Hon Michelle Hofmann's question regarding long emergency department wait times in WA public hospitals for July 2025 was met with a response indicating that accurate data is unavailable due to prioritisation of patient care and statistical reporting methods.

AnsweredQoN 416Legislative Council
Asked
13 August 2025
Portfolio
Health

QuestionView source ↗

I refer to wait times in all emergency departments in all Western Australian public hospitals, and I ask: (a) for the month of July 2025, in emergency departments across the public hospital system, how many patients waited to see a doctor for more than: (i) 48 hours; (ii) 24 hours; and (iii) 12 hours; (b) are wait times of 24 hours or more still reported to the Health Minister; and (c) if no to (b), why not and when was this reporting activity ceased?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
18 September 2025
Responded by
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health
Response time
10 days
(a)-(c)
The reporting and performance analysis of Emergency Department waiting times indicators, is reported at a macro level and utilises statistical methods such as median to reduce the impact of outlier errors in data capture.
The priority of staff within Emergency Departments is to treat patients within clinically appropriate time frames and at times this may result in information not being captured as accurately.
As such, accurate information is not available.

Explore WA Government Data

Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.

Explore more