❓ Question on ambulance ramping and hospital capacity. Premier defends government's handling of health system, citing COVID-19 impacts and investments, while criticizing the opposition's record and understanding of the issues.
AnsweredQoN 315Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
AMBULANCE RAMPING
315. Ms M.J. DAVIES to the Premier:
I refer to the litany of excuses
this government has used over the past two years to explain the record
ambulance ramping figures, including respiratory issues, extra cleaning, a severe
flu season and, at first, outright denial that there was a problem. Given that ramping is a result of a hospital system
at capacity with no beds available, why has it taken a crisis and so
long for the government to admit it is failing to manage our crumbling health
system and offer support to St John Ambulance?
315. Ms M.J. DAVIES to the Premier:
I refer to the litany of excuses
this government has used over the past two years to explain the record
ambulance ramping figures, including respiratory issues, extra cleaning, a severe
flu season and, at first, outright denial that there was a problem. Given that ramping is a result of a hospital system
at capacity with no beds available, why has it taken a crisis and so
long for the government to admit it is failing to manage our crumbling health
system and offer support to St John Ambulance?
AnswerView source ↗
One
thing I do know is that Labor will always manage health better than the
Liberals and Nationals. We will always manage it better. The Liberals'
and Nationals' DNA is that ordinary people do not deserve decent health
care.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please,
members!
Mr M. McGOWAN : That is
where they start from. The Liberals' and Nationals' DNA is that
it should depend on the amount of money someone has in their bank
account, rather than their need. That is where they start.
Several members interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN : The member
does not know the history. The Liberals and Nationals know nothing about
history. They know nothing about the history of this country or the history of
these issues.
I have been here a long time and I have
seen it all. I can tell members that we always get better health outcomes and
better investment under Labor governments than we do under Liberal governments
because we want to make sure that ordinary people get decent health care.
The Leader of the Opposition said
that one of the so-called excuses was respiratory issues. I do not know whether
she has noticed, but we have been through a worldwide pandemic that is based on
respiratory issues—that is what it is—and we have had to deal
with that. I recently had some experience in a hospital with a family member. I
can tell members that when staff have to deal with a patient, the changing of personal
protective equipment and the protocols around that are quite extraordinary—it
is quite extraordinary what has to happen—which obviously puts huge
delay into the system. Every time someone comes into a room, they change their
PPE every time they leave the room. It is quite extraordinary. If someone comes
in six times, they have to change their PPE six times—that is just with
one patient. That sort of thing is quite extraordinary. They are the protocols.
We do not control those; they are the protocols that Health puts in place.
Those sorts of things do put delays into the system and they are unavoidable.
It happens in ambulances as well. Then at any given point in time, there are
literally thousands of staff not at work
because they are COVID positive or they are a close contact. As we know with
our health workforce , a lot of nurses in particular, but allied staff
and doctors also, have children at school who become COVID positive and they
either have to look after them or they become positive themselves.
These are hard issues to deal with; they should not be glibly
dismissed as though we can somehow magic androids out of the air to fill the
role of trained professionals. We cannot magic androids out of the air—we
cannot! The Leader of the Opposition said, ''Why couldn't you
plan for this?'' In terms of the St John Ambulance situation, recently,
on Sunday evening, I was advised that the absenteeism rate was 40 per cent—40
per cent!—because of COVID issues. They are not easy issues to deal
with. What have we done? The Leader of the Opposition talked about beds. We have committed to 530-plus
additional beds since October last year, of which 340 or so have already been rolled out. An additional 1 500 or so nurses have been employed over the
course of the last two years, plus 512 additional doctors.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN : Honestly!
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN : Honestly, the Liberals are so unfit for
office.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN : There we are; there it goes. I remember
when Colin Barnett was standing there—he got to stand there, but I have
to stand here!
Several members interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN : As an act of sympathy!
At least the Liberal Party had people of substance amongst
them at that point in time.
Several members interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN : There we go; there we go.
Those are the sorts of things that we are dealing with. As I said,
there are 530-plus additional beds, 1 500 nurses, 512 additional doctors, $5.2 billion in additional spend and a massive
new emergency department regime put in place.
