❓ Mr. Norberger asks about the new paediatric ward at Joondalup Health Campus and its integration with the Perth Children's Hospital. The Minister details funding, increased bed capacity, and improved services, emphasising the plan to bring expert care closer to families in the northern suburbs.
AnsweredQoN 701Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
JOONDALUP HEALTH CAMPUS — PAEDIATRIC
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
701. Mr J. NORBERGER to the
Minister for Health:
I refer to the Liberal–National government's
commitment to build a new paediatric ward at the Joondalup Health Campus. What
will the new ward mean for families in the northern suburbs and how will it tie
in with the new Perth Children's Hospital?
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
701. Mr J. NORBERGER to the
Minister for Health:
I refer to the Liberal–National government's
commitment to build a new paediatric ward at the Joondalup Health Campus. What
will the new ward mean for families in the northern suburbs and how will it tie
in with the new Perth Children's Hospital?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question
and I thank him and the member for Wanneroo for the excellent job they did in
hosting regional cabinet in Wanneroo and Joondalup last week. While we were up
there on Monday, the Premier and I went to Joondalup Health Campus to look at
the progress of the new children's ward. Members will recall that we
are expanding that ward, with combined funding of $6 million from Telethon Kids
Institute, $5.7 million from the state government and $3 million from Ramsey
Health Care. It will go from a 24-bed unit to a state-of-the-art 37-bedroom
unit, which will be a huge improvement on what is there at present. The expansion
will provide 75 per cent single rooms, which means that there will be much more
space for parents to be with their children. It is all part of the plan we put
in place with the development of the new $1.2 billion Perth Children's
Hospital. In the midst of arguments about numbers of beds that we should have
at that location, we made it clear that we need to follow the paediatric
implementation plan, which was to bring services closer to people. As part of
that, Fiona Stanley Hospital has fantastic new services for children. About 30 per
cent of the patients who go to Fiona Stanley Hospital are children. The number
of paediatric beds at the new St John of God Midland Public Hospital will
increase from eight to 12, while the number at Joondalup will increase from 24 beds
to 37 beds. The importance of that is that when a child is sick, particularly
when they are critically ill after having had an asthma attack or a fall with a
potential head injury, it is absolutely critically important to get that child
to expert medical care in the quickest possible time. People used to think that
that meant going to Princess Margaret Hospital for Children. People from all
over the metropolitan area would bypass smaller hospitals and head straight for
PMH. They do not need to do that anymore. I understand that it happened before
because we did not have the expertise in those hospitals, but now we do. We now
have high-quality care, and paediatricians and specialists in child care at
those peripheral hospitals. I hope that parents will take their kids to that
centre first. Sometimes a child is more critical and needs tertiary care, but
the important thing is to first stabilise the child, which can be done at any
of those three hospitals. Once they are stabilised, they can be transferred
safely to Perth Children's Hospital to get care.
On Tuesday I was at the new Perth Children's Hospital
for the installation of the first intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging
machine in Western Australia. It is right next to theatre. What happens
presently, particularly during cranial surgery, is that surgery has to finish
before a child can be taken down to another floor for an MRI. If they need
further surgery, they have to be brought back up to start the operation again.
All of this wastes about two hours. In the new children's hospital, the
MRI machine will be right next door. Children will be wheeled out to have the
scan while they are still under anaesthetic, and if they need further surgery
they go straight back into theatre to have that surgery. That is fantastic
progress in children's care in this state, something we committed to
when we were not in government. We put it in front of the stadium that the
Labor government was going to build. We said upfront that we would build a new
Perth Children's Hospital and it is going fantastically well.
and I thank him and the member for Wanneroo for the excellent job they did in
hosting regional cabinet in Wanneroo and Joondalup last week. While we were up
there on Monday, the Premier and I went to Joondalup Health Campus to look at
the progress of the new children's ward. Members will recall that we
are expanding that ward, with combined funding of $6 million from Telethon Kids
Institute, $5.7 million from the state government and $3 million from Ramsey
Health Care. It will go from a 24-bed unit to a state-of-the-art 37-bedroom
unit, which will be a huge improvement on what is there at present. The expansion
will provide 75 per cent single rooms, which means that there will be much more
space for parents to be with their children. It is all part of the plan we put
in place with the development of the new $1.2 billion Perth Children's
Hospital. In the midst of arguments about numbers of beds that we should have
at that location, we made it clear that we need to follow the paediatric
implementation plan, which was to bring services closer to people. As part of
that, Fiona Stanley Hospital has fantastic new services for children. About 30 per
cent of the patients who go to Fiona Stanley Hospital are children. The number
of paediatric beds at the new St John of God Midland Public Hospital will
increase from eight to 12, while the number at Joondalup will increase from 24 beds
to 37 beds. The importance of that is that when a child is sick, particularly
when they are critically ill after having had an asthma attack or a fall with a
potential head injury, it is absolutely critically important to get that child
to expert medical care in the quickest possible time. People used to think that
that meant going to Princess Margaret Hospital for Children. People from all
over the metropolitan area would bypass smaller hospitals and head straight for
PMH. They do not need to do that anymore. I understand that it happened before
because we did not have the expertise in those hospitals, but now we do. We now
have high-quality care, and paediatricians and specialists in child care at
those peripheral hospitals. I hope that parents will take their kids to that
centre first. Sometimes a child is more critical and needs tertiary care, but
the important thing is to first stabilise the child, which can be done at any
of those three hospitals. Once they are stabilised, they can be transferred
safely to Perth Children's Hospital to get care.
On Tuesday I was at the new Perth Children's Hospital
for the installation of the first intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging
machine in Western Australia. It is right next to theatre. What happens
presently, particularly during cranial surgery, is that surgery has to finish
before a child can be taken down to another floor for an MRI. If they need
further surgery, they have to be brought back up to start the operation again.
All of this wastes about two hours. In the new children's hospital, the
MRI machine will be right next door. Children will be wheeled out to have the
scan while they are still under anaesthetic, and if they need further surgery
they go straight back into theatre to have that surgery. That is fantastic
progress in children's care in this state, something we committed to
when we were not in government. We put it in front of the stadium that the
Labor government was going to build. We said upfront that we would build a new
Perth Children's Hospital and it is going fantastically well.
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