❓ A WA parliamentary question on notice investigates the availability, cost, and future plans for on-site childcare facilities at various public hospitals, revealing disparities in access and future provisions across different health services.
AnsweredQoN 8242Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the on-site hospital child-care facilities available to Department of Health employees at Princess Margaret Hospital, Queen Elisabeth II Hospital, Fremantle Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus:
(a) how many child-care places are provided at each of the above hospitals (listed by hospital);
(b) are all hospital staff with dependent children eligible for hospital-based child-care;
(c) is there a waiting list to access child-care services at each of the above hospitals and, if so, how many people are on the waiting list at each hospital;
(d) what was the physical cost of establishing the child-care centres at each of the above sites;
(e) are all of the child-care centres operated by the private sector;
(f) is the cost of the child-care subsidised for hospital employees, or are parents charged a commercial rate;
(g) are there plans to provide on-site child-care centres at the new Fiona Stanley Hospital, the new Midland Health Campus, the new Children's Hospital, the new Albany Hospital, the new Karratha Health Campus (Nickol Bay) and the new Busselton Hospital;
(h) are there plans to provide on-site child-care centres at any of the following hospitals – Osborne Park, Bentley, Armadale-Kelmscott, Rockingham, Peel Health Campus, Kalamunda, Geraldton, Broome, Hedland or the South West Regional Health Campus – and, if so, which hospitals;
(i) has the Department of Health undertaken surveys of staff at any of the following hospitals – Osborne Park, Bentley, Armadale-Kelmscott, Rockingham, Peel Health Campus, Kalamunda, Geraldton, Broome, Hedland or the South West Regional Health Campus – to establish whether there is sufficient demand for on-site child care and, if so, which hospitals appear to have expressed sufficient demand for on-site child-care; and
(j) has the Department of Health investigated the possibility of enabling staff to salary-sacrifice child-care expenses in pre-tax dollars and, if so, what was the outcome of this investigation?
(a) how many child-care places are provided at each of the above hospitals (listed by hospital);
(b) are all hospital staff with dependent children eligible for hospital-based child-care;
(c) is there a waiting list to access child-care services at each of the above hospitals and, if so, how many people are on the waiting list at each hospital;
(d) what was the physical cost of establishing the child-care centres at each of the above sites;
(e) are all of the child-care centres operated by the private sector;
(f) is the cost of the child-care subsidised for hospital employees, or are parents charged a commercial rate;
(g) are there plans to provide on-site child-care centres at the new Fiona Stanley Hospital, the new Midland Health Campus, the new Children's Hospital, the new Albany Hospital, the new Karratha Health Campus (Nickol Bay) and the new Busselton Hospital;
(h) are there plans to provide on-site child-care centres at any of the following hospitals – Osborne Park, Bentley, Armadale-Kelmscott, Rockingham, Peel Health Campus, Kalamunda, Geraldton, Broome, Hedland or the South West Regional Health Campus – and, if so, which hospitals;
(i) has the Department of Health undertaken surveys of staff at any of the following hospitals – Osborne Park, Bentley, Armadale-Kelmscott, Rockingham, Peel Health Campus, Kalamunda, Geraldton, Broome, Hedland or the South West Regional Health Campus – to establish whether there is sufficient demand for on-site child care and, if so, which hospitals appear to have expressed sufficient demand for on-site child-care; and
(j) has the Department of Health investigated the possibility of enabling staff to salary-sacrifice child-care expenses in pre-tax dollars and, if so, what was the outcome of this investigation?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
7 August 2012
Responded by
Minister for Health
Response time
48 days
CHILD AND ADOLESCENT HEALTH SERVICE
(a) As at 12 June 2012, the Children's Hospital Child Care Centre (CHCCC) at Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) provides 47 long-day child care places.
(b) Child care places are allocated according to the Australian Government Priority of Access Guidelines. Within this context, the CHCCC prioritises child care places for children of PMH staff who are shift workers, children of breast feeding mothers and other children of staff. The CHCCC also provides priority places to PMH staff that have children with additional needs, children of other health employees, along with provision of care to siblings of PMH inpatients.
(c) As of 17 July 2012 the CHCCC Wait List is as follows;
0-2 yrs - 54 children.
2-5 yrs - 12 children.
Children with additional needs - 6 children.
(d) The establishment cost for the CHCCC building and fit out was approximately $500,000 in 1990.
(e) The CHCCC at PMH is a not-for-profit incorporated body.
