❓ The WA government allocated funds to improve doctor housing in Port Hedland, including new constructions, purchases, and leased properties, to attract and retain medical staff in the Pilbara region. They are also building a new hospital in South Hedland.
AnsweredQoN 81Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
PILBARA DOCTORS - LIVING CONDITIONS
Last year, concern was raised about the standard of housing for medical staff in Port Hedland. What steps have been taken to improve living conditions for doctors working in the Pilbara? Mr J.A. McGINTY
Last year, concern was raised about the standard of housing for medical staff in Port Hedland. What steps have been taken to improve living conditions for doctors working in the Pilbara? Mr J.A. McGINTY
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member who represents the Central Kimberley-Pilbara electorate for this question. Last year he drew attention to the fairly hopeless state of a lot of the housing provided for staff at our public hospital in Port Hedland, particularly the doctors, and indicated that it was acting as a disincentive to doctors being employed in that area. I visited Port Hedland and I had the opportunity to speak to some of the doctors and to see some of the housing. It struck me as a situation in drastic need of action. Recently, the government allocated $2.7 million to be spent immediately on the construction of five new houses in Port Hedland for doctors, and that work is due to start in the next four weeks. Mr B.J. Grylls : For salaried doctors or private doctors? Mr J.A. McGINTY : For salaried doctors working at the hospital. Obviously, there is a need for housing, and for that reason we recently purchased for $540 000 a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house with a swimming pool in Port Hedland for allocation to another doctor. We have also begun to manage six leased BHP Billiton houses in Port Hedland, and each of those has four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a swimming pool. A further two houses will be leased in the next few months. It has been a major effort - the construction of five new houses, the purchase of one and the leasing of a further eight houses of a standard which should be sufficient to attract doctors to and retain doctors in that region. The houses we are leasing from BHP Billiton each cost $750 a week. Although that is expensive, it is a small price to pay for stability in doctors servicing the remote parts of the state. We have also allocated $15 million for Department of Health regional housing, and the vast bulk of those funds will be invested in the north west of the state, which is the area in which the housing shortage is most acute. Those staff whom we are attracting to Port Hedland will soon be working in the $90 million, 50-bed hospital under construction in South Hedland. Stage 1 is currently under construction, and stage 2 will commence soon. It will replace the transportable hospital in Port Hedland, if it survives the cyclone currently in that region. The new hospital will provide the latest of facilities and will ensure that the people in the Pilbara can be treated locally for a number of procedures, rather than have to travel to Perth. The government has recently completed the $8.7 million replacement hospital at Halls Creek, which is also in the member’s electorate. It opened its doors in October last year and was upgraded from four to eight inpatient beds, which comprise two paediatric beds, one maternity bed, one palliative care bed and four general use adult beds. In addition, there is provision for beds for parents to stay with their sick children while they are in hospital. The new hospital at Halls Creek will also go a long way towards addressing some of the chronic health conditions in that region.
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: I thank the member who represents the Central Kimberley-Pilbara electorate for this question. Last year he drew attention to the fairly hopeless state of a lot of the housing provided for staff at our public hospital in Port Hedland, particularly the doctors, and indicated that it was acting as a disincentive to doctors being employed in that area. I visited Port Hedland and I had the opportunity to speak to some of the doctors and to see some of the housing. It struck me as a situation in drastic need of action. Recently, the government allocated $2.7 million to be spent immediately on the construction of five new houses in Port Hedland for doctors, and that work is due to start in the next four weeks. Mr B.J. Grylls : For salaried doctors or private doctors? Mr J.A. McGINTY : For salaried doctors working at the hospital. Obviously, there is a need for housing, and for that reason we recently purchased for $540 000 a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house with a swimming pool in Port Hedland for allocation to another doctor. We have also begun to manage six leased BHP Billiton houses in Port Hedland, and each of those has four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a swimming pool. A further two houses will be leased in the next few months. It has been a major effort - the construction of five new houses, the purchase of one and the leasing of a further eight houses of a standard which should be sufficient to attract doctors to and retain doctors in that region. The houses we are leasing from BHP Billiton each cost $750 a week. Although that is expensive, it is a small price to pay for stability in doctors servicing the remote parts of the state. We have also allocated $15 million for Department of Health regional housing, and the vast bulk of those funds will be invested in the north west of the state, which is the area in which the housing shortage is most acute. Those staff whom we are attracting to Port Hedland will soon be working in the $90 million, 50-bed hospital under construction in South Hedland. Stage 1 is currently under construction, and stage 2 will commence soon. It will replace the transportable hospital in Port Hedland, if it survives the cyclone currently in that region. The new hospital will provide the latest of facilities and will ensure that the people in the Pilbara can be treated locally for a number of procedures, rather than have to travel to Perth. The government has recently completed the $8.7 million replacement hospital at Halls Creek, which is also in the member’s electorate. It opened its doors in October last year and was upgraded from four to eight inpatient beds, which comprise two paediatric beds, one maternity bed, one palliative care bed and four general use adult beds. In addition, there is provision for beds for parents to stay with their sick children while they are in hospital. The new hospital at Halls Creek will also go a long way towards addressing some of the chronic health conditions in that region.