I read the national press and I know what is happening in
other states. They are dealing with exactly the same issues, but they have
dealt with them for years over COVID because they had massive outbreaks in
Sydney and Melbourne, which we did not have.
They had thousands of people die, which we did not have. We avoided the worst of that. We have achieved our soft landing out of COVID with incredibly high
vaccination rates. Our situation is one that is difficult at this point in
time. In many ways, it was unavoidable because of the fact that at some point
in time, COVID was going to get here, despite our best efforts. We have
prepared ourselves with our vaccination rates and additional investment as best
we can to cope with a difficult situation.
thing I do know is that Labor will always manage health better than the
Liberals and Nationals. We will always manage it better. The Liberals'
and Nationals' DNA is that ordinary people do not deserve decent health
care.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please,
members!
Mr M. McGOWAN : That is
where they start from. The Liberals' and Nationals' DNA is that
it should depend on the amount of money someone has in their bank
account, rather than their need. That is where they start.
Several members interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN : The member
does not know the history. The Liberals and Nationals know nothing about
history. They know nothing about the history of this country or the history of
these issues.
I have been here a long time and I have
seen it all. I can tell members that we always get better health outcomes and
better investment under Labor governments than we do under Liberal governments
because we want to make sure that ordinary people get decent health care.
The Leader of the Opposition said
that one of the so-called excuses was respiratory issues. I do not know whether
she has noticed, but we have been through a worldwide pandemic that is based on
respiratory issues—that is what it is—and we have had to deal
with that. I recently had some experience in a hospital with a family member. I
can tell members that when staff have to deal with a patient, the changing of personal
protective equipment and the protocols around that are quite extraordinary—it
is quite extraordinary what has to happen—which obviously puts huge
delay into the system. Every time someone comes into a room, they change their
PPE every time they leave the room. It is quite extraordinary. If someone comes
in six times, they have to change their PPE six times—that is just with
one patient. That sort of thing is quite extraordinary. They are the protocols.
We do not control those; they are the protocols that Health puts in place.
Those sorts of things do put delays into the system and they are unavoidable.
It happens in ambulances as well. Then at any given point in time, there are
literally thousands of staff not at work
because they are COVID positive or they are a close contact. As we know with
our health workforce , a lot of nurses in particular, but allied staff
and doctors also, have children at school who become COVID positive and they
either have to look after them or they become positive themselves.
These are hard issues to deal with; they should not be glibly
dismissed as though we can somehow magic androids out of the air to fill the
role of trained professionals. We cannot magic androids out of the air—we
cannot! The Leader of the Opposition said, ''Why couldn't you
plan for this?'' In terms of the St John Ambulance situation, recently,
on Sunday evening, I was advised that the absenteeism rate was 40 per cent—40
per cent!—because of COVID issues. They are not easy issues to deal
with. What have we done? The Leader of the Opposition talked about beds. We have committed to 530-plus
additional beds since October last year, of which 340 or so have already been rolled out. An additional 1 500 or so nurses have been employed over the
course of the last two years, plus 512 additional doctors.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN : Honestly!
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN : Honestly, the Liberals are so unfit for
office.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN : There we are; there it goes. I remember
when Colin Barnett was standing there—he got to stand there, but I have
to stand here!
Several members interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN : As an act of sympathy!
At least the Liberal Party had people of substance amongst
them at that point in time.
Several members interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN : There we go; there we go.
Those are the sorts of things that we are dealing with. As I said,
there are 530-plus additional beds, 1 500 nurses, 512 additional doctors, $5.2 billion in additional spend and a massive
new emergency department regime put in place.
I read the national press and I know what is happening in
other states. They are dealing with exactly the same issues, but they have
dealt with them for years over COVID because they had massive outbreaks in
Sydney and Melbourne, which we did not have.
They had thousands of people die, which we did not have. We avoided the worst of that. We have achieved our soft landing out of COVID with incredibly high
vaccination rates. Our situation is one that is difficult at this point in
time. In many ways, it was unavoidable because of the fact that at some point
in time, COVID was going to get here, despite our best efforts. We have
prepared ourselves with our vaccination rates and additional investment as best
we can to cope with a difficult situation.
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