❓ The Minister confirms the Midland Health Campus will be built in partnership with St John of God Health Care and public patients will be treated free of charge. The Minister also criticises the previous government's handling of hospital projects.
AnsweredQoN 311Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
MIDLAND HEALTH
CAMPUS — ST JOHN OF GOD HEALTH CARE
311. Mr F.A. ALBAN to the Minister for Health:
Can the minister
please confirm that Midland's first new public hospital in more than 50
years will be provided in partnership with St John of God Health Care and that
when the new Midland health campus is open that public patients will continue
to be treated free of cost?
CAMPUS — ST JOHN OF GOD HEALTH CARE
311. Mr F.A. ALBAN to the Minister for Health:
Can the minister
please confirm that Midland's first new public hospital in more than 50
years will be provided in partnership with St John of God Health Care and that
when the new Midland health campus is open that public patients will continue
to be treated free of cost?
AnswerView source ↗
It is a great day
today. The Premier and I signed—in fact, in the Aboriginal People's
Room—the documents relating to the contract between the state
government and St John of God Health Care for the new public hospital in
Midland. It is a fantastic day. It is a new 307-bed public hospital with 50
private beds. The member for Swan Hills will be very pleased, I am sure, to see
the project get up and away. Construction will start in the next couple of
months and be finished by 2015. It will provide public care for patients in
that region free of charge. There has been some suggestion floating around that
because it is run by the private sector that private fees would be attached to
that hospital. That is clearly not the case. This is a public hospital where
treatment to all members of the public will be free of charge, and on that site
will be provided the full range of services we would expect at a public
hospital.
I want to talk a
little about the history of Swan District Hospital and the timing for the new
Midland health campus. As members know, the government has said it will open in
2015, and we have copped a little bit of criticism from the opposition about
the timing. I was talking to a media person who had formerly been involved with The West Australian who has a clear
recollection of 2005 when the Minister for Health of the time announced the new
Midland hospital. I have a press release about the new Midland hospital, with
the member for Midland, the Minister for Health at the time, announcing a $192 million
hospital. Members will recall that this hospital is costing $360 million to
provide 307 beds. The then Minister for Health was going to provide a $192 million
326-bed hospital—more beds for half the money! But not only that.
Construction was to start in 2008 and finish in 2010. The member for Swan Hills
knows it did not start in 2008. In fact, the minister came along in 2007, just
about a year out from the start of the hospital, and announced a delay to 2012,
so the completion of the new hospital was moved back for a year. When we came
to government at the end of 2008, there was $190 million in the budget, which
was half the amount we needed to build that hospital. We saw not a single sign
of the dollars that would be required to build a hospital that size—not
a design, not a single drawing and not one piece of paper; it was a ''gonna''!
I well recall the sign going up in 2005: new hospital to be built by the Labor
Party! We saw exactly the same thing with the construction time frame and the
sequence of dollars for the Fiona Stanley Hospital. It started at about $700 million
and it was going to be ready in 2010; then each year we went forward there was
a different amount of money allocated and the build went out by another year.
This government has
copped flak about the problems we have in our public hospitals with lack of
beds; and we do have problems because the growth in demand has been extremely
difficult to manage with the number of beds we have. We needed the Fiona
Stanley Hospital to have been built when it was promised—in 2010. If we
had got those additional beds in 2010 when they were promised, we would not
have the pressure on beds, the ramping, a waitlist for surgery or any of those
things that we have in 2012. We would not have those pressures if members
opposite had got on with the construction that they promised when they were in
government. I am sure members will remember that just as we came up to
the election in 2005, the minister announced the commencement of the new Fiona
Stanley Hospital.
Mr J.M. Francis :
Eight times.
Dr K.D. HAMES : It
was eight times in total. Just before the election, they got a dozer out there to
clear some trees and that was the start.
Mr J.M. Francis interjected.
Dr K.D. HAMES :
They had beautiful big signs. No plans, no designs—nothing; just signs.
