❓ Hon James Hayward questions the Minister for Health regarding the Department's expenditure on agency nurses, operational issues arising from their use, and whether the Minister will agree to wage increases for directly employed nurses to reduce reliance on agency staff. The Minister requests the question be put on notice due to the time required to gather the requested data.
AnsweredQoN 478Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
AGENCY NURSES
478. Hon JAMES HAYWARD to the Leader of the House
representing the Minister for Health:
I refer to the practice of
employing short-term staff from contract agencies to ensure that hospitals are
staffed with enough nurses.
(1) What was the total amount spent by the Department
of Health on agency nurses in the 2021–22 financial year?
(2) What is the
total amount spent by the Department of Health on agency nurses in the current
financial year to date?
(3) What
operational issues are caused by the reliance on agency staff who may not be
aware of specific policies and procedures implemented by the hospital they are
working at for a short amount of time?
(4) Will the
minister agree to wage and condition demands from nurses employed directly by
the Department of Health to reduce the reliance on agency staff?
478. Hon JAMES HAYWARD to the Leader of the House
representing the Minister for Health:
I refer to the practice of
employing short-term staff from contract agencies to ensure that hospitals are
staffed with enough nurses.
(1) What was the total amount spent by the Department
of Health on agency nurses in the 2021–22 financial year?
(2) What is the
total amount spent by the Department of Health on agency nurses in the current
financial year to date?
(3) What
operational issues are caused by the reliance on agency staff who may not be
aware of specific policies and procedures implemented by the hospital they are
working at for a short amount of time?
(4) Will the
minister agree to wage and condition demands from nurses employed directly by
the Department of Health to reduce the reliance on agency staff?
AnswerView source ↗
To allow for a fulsome and accurate
response, the minister requests that the member place their question on notice.
I note that part of that question asks the department to go back and look at
the employment of agency nurses across hospitals two financial years ago, and
to get that amount of information within a four-hour turnaround makes the
question unreasonable.
response, the minister requests that the member place their question on notice.
I note that part of that question asks the department to go back and look at
the employment of agency nurses across hospitals two financial years ago, and
to get that amount of information within a four-hour turnaround makes the
question unreasonable.
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.