❓ Opposition questions WA Health Minister about hospital bed numbers, citing an AMA report. Minister refutes claims, highlighting errors in the report and WA's high per capita funding and inclusion of private hospital beds.
AnsweredQoN 646Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HOSPITAL BED NUMBERS
I refer to today’s Australian Medical Association’s report that backs up what the opposition has been saying about the gross overcrowding and mismanagement of our hospitals for the past two years. (1) How can the minister justify the fact that Western Australia’s bed numbers are below those of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the national average, while the government is sitting on a $2 billion mountain of cash? (2) How can the minister justify the number of public hospital beds in Western Australia falling below the national average per head of population? (3) How can the minister justify the 19 per cent fall in public beds per head of population in Western Australia since the Labor Party came to government, compared with a 10 per cent fall for the rest of Australia? Mr J.A. McGINTY
I refer to today’s Australian Medical Association’s report that backs up what the opposition has been saying about the gross overcrowding and mismanagement of our hospitals for the past two years. (1) How can the minister justify the fact that Western Australia’s bed numbers are below those of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the national average, while the government is sitting on a $2 billion mountain of cash? (2) How can the minister justify the number of public hospital beds in Western Australia falling below the national average per head of population? (3) How can the minister justify the 19 per cent fall in public beds per head of population in Western Australia since the Labor Party came to government, compared with a 10 per cent fall for the rest of Australia? Mr J.A. McGINTY
AnswerView source ↗
(1)-(3) I thank the member for Dawesville for the question. He may not be aware that the Australian Medical Association has admitted it made a mistake in that press release. Dr K.D. Hames : What mistake? Mr J.A. McGINTY : There were two of them. The AMA admits that the first mistake it made was due to an error it made on the per capita funding on health care. The report in its headline was critical of Western Australia’s per capita funding. As the member for Dawesville knows, Western Australia’s per capita funding is the highest of all the states in Australia, yet the AMA was highly critical of the per capita funding in Western Australia. We rang the AMA’s national office today and said that it appeared to be an error. I am not attributing any malice to it; I would not do that. Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : You are too generous. Mr J.A. McGINTY : That may well be true; I generally am. The AMA is very embarrassed. It put out that release nationally and got the figures on funding wrong. Western Australia is the best of all the states on per capita funding. Only the Northern Territory, because of its peculiar demographic, spends more per capita on health care than we do. As the member knows, because I have given this information before, when John Howard came to power, funding for public hospitals was shared fifty-fifty between the commonwealth government and the states; today it is thirty-seventy. Seventy per cent is picked up by the state and 30 per cent is picked up by the commonwealth. Today has not been a good day for The West Australian , having lost its appeal to the Australian Press Council, but at least Robert Taylor correctly pointed out in his article today that the Western Australian government’s contribution to the growth in funding for public hospitals over the past few years has increased at twice the rate of the commonwealth government’s contribution. I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
(1) How can the minister justify the fact that Western Australia’s bed numbers are below those of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the national average, while the government is sitting on a $2 billion mountain of cash? (2) How can the minister justify the number of public hospital beds in Western Australia falling below the national average per head of population? (3) How can the minister justify the 19 per cent fall in public beds per head of population in Western Australia since the Labor Party came to government, compared with a 10 per cent fall for the rest of Australia? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Dawesville for the question. He may not be aware that the Australian Medical Association has admitted it made a mistake in that press release. Dr K.D. Hames : What mistake? Mr J.A. McGINTY : There were two of them. The AMA admits that the first mistake it made was due to an error it made on the per capita funding on health care. The report in its headline was critical of Western Australia’s per capita funding. As the member for Dawesville knows, Western Australia’s per capita funding is the highest of all the states in Australia, yet the AMA was highly critical of the per capita funding in Western Australia. We rang the AMA’s national office today and said that it appeared to be an error. I am not attributing any malice to it; I would not do that. Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : You are too generous. Mr J.A. McGINTY : That may well be true; I generally am. The AMA is very embarrassed. It put out that release nationally and got the figures on funding wrong. Western Australia is the best of all the states on per capita funding. Only the Northern Territory, because of its peculiar demographic, spends more per capita on health care than we do. As the member knows, because I have given this information before, when John Howard came to power, funding for public hospitals was shared fifty-fifty between the commonwealth government and the states; today it is thirty-seventy. Seventy per cent is picked up by the state and 30 per cent is picked up by the commonwealth. Today has not been a good day for The West Australian , having lost its appeal to the Australian Press Council, but at least Robert Taylor correctly pointed out in his article today that the Western Australian government’s contribution to the growth in funding for public hospitals over the past few years has increased at twice the rate of the commonwealth government’s contribution. I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
(2) How can the minister justify the number of public hospital beds in Western Australia falling below the national average per head of population? (3) How can the minister justify the 19 per cent fall in public beds per head of population in Western Australia since the Labor Party came to government, compared with a 10 per cent fall for the rest of Australia? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Dawesville for the question. He may not be aware that the Australian Medical Association has admitted it made a mistake in that press release. Dr K.D. Hames : What mistake? Mr J.A. McGINTY : There were two of them. The AMA admits that the first mistake it made was due to an error it made on the per capita funding on health care. The report in its headline was critical of Western Australia’s per capita funding. As the member for Dawesville knows, Western Australia’s per capita funding is the highest of all the states in Australia, yet the AMA was highly critical of the per capita funding in Western Australia. We rang the AMA’s national office today and said that it appeared to be an error. I am not attributing any malice to it; I would not do that. Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : You are too generous. Mr J.A. McGINTY : That may well be true; I generally am. The AMA is very embarrassed. It put out that release nationally and got the figures on funding wrong. Western Australia is the best of all the states on per capita funding. Only the Northern Territory, because of its peculiar demographic, spends more per capita on health care than we do. As the member knows, because I have given this information before, when John Howard came to power, funding for public hospitals was shared fifty-fifty between the commonwealth government and the states; today it is thirty-seventy. Seventy per cent is picked up by the state and 30 per cent is picked up by the commonwealth. Today has not been a good day for The West Australian , having lost its appeal to the Australian Press Council, but at least Robert Taylor correctly pointed out in his article today that the Western Australian government’s contribution to the growth in funding for public hospitals over the past few years has increased at twice the rate of the commonwealth government’s contribution. I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
(3) How can the minister justify the 19 per cent fall in public beds per head of population in Western Australia since the Labor Party came to government, compared with a 10 per cent fall for the rest of Australia? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Dawesville for the question. He may not be aware that the Australian Medical Association has admitted it made a mistake in that press release. Dr K.D. Hames : What mistake? Mr J.A. McGINTY : There were two of them. The AMA admits that the first mistake it made was due to an error it made on the per capita funding on health care. The report in its headline was critical of Western Australia’s per capita funding. As the member for Dawesville knows, Western Australia’s per capita funding is the highest of all the states in Australia, yet the AMA was highly critical of the per capita funding in Western Australia. We rang the AMA’s national office today and said that it appeared to be an error. I am not attributing any malice to it; I would not do that. Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : You are too generous. Mr J.A. McGINTY : That may well be true; I generally am. The AMA is very embarrassed. It put out that release nationally and got the figures on funding wrong. Western Australia is the best of all the states on per capita funding. Only the Northern Territory, because of its peculiar demographic, spends more per capita on health care than we do. As the member knows, because I have given this information before, when John Howard came to power, funding for public hospitals was shared fifty-fifty between the commonwealth government and the states; today it is thirty-seventy. Seventy per cent is picked up by the state and 30 per cent is picked up by the commonwealth. Today has not been a good day for The West Australian , having lost its appeal to the Australian Press Council, but at least Robert Taylor correctly pointed out in his article today that the Western Australian government’s contribution to the growth in funding for public hospitals over the past few years has increased at twice the rate of the commonwealth government’s contribution. I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Dawesville for the question. He may not be aware that the Australian Medical Association has admitted it made a mistake in that press release. Dr K.D. Hames : What mistake? Mr J.A. McGINTY : There were two of them. The AMA admits that the first mistake it made was due to an error it made on the per capita funding on health care. The report in its headline was critical of Western Australia’s per capita funding. As the member for Dawesville knows, Western Australia’s per capita funding is the highest of all the states in Australia, yet the AMA was highly critical of the per capita funding in Western Australia. We rang the AMA’s national office today and said that it appeared to be an error. I am not attributing any malice to it; I would not do that. Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : You are too generous. Mr J.A. McGINTY : That may well be true; I generally am. The AMA is very embarrassed. It put out that release nationally and got the figures on funding wrong. Western Australia is the best of all the states on per capita funding. Only the Northern Territory, because of its peculiar demographic, spends more per capita on health care than we do. As the member knows, because I have given this information before, when John Howard came to power, funding for public hospitals was shared fifty-fifty between the commonwealth government and the states; today it is thirty-seventy. Seventy per cent is picked up by the state and 30 per cent is picked up by the commonwealth. Today has not been a good day for The West Australian , having lost its appeal to the Australian Press Council, but at least Robert Taylor correctly pointed out in his article today that the Western Australian government’s contribution to the growth in funding for public hospitals over the past few years has increased at twice the rate of the commonwealth government’s contribution. I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
(1)-(3) I thank the member for Dawesville for the question. He may not be aware that the Australian Medical Association has admitted it made a mistake in that press release. Dr K.D. Hames : What mistake? Mr J.A. McGINTY : There were two of them. The AMA admits that the first mistake it made was due to an error it made on the per capita funding on health care. The report in its headline was critical of Western Australia’s per capita funding. As the member for Dawesville knows, Western Australia’s per capita funding is the highest of all the states in Australia, yet the AMA was highly critical of the per capita funding in Western Australia. We rang the AMA’s national office today and said that it appeared to be an error. I am not attributing any malice to it; I would not do that. Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : You are too generous. Mr J.A. McGINTY : That may well be true; I generally am. The AMA is very embarrassed. It put out that release nationally and got the figures on funding wrong. Western Australia is the best of all the states on per capita funding. Only the Northern Territory, because of its peculiar demographic, spends more per capita on health care than we do. As the member knows, because I have given this information before, when John Howard came to power, funding for public hospitals was shared fifty-fifty between the commonwealth government and the states; today it is thirty-seventy. Seventy per cent is picked up by the state and 30 per cent is picked up by the commonwealth. Today has not been a good day for The West Australian , having lost its appeal to the Australian Press Council, but at least Robert Taylor correctly pointed out in his article today that the Western Australian government’s contribution to the growth in funding for public hospitals over the past few years has increased at twice the rate of the commonwealth government’s contribution. I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
Dr K.D. Hames : What mistake? Mr J.A. McGINTY : There were two of them. The AMA admits that the first mistake it made was due to an error it made on the per capita funding on health care. The report in its headline was critical of Western Australia’s per capita funding. As the member for Dawesville knows, Western Australia’s per capita funding is the highest of all the states in Australia, yet the AMA was highly critical of the per capita funding in Western Australia. We rang the AMA’s national office today and said that it appeared to be an error. I am not attributing any malice to it; I would not do that. Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : You are too generous. Mr J.A. McGINTY : That may well be true; I generally am. The AMA is very embarrassed. It put out that release nationally and got the figures on funding wrong. Western Australia is the best of all the states on per capita funding. Only the Northern Territory, because of its peculiar demographic, spends more per capita on health care than we do. As the member knows, because I have given this information before, when John Howard came to power, funding for public hospitals was shared fifty-fifty between the commonwealth government and the states; today it is thirty-seventy. Seventy per cent is picked up by the state and 30 per cent is picked up by the commonwealth. Today has not been a good day for The West Australian , having lost its appeal to the Australian Press Council, but at least Robert Taylor correctly pointed out in his article today that the Western Australian government’s contribution to the growth in funding for public hospitals over the past few years has increased at twice the rate of the commonwealth government’s contribution. I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : There were two of them. The AMA admits that the first mistake it made was due to an error it made on the per capita funding on health care. The report in its headline was critical of Western Australia’s per capita funding. As the member for Dawesville knows, Western Australia’s per capita funding is the highest of all the states in Australia, yet the AMA was highly critical of the per capita funding in Western Australia. We rang the AMA’s national office today and said that it appeared to be an error. I am not attributing any malice to it; I would not do that. Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : You are too generous. Mr J.A. McGINTY : That may well be true; I generally am. The AMA is very embarrassed. It put out that release nationally and got the figures on funding wrong. Western Australia is the best of all the states on per capita funding. Only the Northern Territory, because of its peculiar demographic, spends more per capita on health care than we do. As the member knows, because I have given this information before, when John Howard came to power, funding for public hospitals was shared fifty-fifty between the commonwealth government and the states; today it is thirty-seventy. Seventy per cent is picked up by the state and 30 per cent is picked up by the commonwealth. Today has not been a good day for The West Australian , having lost its appeal to the Australian Press Council, but at least Robert Taylor correctly pointed out in his article today that the Western Australian government’s contribution to the growth in funding for public hospitals over the past few years has increased at twice the rate of the commonwealth government’s contribution. I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : You are too generous. Mr J.A. McGINTY : That may well be true; I generally am. The AMA is very embarrassed. It put out that release nationally and got the figures on funding wrong. Western Australia is the best of all the states on per capita funding. Only the Northern Territory, because of its peculiar demographic, spends more per capita on health care than we do. As the member knows, because I have given this information before, when John Howard came to power, funding for public hospitals was shared fifty-fifty between the commonwealth government and the states; today it is thirty-seventy. Seventy per cent is picked up by the state and 30 per cent is picked up by the commonwealth. Today has not been a good day for The West Australian , having lost its appeal to the Australian Press Council, but at least Robert Taylor correctly pointed out in his article today that the Western Australian government’s contribution to the growth in funding for public hospitals over the past few years has increased at twice the rate of the commonwealth government’s contribution. I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : That may well be true; I generally am. The AMA is very embarrassed. It put out that release nationally and got the figures on funding wrong. Western Australia is the best of all the states on per capita funding. Only the Northern Territory, because of its peculiar demographic, spends more per capita on health care than we do. As the member knows, because I have given this information before, when John Howard came to power, funding for public hospitals was shared fifty-fifty between the commonwealth government and the states; today it is thirty-seventy. Seventy per cent is picked up by the state and 30 per cent is picked up by the commonwealth. Today has not been a good day for The West Australian , having lost its appeal to the Australian Press Council, but at least Robert Taylor correctly pointed out in his article today that the Western Australian government’s contribution to the growth in funding for public hospitals over the past few years has increased at twice the rate of the commonwealth government’s contribution. I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
(1) How can the minister justify the fact that Western Australia’s bed numbers are below those of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the national average, while the government is sitting on a $2 billion mountain of cash? (2) How can the minister justify the number of public hospital beds in Western Australia falling below the national average per head of population? (3) How can the minister justify the 19 per cent fall in public beds per head of population in Western Australia since the Labor Party came to government, compared with a 10 per cent fall for the rest of Australia? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Dawesville for the question. He may not be aware that the Australian Medical Association has admitted it made a mistake in that press release. Dr K.D. Hames : What mistake? Mr J.A. McGINTY : There were two of them. The AMA admits that the first mistake it made was due to an error it made on the per capita funding on health care. The report in its headline was critical of Western Australia’s per capita funding. As the member for Dawesville knows, Western Australia’s per capita funding is the highest of all the states in Australia, yet the AMA was highly critical of the per capita funding in Western Australia. We rang the AMA’s national office today and said that it appeared to be an error. I am not attributing any malice to it; I would not do that. Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : You are too generous. Mr J.A. McGINTY : That may well be true; I generally am. The AMA is very embarrassed. It put out that release nationally and got the figures on funding wrong. Western Australia is the best of all the states on per capita funding. Only the Northern Territory, because of its peculiar demographic, spends more per capita on health care than we do. As the member knows, because I have given this information before, when John Howard came to power, funding for public hospitals was shared fifty-fifty between the commonwealth government and the states; today it is thirty-seventy. Seventy per cent is picked up by the state and 30 per cent is picked up by the commonwealth. Today has not been a good day for The West Australian , having lost its appeal to the Australian Press Council, but at least Robert Taylor correctly pointed out in his article today that the Western Australian government’s contribution to the growth in funding for public hospitals over the past few years has increased at twice the rate of the commonwealth government’s contribution. I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
