❓ The Minister for Health provides an update on measures to transition long-stay patients out of WA hospitals into more appropriate care settings, detailing investments, policy changes, and collaboration with the Commonwealth government and aged-care sector to ease pressure on the hospital system and improve patient outcomes.
AnsweredQoN 547Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HOSPITALS — LONG-STAY PATIENTS
547. Ms C.M. TONKIN to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's $252 million investment in improving access to emergency
care and addressing the challenge of ambulance ramping, which is affecting
hospitals right across the country.
(1) Can the
minister update the house on the measures being taken to transition long-stay
patients out of our state hospitals and into more appropriate forms of care?
(2) Can the minister advise the
house how this will help ease pressure on the hospital system?
547. Ms C.M. TONKIN to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's $252 million investment in improving access to emergency
care and addressing the challenge of ambulance ramping, which is affecting
hospitals right across the country.
(1) Can the
minister update the house on the measures being taken to transition long-stay
patients out of our state hospitals and into more appropriate forms of care?
(2) Can the minister advise the
house how this will help ease pressure on the hospital system?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for her
question.
(1)–(2) We know that on any given day in Western Australia,
hospital beds are occupied by patients who no longer need to be in a tertiary hospital or in a hospital
care setting. They are either waiting for a National Disability Insurance Scheme placement or aged-care services, and appropriate accommodation
or an assessment by the Aged Care Assessment Team. The estimated annual cost to
the Western Australian health system is $142 million. That does not include the
cost to the individual who is stuck in hospital and cannot live the best life
that they can with the most appropriate supports.
We have committed in the last
budget $252 million to address some of the root causes and systems issues
around ambulance ramping. Some of these are around the causes of bed block. We
know that long-stay patients are a significant cause of bed block. Bed block
prevents emergency department patients being admitted and therefore makes the
time on the ramp longer. We know that there are risks with that, so it is
important that we get those people who are in those long-stay beds into more
appropriate settings.
Recently, the Department of Health,
as well as all five health service providers, reinstated the mandatory policy
position on aged-care–related discharge, similar to arrangements that
were in place under former Minister for Health Hon Jim McGinty. Patients
accessing temporary transition care will be expected to take the first place
available to them, with preference given to a facility within their preferred area.
Staff will support patients in need of permanent residential aged-care facility
placement to select and register for up to three suitable options. As soon as
one of these three options becomes available, they must accept that option. We will not force anyone into an
aged-care facility they do not want to be at, and we will work with the
health service providers to ensure the policy is implemented sensibly with
appropriate guidelines and supports.
These supports will include access to
better information on available aged-care beds, providing patients and their families with a large number of options
to choose from. I have to thank the aged-care sector in WA for its
fantastic support of this policy and the work that it has done with both my
office and the health department.
This builds on initiatives the
government has already put in place to support the discharge of long-stay
patients into more appropriate accommodation services: $59.5 million for 120
aged-care places, as part of the transition care program; the establishment of
four transition care pilots with Aboriginal medical services to better support
older Aboriginal Western Australians leaving hospital; and the continuation of
a cross-agency focus by the Department of Health, the Department of Communities
and the Mental Health Commission, including $5.8 million for a long-stay
patient fund to support bespoke, patient-by-patient solutions to address the
barriers to discharge. The 12-bed From Hospital to Home disability support
transition pilot has supported the discharge of 34 long-stay patients from
hospital, and we will launch further disability transition pilots with $7.7 million.
We
are also working constructively with the commonwealth government to increase
the range of care types . We know that the federal Minister for the
National Disability Insurance Scheme, Bill Shorten, announced new KPIs for his
department, ensuring that Western Australians who are in hospital and waiting
for their NDIS package receive contact from the federal agency within four days
of them being ready for discharge. Their plan must be completed within 15 to 30
days. It is refreshing to be working in this space with a commonwealth
government that we can call a genuine partner.
question.
(1)–(2) We know that on any given day in Western Australia,
hospital beds are occupied by patients who no longer need to be in a tertiary hospital or in a hospital
care setting. They are either waiting for a National Disability Insurance Scheme placement or aged-care services, and appropriate accommodation
or an assessment by the Aged Care Assessment Team. The estimated annual cost to
the Western Australian health system is $142 million. That does not include the
cost to the individual who is stuck in hospital and cannot live the best life
that they can with the most appropriate supports.
We have committed in the last
budget $252 million to address some of the root causes and systems issues
around ambulance ramping. Some of these are around the causes of bed block. We
know that long-stay patients are a significant cause of bed block. Bed block
prevents emergency department patients being admitted and therefore makes the
time on the ramp longer. We know that there are risks with that, so it is
important that we get those people who are in those long-stay beds into more
appropriate settings.
Recently, the Department of Health,
as well as all five health service providers, reinstated the mandatory policy
position on aged-care–related discharge, similar to arrangements that
were in place under former Minister for Health Hon Jim McGinty. Patients
accessing temporary transition care will be expected to take the first place
available to them, with preference given to a facility within their preferred area.
Staff will support patients in need of permanent residential aged-care facility
placement to select and register for up to three suitable options. As soon as
one of these three options becomes available, they must accept that option. We will not force anyone into an
aged-care facility they do not want to be at, and we will work with the
health service providers to ensure the policy is implemented sensibly with
appropriate guidelines and supports.
These supports will include access to
better information on available aged-care beds, providing patients and their families with a large number of options
to choose from. I have to thank the aged-care sector in WA for its
fantastic support of this policy and the work that it has done with both my
office and the health department.
This builds on initiatives the
government has already put in place to support the discharge of long-stay
patients into more appropriate accommodation services: $59.5 million for 120
aged-care places, as part of the transition care program; the establishment of
four transition care pilots with Aboriginal medical services to better support
older Aboriginal Western Australians leaving hospital; and the continuation of
a cross-agency focus by the Department of Health, the Department of Communities
and the Mental Health Commission, including $5.8 million for a long-stay
patient fund to support bespoke, patient-by-patient solutions to address the
barriers to discharge. The 12-bed From Hospital to Home disability support
transition pilot has supported the discharge of 34 long-stay patients from
hospital, and we will launch further disability transition pilots with $7.7 million.
We
are also working constructively with the commonwealth government to increase
the range of care types . We know that the federal Minister for the
National Disability Insurance Scheme, Bill Shorten, announced new KPIs for his
department, ensuring that Western Australians who are in hospital and waiting
for their NDIS package receive contact from the federal agency within four days
of them being ready for discharge. Their plan must be completed within 15 to 30
days. It is refreshing to be working in this space with a commonwealth
government that we can call a genuine partner.
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