That is what the former government was about. They had that ad to show us the
very things done by the Labor Party and then there was silence. That is what it
is all about. Absolutely nothing was done. This government has gone on and
commenced the project. I am sure that the member for Kalgoorlie will be
interested to hear this. This is a media release from 2007 when the Department
of Health—read ''Labor Party''—said that an
overheated construction market was to blame for the delay in capital works on
the new Midland health campus. An overheated construction market is exactly the
same excuse they used for putting off development of the Kalgoorlie Hospital,
which was desperately needed and which this government has gone ahead and done.
The same sort of promises were made about Albany Regional Hospital and never
delivered. This government gets on, builds hospitals, gets things done and
delivers them on time and on budget.
today. The Premier and I signed—in fact, in the Aboriginal People's
Room—the documents relating to the contract between the state
government and St John of God Health Care for the new public hospital in
Midland. It is a fantastic day. It is a new 307-bed public hospital with 50
private beds. The member for Swan Hills will be very pleased, I am sure, to see
the project get up and away. Construction will start in the next couple of
months and be finished by 2015. It will provide public care for patients in
that region free of charge. There has been some suggestion floating around that
because it is run by the private sector that private fees would be attached to
that hospital. That is clearly not the case. This is a public hospital where
treatment to all members of the public will be free of charge, and on that site
will be provided the full range of services we would expect at a public
hospital.
I want to talk a
little about the history of Swan District Hospital and the timing for the new
Midland health campus. As members know, the government has said it will open in
2015, and we have copped a little bit of criticism from the opposition about
the timing. I was talking to a media person who had formerly been involved with The West Australian who has a clear
recollection of 2005 when the Minister for Health of the time announced the new
Midland hospital. I have a press release about the new Midland hospital, with
the member for Midland, the Minister for Health at the time, announcing a $192 million
hospital. Members will recall that this hospital is costing $360 million to
provide 307 beds. The then Minister for Health was going to provide a $192 million
326-bed hospital—more beds for half the money! But not only that.
Construction was to start in 2008 and finish in 2010. The member for Swan Hills
knows it did not start in 2008. In fact, the minister came along in 2007, just
about a year out from the start of the hospital, and announced a delay to 2012,
so the completion of the new hospital was moved back for a year. When we came
to government at the end of 2008, there was $190 million in the budget, which
was half the amount we needed to build that hospital. We saw not a single sign
of the dollars that would be required to build a hospital that size—not
a design, not a single drawing and not one piece of paper; it was a ''gonna''!
I well recall the sign going up in 2005: new hospital to be built by the Labor
Party! We saw exactly the same thing with the construction time frame and the
sequence of dollars for the Fiona Stanley Hospital. It started at about $700 million
and it was going to be ready in 2010; then each year we went forward there was
a different amount of money allocated and the build went out by another year.
This government has
copped flak about the problems we have in our public hospitals with lack of
beds; and we do have problems because the growth in demand has been extremely
difficult to manage with the number of beds we have. We needed the Fiona
Stanley Hospital to have been built when it was promised—in 2010. If we
had got those additional beds in 2010 when they were promised, we would not
have the pressure on beds, the ramping, a waitlist for surgery or any of those
things that we have in 2012. We would not have those pressures if members
opposite had got on with the construction that they promised when they were in
government. I am sure members will remember that just as we came up to
the election in 2005, the minister announced the commencement of the new Fiona
Stanley Hospital.
Mr J.M. Francis :
Eight times.
Dr K.D. HAMES : It
was eight times in total. Just before the election, they got a dozer out there to
clear some trees and that was the start.
Mr J.M. Francis interjected.
Dr K.D. HAMES :
They had beautiful big signs. No plans, no designs—nothing; just signs.
That is what the former government was about. They had that ad to show us the
very things done by the Labor Party and then there was silence. That is what it
is all about. Absolutely nothing was done. This government has gone on and
commenced the project. I am sure that the member for Kalgoorlie will be
interested to hear this. This is a media release from 2007 when the Department
of Health—read ''Labor Party''—said that an
overheated construction market was to blame for the delay in capital works on
the new Midland health campus. An overheated construction market is exactly the
same excuse they used for putting off development of the Kalgoorlie Hospital,
which was desperately needed and which this government has gone ahead and done.
The same sort of promises were made about Albany Regional Hospital and never
delivered. This government gets on, builds hospitals, gets things done and
delivers them on time and on budget.
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