❓ Dr. Honey questions why WA can't fully resume elective surgeries like NSW, despite having no community COVID-19 cases. The Minister for Health clarifies WA's elective surgeries are ongoing due to successful COVID-19 control, unlike NSW's prolonged suspension during a major outbreak.
AnsweredQoN 763Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CORONAVIRUS —
ELECTIVE AND NON-URGENT SURGERY
763. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Minister for Health:
I
refer to the announcement by New South Wales Health on Monday that elective
surgery will return to full capacity for both public and private patients.
Given the minister's statements that all health systems in Western Australia
are under pressure at the moment, is he concerned that New South Wales can
resume its full elective surgery list despite extraordinary —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please,
members!
Dr D.J. HONEY : Is the
minister concerned that New South Wales can resume its full elective surgery
lists despite extraordinary COVID-related challenges and that the WA health
system, which has no community COVID-19 cases, cannot?
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : The Minister for
Health with the answer, unless the Minister for Water wants the call. Minister
for Health.
ELECTIVE AND NON-URGENT SURGERY
763. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Minister for Health:
I
refer to the announcement by New South Wales Health on Monday that elective
surgery will return to full capacity for both public and private patients.
Given the minister's statements that all health systems in Western Australia
are under pressure at the moment, is he concerned that New South Wales can
resume its full elective surgery list despite extraordinary —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please,
members!
Dr D.J. HONEY : Is the
minister concerned that New South Wales can resume its full elective surgery
lists despite extraordinary COVID-related challenges and that the WA health
system, which has no community COVID-19 cases, cannot?
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : The Minister for
Health with the answer, unless the Minister for Water wants the call. Minister
for Health.
AnswerView source ↗
Sorry, Madam Speaker, I did not know
he had finished. I assume the member is referring to two months ago when we
suspended a few non-urgent elective surgery operations over a few weeks. The
member is conflating that with the fact that New South Wales is at last
conceding that it is crawling out from under a most horrendous outbreak of the
disease.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members, please
allow the minister to answer the question.
Mr R.H. COOK : Madam Speaker,
please work with me here. I assume that the member is saying that we have
currently suspended elective surgery, but that is not true. The member is
wrong.
Dr D.J. Honey : Your hospitals
are under pressure. You can't cope.
The
SPEAKER : Member, if you would
like the right to ask a supplementary, you need to listen to this answer first.
Mr R.H. COOK : This is just
hopeless; it really is.
There was a point in time back in
September when we suspended elective surgery for a couple of weeks just to take
a bit of pressure off our emergency department staff who were doing it tough,
and all our doctors and nurses. That was some months ago. It is not the case
today. What the member is drawing our attention to is the fact that if you have
a massive outbreak of the disease, your hospitals will come under significant
pressure. The reason that this is newsworthy
in New South Wales is that it suspended elective surgery for literally months.
I do not know what the period was; potentially, it is six months that
they have been struggling with this outbreak. What the member for Cottesloe is
drawing our attention to is the fact that Western Australia is doing so well
because we have had very little disruption
to our elective surgery. Our hospitals continue to operate, our economy remains
open and people are going about their lives because we have kept the
disease under control. I wanted to lay that out to members because I can understand that we are all a bit
confused. I would like to thank the member for Cottesloe for the question because it allows us to draw the Parliament's attention to that very
fact.
The fact of the matter is that we
have elective surgery, both emergency and non-urgent elective surgery, going on
in our hospitals today because we have kept the disease under control and, as a
community, we have done such an outstanding job. New South Wales is now coming
out of the big freeze of the massive outbreak of the disease. It has had tens upon tens of thousands of cases
and literally over 1 000 deaths and a hospital system that is under extreme
pressure because of that outbreak. That is why New South Wales suspended its
elective surgery. That is not the case in Western Australia, and for that we
thank the people of Western Australia and should all be very grateful.
he had finished. I assume the member is referring to two months ago when we
suspended a few non-urgent elective surgery operations over a few weeks. The
member is conflating that with the fact that New South Wales is at last
conceding that it is crawling out from under a most horrendous outbreak of the
disease.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members, please
allow the minister to answer the question.
Mr R.H. COOK : Madam Speaker,
please work with me here. I assume that the member is saying that we have
currently suspended elective surgery, but that is not true. The member is
wrong.
Dr D.J. Honey : Your hospitals
are under pressure. You can't cope.
The
SPEAKER : Member, if you would
like the right to ask a supplementary, you need to listen to this answer first.
Mr R.H. COOK : This is just
hopeless; it really is.
There was a point in time back in
September when we suspended elective surgery for a couple of weeks just to take
a bit of pressure off our emergency department staff who were doing it tough,
and all our doctors and nurses. That was some months ago. It is not the case
today. What the member is drawing our attention to is the fact that if you have
a massive outbreak of the disease, your hospitals will come under significant
pressure. The reason that this is newsworthy
in New South Wales is that it suspended elective surgery for literally months.
I do not know what the period was; potentially, it is six months that
they have been struggling with this outbreak. What the member for Cottesloe is
drawing our attention to is the fact that Western Australia is doing so well
because we have had very little disruption
to our elective surgery. Our hospitals continue to operate, our economy remains
open and people are going about their lives because we have kept the
disease under control. I wanted to lay that out to members because I can understand that we are all a bit
confused. I would like to thank the member for Cottesloe for the question because it allows us to draw the Parliament's attention to that very
fact.
The fact of the matter is that we
have elective surgery, both emergency and non-urgent elective surgery, going on
in our hospitals today because we have kept the disease under control and, as a
community, we have done such an outstanding job. New South Wales is now coming
out of the big freeze of the massive outbreak of the disease. It has had tens upon tens of thousands of cases
and literally over 1 000 deaths and a hospital system that is under extreme
pressure because of that outbreak. That is why New South Wales suspended its
elective surgery. That is not the case in Western Australia, and for that we
thank the people of Western Australia and should all be very grateful.
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