provided by Princess Margaret Hospital for Children (PMH) and the Child Development Service (CDS).
CDS 'wait lists' are currently recorded as 'requests for service'. A 'request for service' is a referral that has been accepted as appropriate. Information regarding requests for service for the metropolitan Child Development Service is not available by age. It is only collected by disciplines.
As at September 2009, there were a total of 8,571 requests for services across multiple disciplines within the metropolitan area. Given that children often receive services from multiple disciplines, the actual number of individual children waiting for services is significantly less.
The WA Country Health Service does not collect data regarding waiting times for Child Development Services.
(1) (a)
Speech therapy
PMH: Number of children waiting for services are 29 in total.
CDS: 3,890 requests for service.
(b)
Physiotherapy
PMH: The wait list times for children vary according to complexity and acuity of their condition. The Physiotherapy service prioritisation differs for inpatients and outpatients.
Inpatients - There are currently five (5) children between 0-3 years of age who are experiencing long-term hospitalisation/admission at PMH. The number of children in this category varies from two (2) to ten (10) at any one time. Please note that these children only represent 1% of inpatient referrals.
Outpatients - Number of children in this group on waitlist is five (5).
CDS: 847 requests for service.
(c)
Audiology
PMH: 385 children under the age of 3 years are already scheduled for their appointments. Some of these include appointments for annual / periodic monitoring. A significant number of these referrals require to be seen at a specific age (eg. 8 months of age as part of neonatal follow up; annual review etc.).
CDS: 206 requests for service.
(d)
Occupational Therapy
PMH: 30 Awaiting First Assessment and 20 awaiting therapy.
CDS: 1,596 requests for service.
(e)
Dietetics:
PMH: 36 children aged between birth and 3 years on wait list.
CDS: 119 requests for service.
(2)
Speech Therapy
PMH: 7 for high risk within 1 month, 22 for medium risk within 3 months and, 0 for low risk within 6 months.
CDS: 15 months
Physiotherapy
PMH: Inpatients - Urgent acute cases are triaged and seen within half a day. Long term inpatients 0-3 years are prioritised sccording to requirements and seen as soon as possible.
Outpatients - Current waiting time is approximately two months
CDS: 10 months
Audiology
PMH: Audiology accepts referrals from mainly within the hospital. The current waiting time for new cases under any age group is less than 3 months from the referral date - except where the referrals require the children to be seen at specific age (as part of neonatal follow up) or at specific time to coincide with other appointments.
CDS: 4 months
Occupational Therapy
PMH: First Available Appointment for New Assessment is April 2010.
CDS: 11 months
Dietetics
PMH: Maximum waiting time currently is three weeks.
CDS: 5 weeks
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
CDS 'wait lists' are currently recorded as 'requests for service'. A 'request for service' is a referral that has been accepted as appropriate. Information regarding requests for service for the metropolitan Child Development Service is not available by age. It is only collected by disciplines.
As at September 2009, there were a total of 8,571 requests for services across multiple disciplines within the metropolitan area. Given that children often receive services from multiple disciplines, the actual number of individual children waiting for services is significantly less.
The WA Country Health Service does not collect data regarding waiting times for Child Development Services.
(1) (a)
Speech therapy
PMH: Number of children waiting for services are 29 in total.
CDS: 3,890 requests for service.
(b)
Physiotherapy
PMH: The wait list times for children vary according to complexity and acuity of their condition. The Physiotherapy service prioritisation differs for inpatients and outpatients.
Inpatients - There are currently five (5) children between 0-3 years of age who are experiencing long-term hospitalisation/admission at PMH. The number of children in this category varies from two (2) to ten (10) at any one time. Please note that these children only represent 1% of inpatient referrals.
Outpatients - Number of children in this group on waitlist is five (5).
CDS: 847 requests for service.
(c)
Audiology
PMH: 385 children under the age of 3 years are already scheduled for their appointments. Some of these include appointments for annual / periodic monitoring. A significant number of these referrals require to be seen at a specific age (eg. 8 months of age as part of neonatal follow up; annual review etc.).
CDS: 206 requests for service.
(d)
Occupational Therapy
PMH: 30 Awaiting First Assessment and 20 awaiting therapy.
CDS: 1,596 requests for service.
(e)
Dietetics:
PMH: 36 children aged between birth and 3 years on wait list.
CDS: 119 requests for service.
(2)
Speech Therapy
PMH: 7 for high risk within 1 month, 22 for medium risk within 3 months and, 0 for low risk within 6 months.
CDS: 15 months
Physiotherapy
PMH: Inpatients - Urgent acute cases are triaged and seen within half a day. Long term inpatients 0-3 years are prioritised sccording to requirements and seen as soon as possible.
Outpatients - Current waiting time is approximately two months
CDS: 10 months
Audiology
PMH: Audiology accepts referrals from mainly within the hospital. The current waiting time for new cases under any age group is less than 3 months from the referral date - except where the referrals require the children to be seen at specific age (as part of neonatal follow up) or at specific time to coincide with other appointments.
CDS: 4 months
Occupational Therapy
PMH: First Available Appointment for New Assessment is April 2010.
CDS: 11 months
Dietetics
PMH: Maximum waiting time currently is three weeks.
CDS: 5 weeks
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.