(2) How can the minister justify the number of public hospital beds in Western Australia falling below the national average per head of population? (3) How can the minister justify the 19 per cent fall in public beds per head of population in Western Australia since the Labor Party came to government, compared with a 10 per cent fall for the rest of Australia? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Dawesville for the question. He may not be aware that the Australian Medical Association has admitted it made a mistake in that press release. Dr K.D. Hames : What mistake? Mr J.A. McGINTY : There were two of them. The AMA admits that the first mistake it made was due to an error it made on the per capita funding on health care. The report in its headline was critical of Western Australia’s per capita funding. As the member for Dawesville knows, Western Australia’s per capita funding is the highest of all the states in Australia, yet the AMA was highly critical of the per capita funding in Western Australia. We rang the AMA’s national office today and said that it appeared to be an error. I am not attributing any malice to it; I would not do that. Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : You are too generous. Mr J.A. McGINTY : That may well be true; I generally am. The AMA is very embarrassed. It put out that release nationally and got the figures on funding wrong. Western Australia is the best of all the states on per capita funding. Only the Northern Territory, because of its peculiar demographic, spends more per capita on health care than we do. As the member knows, because I have given this information before, when John Howard came to power, funding for public hospitals was shared fifty-fifty between the commonwealth government and the states; today it is thirty-seventy. Seventy per cent is picked up by the state and 30 per cent is picked up by the commonwealth. Today has not been a good day for The West Australian , having lost its appeal to the Australian Press Council, but at least Robert Taylor correctly pointed out in his article today that the Western Australian government’s contribution to the growth in funding for public hospitals over the past few years has increased at twice the rate of the commonwealth government’s contribution. I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
(3) How can the minister justify the 19 per cent fall in public beds per head of population in Western Australia since the Labor Party came to government, compared with a 10 per cent fall for the rest of Australia? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Dawesville for the question. He may not be aware that the Australian Medical Association has admitted it made a mistake in that press release. Dr K.D. Hames : What mistake? Mr J.A. McGINTY : There were two of them. The AMA admits that the first mistake it made was due to an error it made on the per capita funding on health care. The report in its headline was critical of Western Australia’s per capita funding. As the member for Dawesville knows, Western Australia’s per capita funding is the highest of all the states in Australia, yet the AMA was highly critical of the per capita funding in Western Australia. We rang the AMA’s national office today and said that it appeared to be an error. I am not attributing any malice to it; I would not do that. Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : You are too generous. Mr J.A. McGINTY : That may well be true; I generally am. The AMA is very embarrassed. It put out that release nationally and got the figures on funding wrong. Western Australia is the best of all the states on per capita funding. Only the Northern Territory, because of its peculiar demographic, spends more per capita on health care than we do. As the member knows, because I have given this information before, when John Howard came to power, funding for public hospitals was shared fifty-fifty between the commonwealth government and the states; today it is thirty-seventy. Seventy per cent is picked up by the state and 30 per cent is picked up by the commonwealth. Today has not been a good day for The West Australian , having lost its appeal to the Australian Press Council, but at least Robert Taylor correctly pointed out in his article today that the Western Australian government’s contribution to the growth in funding for public hospitals over the past few years has increased at twice the rate of the commonwealth government’s contribution. I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Dawesville for the question. He may not be aware that the Australian Medical Association has admitted it made a mistake in that press release. Dr K.D. Hames : What mistake? Mr J.A. McGINTY : There were two of them. The AMA admits that the first mistake it made was due to an error it made on the per capita funding on health care. The report in its headline was critical of Western Australia’s per capita funding. As the member for Dawesville knows, Western Australia’s per capita funding is the highest of all the states in Australia, yet the AMA was highly critical of the per capita funding in Western Australia. We rang the AMA’s national office today and said that it appeared to be an error. I am not attributing any malice to it; I would not do that. Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : You are too generous. Mr J.A. McGINTY : That may well be true; I generally am. The AMA is very embarrassed. It put out that release nationally and got the figures on funding wrong. Western Australia is the best of all the states on per capita funding. Only the Northern Territory, because of its peculiar demographic, spends more per capita on health care than we do. As the member knows, because I have given this information before, when John Howard came to power, funding for public hospitals was shared fifty-fifty between the commonwealth government and the states; today it is thirty-seventy. Seventy per cent is picked up by the state and 30 per cent is picked up by the commonwealth. Today has not been a good day for The West Australian , having lost its appeal to the Australian Press Council, but at least Robert Taylor correctly pointed out in his article today that the Western Australian government’s contribution to the growth in funding for public hospitals over the past few years has increased at twice the rate of the commonwealth government’s contribution. I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
(1)-(3) I thank the member for Dawesville for the question. He may not be aware that the Australian Medical Association has admitted it made a mistake in that press release. Dr K.D. Hames : What mistake? Mr J.A. McGINTY : There were two of them. The AMA admits that the first mistake it made was due to an error it made on the per capita funding on health care. The report in its headline was critical of Western Australia’s per capita funding. As the member for Dawesville knows, Western Australia’s per capita funding is the highest of all the states in Australia, yet the AMA was highly critical of the per capita funding in Western Australia. We rang the AMA’s national office today and said that it appeared to be an error. I am not attributing any malice to it; I would not do that. Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : You are too generous. Mr J.A. McGINTY : That may well be true; I generally am. The AMA is very embarrassed. It put out that release nationally and got the figures on funding wrong. Western Australia is the best of all the states on per capita funding. Only the Northern Territory, because of its peculiar demographic, spends more per capita on health care than we do. As the member knows, because I have given this information before, when John Howard came to power, funding for public hospitals was shared fifty-fifty between the commonwealth government and the states; today it is thirty-seventy. Seventy per cent is picked up by the state and 30 per cent is picked up by the commonwealth. Today has not been a good day for The West Australian , having lost its appeal to the Australian Press Council, but at least Robert Taylor correctly pointed out in his article today that the Western Australian government’s contribution to the growth in funding for public hospitals over the past few years has increased at twice the rate of the commonwealth government’s contribution. I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
Dr K.D. Hames : What mistake? Mr J.A. McGINTY : There were two of them. The AMA admits that the first mistake it made was due to an error it made on the per capita funding on health care. The report in its headline was critical of Western Australia’s per capita funding. As the member for Dawesville knows, Western Australia’s per capita funding is the highest of all the states in Australia, yet the AMA was highly critical of the per capita funding in Western Australia. We rang the AMA’s national office today and said that it appeared to be an error. I am not attributing any malice to it; I would not do that. Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : You are too generous. Mr J.A. McGINTY : That may well be true; I generally am. The AMA is very embarrassed. It put out that release nationally and got the figures on funding wrong. Western Australia is the best of all the states on per capita funding. Only the Northern Territory, because of its peculiar demographic, spends more per capita on health care than we do. As the member knows, because I have given this information before, when John Howard came to power, funding for public hospitals was shared fifty-fifty between the commonwealth government and the states; today it is thirty-seventy. Seventy per cent is picked up by the state and 30 per cent is picked up by the commonwealth. Today has not been a good day for The West Australian , having lost its appeal to the Australian Press Council, but at least Robert Taylor correctly pointed out in his article today that the Western Australian government’s contribution to the growth in funding for public hospitals over the past few years has increased at twice the rate of the commonwealth government’s contribution. I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : There were two of them. The AMA admits that the first mistake it made was due to an error it made on the per capita funding on health care. The report in its headline was critical of Western Australia’s per capita funding. As the member for Dawesville knows, Western Australia’s per capita funding is the highest of all the states in Australia, yet the AMA was highly critical of the per capita funding in Western Australia. We rang the AMA’s national office today and said that it appeared to be an error. I am not attributing any malice to it; I would not do that. Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : You are too generous. Mr J.A. McGINTY : That may well be true; I generally am. The AMA is very embarrassed. It put out that release nationally and got the figures on funding wrong. Western Australia is the best of all the states on per capita funding. Only the Northern Territory, because of its peculiar demographic, spends more per capita on health care than we do. As the member knows, because I have given this information before, when John Howard came to power, funding for public hospitals was shared fifty-fifty between the commonwealth government and the states; today it is thirty-seventy. Seventy per cent is picked up by the state and 30 per cent is picked up by the commonwealth. Today has not been a good day for The West Australian , having lost its appeal to the Australian Press Council, but at least Robert Taylor correctly pointed out in his article today that the Western Australian government’s contribution to the growth in funding for public hospitals over the past few years has increased at twice the rate of the commonwealth government’s contribution. I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
Ms A.J.G. MacTiernan : You are too generous. Mr J.A. McGINTY : That may well be true; I generally am. The AMA is very embarrassed. It put out that release nationally and got the figures on funding wrong. Western Australia is the best of all the states on per capita funding. Only the Northern Territory, because of its peculiar demographic, spends more per capita on health care than we do. As the member knows, because I have given this information before, when John Howard came to power, funding for public hospitals was shared fifty-fifty between the commonwealth government and the states; today it is thirty-seventy. Seventy per cent is picked up by the state and 30 per cent is picked up by the commonwealth. Today has not been a good day for The West Australian , having lost its appeal to the Australian Press Council, but at least Robert Taylor correctly pointed out in his article today that the Western Australian government’s contribution to the growth in funding for public hospitals over the past few years has increased at twice the rate of the commonwealth government’s contribution. I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : That may well be true; I generally am. The AMA is very embarrassed. It put out that release nationally and got the figures on funding wrong. Western Australia is the best of all the states on per capita funding. Only the Northern Territory, because of its peculiar demographic, spends more per capita on health care than we do. As the member knows, because I have given this information before, when John Howard came to power, funding for public hospitals was shared fifty-fifty between the commonwealth government and the states; today it is thirty-seventy. Seventy per cent is picked up by the state and 30 per cent is picked up by the commonwealth. Today has not been a good day for The West Australian , having lost its appeal to the Australian Press Council, but at least Robert Taylor correctly pointed out in his article today that the Western Australian government’s contribution to the growth in funding for public hospitals over the past few years has increased at twice the rate of the commonwealth government’s contribution. I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
I move on to the AMA’s second error. It did not include the Joondalup Private Hospital and Peel Health Campus, where there are 450 public hospital beds. If those figures are included in addition to the other figures, the number of public hospital beds in Western Australian compared with the other states increases from below average to above average. By including Joondalup and Peel - Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
Mr R.F. Johnson : Joondalup is always on bypass. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : The member for Hillarys knows that the Joondalup Private Hospital was part of a decision by the previous government to introduce a private component into the public hospital system. The member also knows that those private hospitals have public hospital beds. If those 450 beds are included in addition to the bed stock, Western Australia has more beds per capita than the Australian average, which debunks completely the proposition put by the member for Dawesville. Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
Another issue in that report bears some consideration. The emergency departments in Western Australia, which we all know are under enormous pressure, are the second best performing in the nation. That is not a bad achievement for the emergency departments, based on those criteria. Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
Several members interjected. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : Read the report. That part of it is true. There are a number of indicators for elective surgery, and Western Australia is the second or third best performer in the nation in elective surgery. It was a very good report for Western Australia. It shows that although it is a tough environment, some very good work is being done and we are doing better than the Australian average.
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