(f) As at 12 June 2012, all families are charged $82 per day. Centrelink provides a subsidy for long-day care for eligible parents, and families can apply for the Federal Child Care Benefit or the Child Care Rebate.
(g) A proposal for a 90 place child care facility is currently being prepared by the Health Department for consideration to be included in the New Children Hospital.
(h - j) Not applicable.
NORTH METROPOLITAN HEALTH SERVICE
(a) Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre (QEIIMC) - currently 65 places for Before & After School Care only. No long day care places are available on site.
Joondalup Health Campus - Nil.
(b) QEIIMC - Yes - the only condition is that the child is currently enrolled in a kindergarten program or primary school aged.
Joondalup Health Campus - Not applicable.
(c) QEIIMC - Yes - no more than 5-10 individuals on the waitlist on a daily basis.
Joondalup Health Campus - Not applicable.
(d) QEIIMC - The Before & After School Care facility was required to be demolished during the QEIIMC Redevelopment Stage 1 to facilitate the construction of the new Central Energy Plant facility. This construction program included the requirement to relocate the Before & After School Child Care facility. The cost of this relocation was $1.1M included in the Central Energy Plant capital works budget (2011-12).
Joondalup Health Campus - Not applicable.
(e) QEIIMC - Yes - by a not for profit organisation.
Joondalup Health Campus - Not applicable.
(f) QEIIMC - No subsidisation for hospital employees. Parents are charged a commercial rate, however, not for profit organisation fees can often be far below those of true commercial child care operators.
Joondalup Health Campus - Not applicable.
(g) Midland Health Campus - There are currently no plans to provide child care on site at the new Midland Health Campus, however the contract allows for that to be provided in the future if decided.
(h) Osborne Park Hospital (OPH)/Kalamunda - currently no plans to provide on-site child care centres at either site.
(i) OPH/Kalamunda - there was a Child Care survey undertaken at OPH during the initial master plan development stages.
(j) The Department of Health Industrial Relations provided information: Child Care is a standard salary packaging menu item available to all Health Service staff.
SOUTH METROPOLITAN HEALTH SERVICE
(a) Fremantle Hospital and Health Service does not have an on-site hospital child-care facility.
(b - f) Not applicable.
(g) It is intended that a child care service will be provided either on the Fiona Stanley Hospital site or nearby.
(h) - Armadale Health Service - No.
- Bentley Health Service - No.
- Rockingham General Hospital - No.
- Peel Health Campus - Peel Health Campus is currently considering childcare options for our Staff and are exploring both onsite and offsite options. We are currently in the early stages of assessment, but hope to be able to progress the matter within the nearby future.
(i) - Armadale Health Service - No.
- Bentley Health Service - No.
- Rockingham General Hospital - As part of the redevelopment of Rockingham General Hospital a Work-Life Integration Survey was undertaken in May 2009. Staff were asked "
If it was possible to provide childcare services at your workplace, would you choose to use it?
" From a total of 327 respondents 23% said yes, 66.4% said no and 9.8% did not answer this question.
- Peel Health Campus - To our knowledge the Department of Health has not undertaken such a survey at Peel Health Campus; however, HSWA has recently conducted a like survey regarding the childcare requirements of its staff and believe that there is sufficient demand to warrant assessing the matter.
WA COUNTRY HEALTH SERVICE
(a - f) Not applicable.
(g) There are no plans at this time to provide on-site child care centres facilities at Albany Hospital, Karratha Health Campus (Nickol Bay) or at Busselton Hospital.
Opportunity exists in the future development of the overall site of the Karratha Health Campus for private providers to express interest in co-location.
At Busselton Hospital a Parenting Room is provided where mothers, including staff, are able to care for a child.
(h) No.
(i) In the planning phase of the Hedland Health Campus the location of an on-site child care facility operated and staffed by the Northern and Remote Country Health Service Pilbara for children of employees was reviewed. It was deemed not feasible due to the licensing requirements and the lack of demand and appropriately qualified staff.
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
(a) As at 12 June 2012, the Children's Hospital Child Care Centre (CHCCC) at Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) provides 47 long-day child care places.
(b) Child care places are allocated according to the Australian Government Priority of Access Guidelines. Within this context, the CHCCC prioritises child care places for children of PMH staff who are shift workers, children of breast feeding mothers and other children of staff. The CHCCC also provides priority places to PMH staff that have children with additional needs, children of other health employees, along with provision of care to siblings of PMH inpatients.