I thank the member who represents the Central Kimberley-Pilbara electorate for this question. Last year he drew attention to the fairly hopeless state of a lot of the housing provided for staff at our public hospital in Port Hedland, particularly the doctors, and indicated that it was acting as a disincentive to doctors being employed in that area. I visited Port Hedland and I had the opportunity to speak to some of the doctors and to see some of the housing. It struck me as a situation in drastic need of action. Recently, the government allocated $2.7 million to be spent immediately on the construction of five new houses in Port Hedland for doctors, and that work is due to start in the next four weeks. Mr B.J. Grylls : For salaried doctors or private doctors? Mr J.A. McGINTY : For salaried doctors working at the hospital. Obviously, there is a need for housing, and for that reason we recently purchased for $540 000 a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house with a swimming pool in Port Hedland for allocation to another doctor. We have also begun to manage six leased BHP Billiton houses in Port Hedland, and each of those has four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a swimming pool. A further two houses will be leased in the next few months. It has been a major effort - the construction of five new houses, the purchase of one and the leasing of a further eight houses of a standard which should be sufficient to attract doctors to and retain doctors in that region. The houses we are leasing from BHP Billiton each cost $750 a week. Although that is expensive, it is a small price to pay for stability in doctors servicing the remote parts of the state. We have also allocated $15 million for Department of Health regional housing, and the vast bulk of those funds will be invested in the north west of the state, which is the area in which the housing shortage is most acute. Those staff whom we are attracting to Port Hedland will soon be working in the $90 million, 50-bed hospital under construction in South Hedland. Stage 1 is currently under construction, and stage 2 will commence soon. It will replace the transportable hospital in Port Hedland, if it survives the cyclone currently in that region. The new hospital will provide the latest of facilities and will ensure that the people in the Pilbara can be treated locally for a number of procedures, rather than have to travel to Perth. The government has recently completed the $8.7 million replacement hospital at Halls Creek, which is also in the member’s electorate. It opened its doors in October last year and was upgraded from four to eight inpatient beds, which comprise two paediatric beds, one maternity bed, one palliative care bed and four general use adult beds. In addition, there is provision for beds for parents to stay with their sick children while they are in hospital. The new hospital at Halls Creek will also go a long way towards addressing some of the chronic health conditions in that region.
