❓ Ms Hamilton asks about the impact of the government's reforms to improve emergency care access and reduce ambulance ramping. The Minister responds by outlining several initiatives and citing positive feedback from various stakeholders, while criticising the opposition's stance.
AnsweredQoN 290Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS — REFORM
290. Ms E.L. HAMILTON to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the McGowan Labor government's
record investment to strengthen and improve Western Australia's health
system.
(1) Can the
minister update the house on the impact of this government's reforms to
improve access to emergency care and reduce ambulance ramping?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house how these reforms are improving the capacity of our
emergency care services?
Visitors — Dawson Park
Primary School
The
SPEAKER : Minister, I want to acknowledge and welcome, on behalf of
the member for Forrestfield, the students from Dawson Park Primary School and
the staff member who is accompanying them. Welcome to the Western Australian
Parliament.
Questions without Notice Resumed
290. Ms E.L. HAMILTON to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the McGowan Labor government's
record investment to strengthen and improve Western Australia's health
system.
(1) Can the
minister update the house on the impact of this government's reforms to
improve access to emergency care and reduce ambulance ramping?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house how these reforms are improving the capacity of our
emergency care services?
Visitors — Dawson Park
Primary School
The
SPEAKER : Minister, I want to acknowledge and welcome, on behalf of
the member for Forrestfield, the students from Dawson Park Primary School and
the staff member who is accompanying them. Welcome to the Western Australian
Parliament.
Questions without Notice Resumed
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Joondalup
for her question.
(1)–(2) In last year's budget, the government announced
a suite of measures spanning short, medium and long-term solutions to
help address some of the pressures on our emergency departments. At the time we
announced those measures, Dr Peter Allely from the Australasian College of
Emergency Medicine told the media that they were pleased that they had a government
that was listening and cares and is trying to make some improvements to a super-complicated
issue.
In the last 12 months we have pursued
reforms at a rapid pace across four areas: firstly, we have developed a WA
virtual emergency department, or WAVED, with new community-based services,
giving patients more options to access timely care without having to go to an
emergency department. Secondly, a state health operations centre, which will
improve the coordination of patient movements to reduce demands on frontline
staff. We expect the first stage of that to be up and running for this winter.
Thirdly, we are reinstating the dedicated reform teams that were previously in
place under the four-hour rule to eliminate unnecessary
barriers and to optimise patient care. Fourthly, we are reducing the number of
long-stay patients awaiting aged care or NDIS support.
We have developed new and innovative
measures such as paying aged-care providers to increase the number of temporary placements that they have and
respite beds for those who are medically fit for discharge and ready to
leave hospital. There are some promising early signs and green shoots, with
ramping down for three consecutive months by an average of 25 per cent compared
with last year. We know that winter will
increase pressure on our system, as it does every single year. The impacts of
deferred care and demand from the
pandemic, an ageing population and an increase in chronic and complex disease
will only increase pressure on our
system, as they will on every other health system. That is why, in this budget,
the government has committed another $75 million to expand our reforms,
which are starting to make an impact, and additional funding for things like
geriatric outreach into the community. We are listening to our frontline
healthcare workers and investing in the solutions they care about.
Last year I attended a summit run by
the Australian Medical Association in which clinicians from across the system
proposed a range of alternative pathways to ED, and greater use of in-reach
teams. We did more than just listen to those clinicians; we have funded those
proposals and we are getting on with the job of implementing them through major
reforms. That is why the president of the AMA—not someone who is known
for handing out compliments—recently congratulated the government on
developing these proposals from clinicians into practical policies that will
improve care.
We
know that the opposition is increasingly out of touch on this issue and intent
on spreading misinformation . The fact that the opposition has tried to
score cheap political points on these recent announcements, which were developed by clinicians, shows how out of
touch it is with frontline workers and the sector. Chris How , the CEO of
Bethanie Aged Care, has said that WAVED will complement the existing services
and allow for decisions based on residents' needs. Liz Behjat, state
manager of the aged care peak body Aged and Community
Care Providers Association and former member of the Western Australian
Legislative Council , strongly supported WAVED and said that we are
leading the way in our collaboration with the sector. Clare Mullen from the
Health Consumers' Council of WA has been actively involved in the WAVED
reforms and has said that there is general support from the consumers surveyed.
Even Kim Hames, the former Liberal Minister for Health, when asked about our
reforms, said that it was easy to sit outside and say how it should be done, but
that it was a lot harder from inside and that he knew we are trying to do some
of those things.
I challenge the Leader of the Liberal
Party to come up with some suggestions for how she would fix it and to tell us
what she would do.
for her question.
(1)–(2) In last year's budget, the government announced
a suite of measures spanning short, medium and long-term solutions to
help address some of the pressures on our emergency departments. At the time we
announced those measures, Dr Peter Allely from the Australasian College of
Emergency Medicine told the media that they were pleased that they had a government
that was listening and cares and is trying to make some improvements to a super-complicated
issue.
In the last 12 months we have pursued
reforms at a rapid pace across four areas: firstly, we have developed a WA
virtual emergency department, or WAVED, with new community-based services,
giving patients more options to access timely care without having to go to an
emergency department. Secondly, a state health operations centre, which will
improve the coordination of patient movements to reduce demands on frontline
staff. We expect the first stage of that to be up and running for this winter.
Thirdly, we are reinstating the dedicated reform teams that were previously in
place under the four-hour rule to eliminate unnecessary
barriers and to optimise patient care. Fourthly, we are reducing the number of
long-stay patients awaiting aged care or NDIS support.
We have developed new and innovative
measures such as paying aged-care providers to increase the number of temporary placements that they have and
respite beds for those who are medically fit for discharge and ready to
leave hospital. There are some promising early signs and green shoots, with
ramping down for three consecutive months by an average of 25 per cent compared
with last year. We know that winter will
increase pressure on our system, as it does every single year. The impacts of
deferred care and demand from the
pandemic, an ageing population and an increase in chronic and complex disease
will only increase pressure on our
system, as they will on every other health system. That is why, in this budget,
the government has committed another $75 million to expand our reforms,
which are starting to make an impact, and additional funding for things like
geriatric outreach into the community. We are listening to our frontline
healthcare workers and investing in the solutions they care about.
Last year I attended a summit run by
the Australian Medical Association in which clinicians from across the system
proposed a range of alternative pathways to ED, and greater use of in-reach
teams. We did more than just listen to those clinicians; we have funded those
proposals and we are getting on with the job of implementing them through major
reforms. That is why the president of the AMA—not someone who is known
for handing out compliments—recently congratulated the government on
developing these proposals from clinicians into practical policies that will
improve care.
We
know that the opposition is increasingly out of touch on this issue and intent
on spreading misinformation . The fact that the opposition has tried to
score cheap political points on these recent announcements, which were developed by clinicians, shows how out of
touch it is with frontline workers and the sector. Chris How , the CEO of
Bethanie Aged Care, has said that WAVED will complement the existing services
and allow for decisions based on residents' needs. Liz Behjat, state
manager of the aged care peak body Aged and Community
Care Providers Association and former member of the Western Australian
Legislative Council , strongly supported WAVED and said that we are
leading the way in our collaboration with the sector. Clare Mullen from the
Health Consumers' Council of WA has been actively involved in the WAVED
reforms and has said that there is general support from the consumers surveyed.
Even Kim Hames, the former Liberal Minister for Health, when asked about our
reforms, said that it was easy to sit outside and say how it should be done, but
that it was a lot harder from inside and that he knew we are trying to do some
of those things.
I challenge the Leader of the Liberal
Party to come up with some suggestions for how she would fix it and to tell us
what she would do.
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