❓ Mr. Love questions the exclusion of Broome Hospital from a regional hospital security hub initiative and the effectiveness of a Perth-based CCTV hub for remote hospitals. The Minister defends the initiative as a pilot program with future statewide rollout, highlighting its benefits for staff safety and early intervention.
AnsweredQoN 149Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HEALTH —
REGIONAL HOSPITALS — SECURITY HUB
149. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the $484 000 announced to
develop a security hub for seven hospitals across regional Western Australia.
(1) Noting that
Broome Hospital is not on the list of hospitals, despite the number of code
black calls at that hospital almost doubling in recent years and, as I have
seen myself, knives and other weapons being seized at the hospital almost every
day, how were those seven hospitals determined?
(2) How will a CCTV
hub in the middle of the Perth CBD prevent nurses and healthcare workers from
being threatened or harmed thousands of kilometres away?
REGIONAL HOSPITALS — SECURITY HUB
149. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the $484 000 announced to
develop a security hub for seven hospitals across regional Western Australia.
(1) Noting that
Broome Hospital is not on the list of hospitals, despite the number of code
black calls at that hospital almost doubling in recent years and, as I have
seen myself, knives and other weapons being seized at the hospital almost every
day, how were those seven hospitals determined?
(2) How will a CCTV
hub in the middle of the Perth CBD prevent nurses and healthcare workers from
being threatened or harmed thousands of kilometres away?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I
am delighted to answer the member's question because, again, all we
hear is criticism and no ideas from members opposite. This is a fantastic
development of the WA Country Health Service. Former defence and security
experts have come in to help WACHS develop a system that will help make its
staff on the ground safer. If the Leader of the Opposition had watched the
announcement closely, he would have seen that those sites are only pilot sites
and that this will be rolled out to every single regional healthcare facility.
This is a learning process.
Several members
interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Order, please!
Ms A. SANDERSON : The Leader
of the Opposition needed to have an attention span beyond three seconds and to
follow it all the way through. This is a half a million dollar investment. I am
very proud of this investment. I am very proud of the WA Country Health
Service. This has been developed in conjunction with staff on the ground, who
suggested this model. Essentially, we have rolled out about 18 000 CCTV cameras
across those WACHS sites. It is a huge number of CCTV cameras. The quality of
the footage is incredible. They can zoom in and see all areas of the hospitals,
but we do protect patient privacy. We can see areas of those hospitals that the
staff cannot see, particularly if there are only two staff on site overnight.
The cameras are monitored 24/7. The seven sites are simply trial sites so that
we can learn. We are in a learning phase over the next two months so that we
know that it is right and can roll it out as well as possible. Every single
site will be monitored by this system, including Broome Hospital.
I will give a great example of where
this has already led to a successful de-escalation. Often, people need to
intervene in incidents before they escalate. It is about catching people before
they escalate into a state of aggression and violence towards staff. That is
what the CCTV cameras do; they allow the monitors located centrally in Perth to
notify staff on the ground if someone is kicking off or something is starting
to escalate. The staff can then either intervene or call outside help if it is
not safe for them to intervene, and the staff can make themselves safe.
Recently, at a small south west hospital, someone was vandalising and acting
very suspiciously outside the hospital while there were only two staff inside.
They were acting very aggressively. The staff immediately called the police,
who were immediately dispatched and intervened in that incident before that
person could go inside and harm the staff. That was a fantastic outcome.
The
Leader of the Opposition saved one of our own members from asking the Dorothy
Dixer. Thank you very much! I congratulate WACHS and the staff. The
Leader of the Opposition should talk to the staff and find out how they feel.
They are so pleased to see this up and running and to have security experts
watching their back every minute of every day.
am delighted to answer the member's question because, again, all we
hear is criticism and no ideas from members opposite. This is a fantastic
development of the WA Country Health Service. Former defence and security
experts have come in to help WACHS develop a system that will help make its
staff on the ground safer. If the Leader of the Opposition had watched the
announcement closely, he would have seen that those sites are only pilot sites
and that this will be rolled out to every single regional healthcare facility.
This is a learning process.
Several members
interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Order, please!
Ms A. SANDERSON : The Leader
of the Opposition needed to have an attention span beyond three seconds and to
follow it all the way through. This is a half a million dollar investment. I am
very proud of this investment. I am very proud of the WA Country Health
Service. This has been developed in conjunction with staff on the ground, who
suggested this model. Essentially, we have rolled out about 18 000 CCTV cameras
across those WACHS sites. It is a huge number of CCTV cameras. The quality of
the footage is incredible. They can zoom in and see all areas of the hospitals,
but we do protect patient privacy. We can see areas of those hospitals that the
staff cannot see, particularly if there are only two staff on site overnight.
The cameras are monitored 24/7. The seven sites are simply trial sites so that
we can learn. We are in a learning phase over the next two months so that we
know that it is right and can roll it out as well as possible. Every single
site will be monitored by this system, including Broome Hospital.
I will give a great example of where
this has already led to a successful de-escalation. Often, people need to
intervene in incidents before they escalate. It is about catching people before
they escalate into a state of aggression and violence towards staff. That is
what the CCTV cameras do; they allow the monitors located centrally in Perth to
notify staff on the ground if someone is kicking off or something is starting
to escalate. The staff can then either intervene or call outside help if it is
not safe for them to intervene, and the staff can make themselves safe.
Recently, at a small south west hospital, someone was vandalising and acting
very suspiciously outside the hospital while there were only two staff inside.
They were acting very aggressively. The staff immediately called the police,
who were immediately dispatched and intervened in that incident before that
person could go inside and harm the staff. That was a fantastic outcome.
The
Leader of the Opposition saved one of our own members from asking the Dorothy
Dixer. Thank you very much! I congratulate WACHS and the staff. The
Leader of the Opposition should talk to the staff and find out how they feel.
They are so pleased to see this up and running and to have security experts
watching their back every minute of every day.
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