Mr B.J. Grylls : For salaried doctors or private doctors? Mr J.A. McGINTY : For salaried doctors working at the hospital. Obviously, there is a need for housing, and for that reason we recently purchased for $540 000 a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house with a swimming pool in Port Hedland for allocation to another doctor. We have also begun to manage six leased BHP Billiton houses in Port Hedland, and each of those has four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a swimming pool. A further two houses will be leased in the next few months. It has been a major effort - the construction of five new houses, the purchase of one and the leasing of a further eight houses of a standard which should be sufficient to attract doctors to and retain doctors in that region. The houses we are leasing from BHP Billiton each cost $750 a week. Although that is expensive, it is a small price to pay for stability in doctors servicing the remote parts of the state. We have also allocated $15 million for Department of Health regional housing, and the vast bulk of those funds will be invested in the north west of the state, which is the area in which the housing shortage is most acute. Those staff whom we are attracting to Port Hedland will soon be working in the $90 million, 50-bed hospital under construction in South Hedland. Stage 1 is currently under construction, and stage 2 will commence soon. It will replace the transportable hospital in Port Hedland, if it survives the cyclone currently in that region. The new hospital will provide the latest of facilities and will ensure that the people in the Pilbara can be treated locally for a number of procedures, rather than have to travel to Perth. The government has recently completed the $8.7 million replacement hospital at Halls Creek, which is also in the member’s electorate. It opened its doors in October last year and was upgraded from four to eight inpatient beds, which comprise two paediatric beds, one maternity bed, one palliative care bed and four general use adult beds. In addition, there is provision for beds for parents to stay with their sick children while they are in hospital. The new hospital at Halls Creek will also go a long way towards addressing some of the chronic health conditions in that region.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : For salaried doctors working at the hospital. Obviously, there is a need for housing, and for that reason we recently purchased for $540 000 a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house with a swimming pool in Port Hedland for allocation to another doctor. We have also begun to manage six leased BHP Billiton houses in Port Hedland, and each of those has four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a swimming pool. A further two houses will be leased in the next few months. It has been a major effort - the construction of five new houses, the purchase of one and the leasing of a further eight houses of a standard which should be sufficient to attract doctors to and retain doctors in that region. The houses we are leasing from BHP Billiton each cost $750 a week. Although that is expensive, it is a small price to pay for stability in doctors servicing the remote parts of the state. We have also allocated $15 million for Department of Health regional housing, and the vast bulk of those funds will be invested in the north west of the state, which is the area in which the housing shortage is most acute. Those staff whom we are attracting to Port Hedland will soon be working in the $90 million, 50-bed hospital under construction in South Hedland. Stage 1 is currently under construction, and stage 2 will commence soon. It will replace the transportable hospital in Port Hedland, if it survives the cyclone currently in that region. The new hospital will provide the latest of facilities and will ensure that the people in the Pilbara can be treated locally for a number of procedures, rather than have to travel to Perth. The government has recently completed the $8.7 million replacement hospital at Halls Creek, which is also in the member’s electorate. It opened its doors in October last year and was upgraded from four to eight inpatient beds, which comprise two paediatric beds, one maternity bed, one palliative care bed and four general use adult beds. In addition, there is provision for beds for parents to stay with their sick children while they are in hospital. The new hospital at Halls Creek will also go a long way towards addressing some of the chronic health conditions in that region.
Those staff whom we are attracting to Port Hedland will soon be working in the $90 million, 50-bed hospital under construction in South Hedland. Stage 1 is currently under construction, and stage 2 will commence soon. It will replace the transportable hospital in Port Hedland, if it survives the cyclone currently in that region. The new hospital will provide the latest of facilities and will ensure that the people in the Pilbara can be treated locally for a number of procedures, rather than have to travel to Perth. The government has recently completed the $8.7 million replacement hospital at Halls Creek, which is also in the member’s electorate. It opened its doors in October last year and was upgraded from four to eight inpatient beds, which comprise two paediatric beds, one maternity bed, one palliative care bed and four general use adult beds. In addition, there is provision for beds for parents to stay with their sick children while they are in hospital. The new hospital at Halls Creek will also go a long way towards addressing some of the chronic health conditions in that region.
The government has recently completed the $8.7 million replacement hospital at Halls Creek, which is also in the member’s electorate. It opened its doors in October last year and was upgraded from four to eight inpatient beds, which comprise two paediatric beds, one maternity bed, one palliative care bed and four general use adult beds. In addition, there is provision for beds for parents to stay with their sick children while they are in hospital. The new hospital at Halls Creek will also go a long way towards addressing some of the chronic health conditions in that region.
