❓ Opposition questions the Minister for Health on the progress of the Joondalup medihotel project, alleging broken promises and negative impacts. The Minister deflects, touting the government's overall health system improvements and criticising the previous Liberal government's performance.
AnsweredQoN 94Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
MEDIHOTELS —
OPERATION
94. Mr Z.R.F. KIRKUP to the Minister for Health:
I have a supplementary question. Can
the minister confirm that he personally bungled the election promise on the
Joondalup medihotel, and that they are not actually under construction, they
will not be taking patients next year and the minister has personally cost jobs
and compromised patient safety?
OPERATION
94. Mr Z.R.F. KIRKUP to the Minister for Health:
I have a supplementary question. Can
the minister confirm that he personally bungled the election promise on the
Joondalup medihotel, and that they are not actually under construction, they
will not be taking patients next year and the minister has personally cost jobs
and compromised patient safety?
AnswerView source ↗
I can assure the member for
Dawesville that we are creating a modern health system, something the Liberal
Party could never do. The former government simply sat on the health portfolio,
allowed the budget to run away from it and made our services more inefficient.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Mr R.H. COOK : The people who
ultimately pay for the bungles on the other side are the patients of Western Australia.
We have had a 1.6 per cent growth in expenditure this year, something that no
other government has been able to ensure. We have had over 5 000 extra episodes
of elective surgery, so we are growing our
elective surgery by over three per cent, yet maintaining expense growth to just
1.6 per cent. No other government has been able to do that. We are
continuing to revolutionise our health system, making sure that we are
continuing to grow it, making sure that it meets the needs of WA patients and
making sure that we are growing our health budget in a sustainable way. That is
something the Liberal Party could never do. Under the Liberal Party, our system
became more inefficient; under the Liberal Party, our system became stagnant.
We have a government now that is taking health services forward. We have
redevelopment of almost every hospital underway, and we will continue to grow
and modernise our health services through medihotels, through urgent care
clinics and through ensuring that we have a modern hospital system. Ultimately,
we know that Western Australians will always have a better health system under
a Labor government.
Dawesville that we are creating a modern health system, something the Liberal
Party could never do. The former government simply sat on the health portfolio,
allowed the budget to run away from it and made our services more inefficient.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Mr R.H. COOK : The people who
ultimately pay for the bungles on the other side are the patients of Western Australia.
We have had a 1.6 per cent growth in expenditure this year, something that no
other government has been able to ensure. We have had over 5 000 extra episodes
of elective surgery, so we are growing our
elective surgery by over three per cent, yet maintaining expense growth to just
1.6 per cent. No other government has been able to do that. We are
continuing to revolutionise our health system, making sure that we are
continuing to grow it, making sure that it meets the needs of WA patients and
making sure that we are growing our health budget in a sustainable way. That is
something the Liberal Party could never do. Under the Liberal Party, our system
became more inefficient; under the Liberal Party, our system became stagnant.
We have a government now that is taking health services forward. We have
redevelopment of almost every hospital underway, and we will continue to grow
and modernise our health services through medihotels, through urgent care
clinics and through ensuring that we have a modern hospital system. Ultimately,
we know that Western Australians will always have a better health system under
a Labor government.
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