(c) As of 17 July 2012 the CHCCC Wait List is as follows;
0-2 yrs - 54 children.
2-5 yrs - 12 children.
Children with additional needs - 6 children.
(d) The establishment cost for the CHCCC building and fit out was approximately $500,000 in 1990.
(e) The CHCCC at PMH is a not-for-profit incorporated body.
(f) As at 12 June 2012, all families are charged $82 per day. Centrelink provides a subsidy for long-day care for eligible parents, and families can apply for the Federal Child Care Benefit or the Child Care Rebate.
(g) A proposal for a 90 place child care facility is currently being prepared by the Health Department for consideration to be included in the New Children Hospital.
(h - j) Not applicable.
NORTH METROPOLITAN HEALTH SERVICE
(a) Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre (QEIIMC) - currently 65 places for Before & After School Care only. No long day care places are available on site.
Joondalup Health Campus - Nil.
(b) QEIIMC - Yes - the only condition is that the child is currently enrolled in a kindergarten program or primary school aged.
Joondalup Health Campus - Not applicable.
(c) QEIIMC - Yes - no more than 5-10 individuals on the waitlist on a daily basis.
Joondalup Health Campus - Not applicable.
(d) QEIIMC - The Before & After School Care facility was required to be demolished during the QEIIMC Redevelopment Stage 1 to facilitate the construction of the new Central Energy Plant facility. This construction program included the requirement to relocate the Before & After School Child Care facility. The cost of this relocation was $1.1M included in the Central Energy Plant capital works budget (2011-12).
Joondalup Health Campus - Not applicable.
(e) QEIIMC - Yes - by a not for profit organisation.
Joondalup Health Campus - Not applicable.
(f) QEIIMC - No subsidisation for hospital employees. Parents are charged a commercial rate, however, not for profit organisation fees can often be far below those of true commercial child care operators.
Joondalup Health Campus - Not applicable.
(g) Midland Health Campus - There are currently no plans to provide child care on site at the new Midland Health Campus, however the contract allows for that to be provided in the future if decided.
(h) Osborne Park Hospital (OPH)/Kalamunda - currently no plans to provide on-site child care centres at either site.
(i) OPH/Kalamunda - there was a Child Care survey undertaken at OPH during the initial master plan development stages.
(j) The Department of Health Industrial Relations provided information: Child Care is a standard salary packaging menu item available to all Health Service staff.
SOUTH METROPOLITAN HEALTH SERVICE
(a) Fremantle Hospital and Health Service does not have an on-site hospital child-care facility.
(b - f) Not applicable.
(g) It is intended that a child care service will be provided either on the Fiona Stanley Hospital site or nearby.
(h) - Armadale Health Service - No.
- Bentley Health Service - No.
- Rockingham General Hospital - No.
- Peel Health Campus - Peel Health Campus is currently considering childcare options for our Staff and are exploring both onsite and offsite options. We are currently in the early stages of assessment, but hope to be able to progress the matter within the nearby future.
(i) - Armadale Health Service - No.
- Bentley Health Service - No.
- Rockingham General Hospital - As part of the redevelopment of Rockingham General Hospital a Work-Life Integration Survey was undertaken in May 2009. Staff were asked "
If it was possible to provide childcare services at your workplace, would you choose to use it?
" From a total of 327 respondents 23% said yes, 66.4% said no and 9.8% did not answer this question.
- Peel Health Campus - To our knowledge the Department of Health has not undertaken such a survey at Peel Health Campus; however, HSWA has recently conducted a like survey regarding the childcare requirements of its staff and believe that there is sufficient demand to warrant assessing the matter.
WA COUNTRY HEALTH SERVICE
(a - f) Not applicable.
(g) There are no plans at this time to provide on-site child care centres facilities at Albany Hospital, Karratha Health Campus (Nickol Bay) or at Busselton Hospital.
Opportunity exists in the future development of the overall site of the Karratha Health Campus for private providers to express interest in co-location.
At Busselton Hospital a Parenting Room is provided where mothers, including staff, are able to care for a child.
(h) No.
(i) In the planning phase of the Hedland Health Campus the location of an on-site child care facility operated and staffed by the Northern and Remote Country Health Service Pilbara for children of employees was reviewed. It was deemed not feasible due to the licensing requirements and the lack of demand and appropriately qualified staff.
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
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.