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: I thank the member who represents the Central Kimberley-Pilbara electorate for this question. Last year he drew attention to the fairly hopeless state of a lot of the housing provided for staff at our public hospital in Port Hedland, particularly the doctors, and indicated that it was acting as a disincentive to doctors being employed in that area. I visited Port Hedland and I had the opportunity to speak to some of the doctors and to see some of the housing. It struck me as a situation in drastic need of action. Recently, the government allocated $2.7 million to be spent immediately on the construction of five new houses in Port Hedland for doctors, and that work is due to start in the next four weeks. Mr B.J. Grylls : For salaried doctors or private doctors? Mr J.A. McGINTY : For salaried doctors working at the hospital. Obviously, there is a need for housing, and for that reason we recently purchased for $540 000 a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house with a swimming pool in Port Hedland for allocation to another doctor. We have also begun to manage six leased BHP Billiton houses in Port Hedland, and each of those has four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a swimming pool. A further two houses will be leased in the next few months. It has been a major effort - the construction of five new houses, the purchase of one and the leasing of a further eight houses of a standard which should be sufficient to attract doctors to and retain doctors in that region. The houses we are leasing from BHP Billiton each cost $750 a week. Although that is expensive, it is a small price to pay for stability in doctors servicing the remote parts of the state. We have also allocated $15 million for Department of Health regional housing, and the vast bulk of those funds will be invested in the north west of the state, which is the area in which the housing shortage is most acute. Those staff whom we are attracting to Port Hedland will soon be working in the $90 million, 50-bed hospital under construction in South Hedland. Stage 1 is currently under construction, and stage 2 will commence soon. It will replace the transportable hospital in Port Hedland, if it survives the cyclone currently in that region. The new hospital will provide the latest of facilities and will ensure that the people in the Pilbara can be treated locally for a number of procedures, rather than have to travel to Perth. The government has recently completed the $8.7 million replacement hospital at Halls Creek, which is also in the member’s electorate. It opened its doors in October last year and was upgraded from four to eight inpatient beds, which comprise two paediatric beds, one maternity bed, one palliative care bed and four general use adult beds. In addition, there is provision for beds for parents to stay with their sick children while they are in hospital. The new hospital at Halls Creek will also go a long way towards addressing some of the chronic health conditions in that region.
I thank the member who represents the Central Kimberley-Pilbara electorate for this question. Last year he drew attention to the fairly hopeless state of a lot of the housing provided for staff at our public hospital in Port Hedland, particularly the doctors, and indicated that it was acting as a disincentive to doctors being employed in that area. I visited Port Hedland and I had the opportunity to speak to some of the doctors and to see some of the housing. It struck me as a situation in drastic need of action. Recently, the government allocated $2.7 million to be spent immediately on the construction of five new houses in Port Hedland for doctors, and that work is due to start in the next four weeks. Mr B.J. Grylls : For salaried doctors or private doctors? Mr J.A. McGINTY : For salaried doctors working at the hospital. Obviously, there is a need for housing, and for that reason we recently purchased for $540 000 a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house with a swimming pool in Port Hedland for allocation to another doctor. We have also begun to manage six leased BHP Billiton houses in Port Hedland, and each of those has four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a swimming pool. A further two houses will be leased in the next few months. It has been a major effort - the construction of five new houses, the purchase of one and the leasing of a further eight houses of a standard which should be sufficient to attract doctors to and retain doctors in that region. The houses we are leasing from BHP Billiton each cost $750 a week. Although that is expensive, it is a small price to pay for stability in doctors servicing the remote parts of the state. We have also allocated $15 million for Department of Health regional housing, and the vast bulk of those funds will be invested in the north west of the state, which is the area in which the housing shortage is most acute. Those staff whom we are attracting to Port Hedland will soon be working in the $90 million, 50-bed hospital under construction in South Hedland. Stage 1 is currently under construction, and stage 2 will commence soon. It will replace the transportable hospital in Port Hedland, if it survives the cyclone currently in that region. The new hospital will provide the latest of facilities and will ensure that the people in the Pilbara can be treated locally for a number of procedures, rather than have to travel to Perth. The government has recently completed the $8.7 million replacement hospital at Halls Creek, which is also in the member’s electorate. It opened its doors in October last year and was upgraded from four to eight inpatient beds, which comprise two paediatric beds, one maternity bed, one palliative care bed and four general use adult beds. In addition, there is provision for beds for parents to stay with their sick children while they are in hospital. The new hospital at Halls Creek will also go a long way towards addressing some of the chronic health conditions in that region.
