Hon Adele Farina questions the Health portfolio regarding Child Development Service wait times, highlighting disparities between metropolitan and regional areas. The response confirms existing targets in the metro area, a review in 2015-16, and consideration of regional targets.

AnsweredQoN 3725Legislative Council
Asked
21 October 2015
Portfolio
Health

QuestionView source ↗

I refer to wait times for Child Development Service, and I ask: (a) are there target wait times for each of the following services in the metropolitan area and, if yes, what are the target wait times: (i) Speech Pathology; (ii) Occupational Therapy; (iii) Physiotherapy; (iv) Clinical Psychology; and (v) a Social Worker; (b) if yes to (a), why are there no targets for waiting times in regional areas; (c) are the target wait times described in (a) to be reviewed in 2015-16; (d) if yes to (c), will this review include the setting of target wait times in regional areas; and (e) if no to (c), why not?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
1 December 2015
Responded by
Parliamentary Secretary representing the Minister for Health
Response time
41 days
(a) Yes.
(i) 9.4 months
(ii) 7.5 months
(iii) 6.2 months
(iv) 5.1 months
(v) 3.9 months
(b) The WA Country Health Service (WACHS) reports against the metropolitan Child Development Service (CDS) target waiting times as listed in (a). Referrals to the WACHS CDS are prioritised according to acuity and complexity of the child's condition and their age, as guided by the WACHS Allied Health Prioritisation Framework.
(c) Yes, these target waiting times will be reviewed in 2015/16, with revised waiting time targets to be implemented from July 2016. These revised targets for the metropolitan area will be developed in consultation with WACHS.
(d) The setting of wait times will be considered by WACHS in the review in 2015/16.
(e) Not applicable.

Explore WA Government Data

Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.

Explore more