A parliamentary question seeking data on Patient Assisted Travel Scheme (PATS) usage in the Pilbara and Kimberley regions, specifically regarding the number of people utilising the scheme and the types of treatments received. The answer provides trip data, not individual patient data, and refers to a tabled paper for treatment categories.

AnsweredQoN 606Legislative Council
Asked
20 November 2013
Portfolio
Health

QuestionView source ↗

(1) Can the Minister advise how many people from the Pilbara and Kimberley Regions utilised the Patient Assisted Travel Scheme (PATS) in 2010-2011, 2011-2012 and 2012-2013? (2) Can the Minister list by category, what treatments were provided for these patients and how many patients utilised each category?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
10 December 2013
Responded by
Parliamentary Secretary representing the Minister for Health
Response time
20 days
(1) Patient Assisted Travel Scheme (PATS) data is captured and reported by speciality trip and not by the number of people. A trip is considered one way or return. This definition has been adopted since 1999. The table below represents the total number of trips subsidised by PATS in the respective regions. Some individuals may make multiple specialist trips in a year and each trip is counted in the data below.
Pilbara
Kimberley
2010-11
7,750
6,287
2011-12
9,676
7,251
2012-13
6,597
7,350
(2) [See tabled paper no].
Data is captured by speciality trip and not by patient or treatment. The increase in the number of specialities reported in 2012 is due to the PATS administration system being modified to capture, where applicable, visits to more than one specialist per trip. Prior to 2012 only one speciality was recorded, although some individuals may have seen more than one specialist during the trip.

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