Mr B.J. Grylls : For salaried doctors or private doctors? Mr J.A. McGINTY : For salaried doctors working at the hospital. Obviously, there is a need for housing, and for that reason we recently purchased for $540 000 a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house with a swimming pool in Port Hedland for allocation to another doctor. We have also begun to manage six leased BHP Billiton houses in Port Hedland, and each of those has four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a swimming pool. A further two houses will be leased in the next few months. It has been a major effort - the construction of five new houses, the purchase of one and the leasing of a further eight houses of a standard which should be sufficient to attract doctors to and retain doctors in that region. The houses we are leasing from BHP Billiton each cost $750 a week. Although that is expensive, it is a small price to pay for stability in doctors servicing the remote parts of the state. We have also allocated $15 million for Department of Health regional housing, and the vast bulk of those funds will be invested in the north west of the state, which is the area in which the housing shortage is most acute. Those staff whom we are attracting to Port Hedland will soon be working in the $90 million, 50-bed hospital under construction in South Hedland. Stage 1 is currently under construction, and stage 2 will commence soon. It will replace the transportable hospital in Port Hedland, if it survives the cyclone currently in that region. The new hospital will provide the latest of facilities and will ensure that the people in the Pilbara can be treated locally for a number of procedures, rather than have to travel to Perth. The government has recently completed the $8.7 million replacement hospital at Halls Creek, which is also in the member’s electorate. It opened its doors in October last year and was upgraded from four to eight inpatient beds, which comprise two paediatric beds, one maternity bed, one palliative care bed and four general use adult beds. In addition, there is provision for beds for parents to stay with their sick children while they are in hospital. The new hospital at Halls Creek will also go a long way towards addressing some of the chronic health conditions in that region.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : For salaried doctors working at the hospital. Obviously, there is a need for housing, and for that reason we recently purchased for $540 000 a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house with a swimming pool in Port Hedland for allocation to another doctor. We have also begun to manage six leased BHP Billiton houses in Port Hedland, and each of those has four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a swimming pool. A further two houses will be leased in the next few months. It has been a major effort - the construction of five new houses, the purchase of one and the leasing of a further eight houses of a standard which should be sufficient to attract doctors to and retain doctors in that region. The houses we are leasing from BHP Billiton each cost $750 a week. Although that is expensive, it is a small price to pay for stability in doctors servicing the remote parts of the state. We have also allocated $15 million for Department of Health regional housing, and the vast bulk of those funds will be invested in the north west of the state, which is the area in which the housing shortage is most acute. Those staff whom we are attracting to Port Hedland will soon be working in the $90 million, 50-bed hospital under construction in South Hedland. Stage 1 is currently under construction, and stage 2 will commence soon. It will replace the transportable hospital in Port Hedland, if it survives the cyclone currently in that region. The new hospital will provide the latest of facilities and will ensure that the people in the Pilbara can be treated locally for a number of procedures, rather than have to travel to Perth. The government has recently completed the $8.7 million replacement hospital at Halls Creek, which is also in the member’s electorate. It opened its doors in October last year and was upgraded from four to eight inpatient beds, which comprise two paediatric beds, one maternity bed, one palliative care bed and four general use adult beds. In addition, there is provision for beds for parents to stay with their sick children while they are in hospital. The new hospital at Halls Creek will also go a long way towards addressing some of the chronic health conditions in that region.
Those staff whom we are attracting to Port Hedland will soon be working in the $90 million, 50-bed hospital under construction in South Hedland. Stage 1 is currently under construction, and stage 2 will commence soon. It will replace the transportable hospital in Port Hedland, if it survives the cyclone currently in that region. The new hospital will provide the latest of facilities and will ensure that the people in the Pilbara can be treated locally for a number of procedures, rather than have to travel to Perth. The government has recently completed the $8.7 million replacement hospital at Halls Creek, which is also in the member’s electorate. It opened its doors in October last year and was upgraded from four to eight inpatient beds, which comprise two paediatric beds, one maternity bed, one palliative care bed and four general use adult beds. In addition, there is provision for beds for parents to stay with their sick children while they are in hospital. The new hospital at Halls Creek will also go a long way towards addressing some of the chronic health conditions in that region.
The government has recently completed the $8.7 million replacement hospital at Halls Creek, which is also in the member’s electorate. It opened its doors in October last year and was upgraded from four to eight inpatient beds, which comprise two paediatric beds, one maternity bed, one palliative care bed and four general use adult beds. In addition, there is provision for beds for parents to stay with their sick children while they are in hospital. The new hospital at Halls Creek will also go a long way towards addressing some of the chronic health conditions in that region.
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