❓ Question regarding hospital emergency department stress and bed availability, answered with statistics on increased emergency department attendances and government initiatives to address bed shortages by moving patients to aged care facilities.
AnsweredQoN 404Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HOSPITALS - STRESS ON EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS, AND PATIENTS AWAITING BEDS
(1) Can the minister explain why, despite his boasts of how things are improving, last night the emergency departments at Royal Perth, Sir Charles Gairdner and Fremantle Hospitals were under severe stress, with reportedly up to a dozen ambulances being ramped at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital at one time? (2) How can he justify the fact that, as at this morning, there were up to 120 patients waiting for beds in our three major public hospitals? (3) Given that this meltdown is yet another result of this government’s failure to properly resource and manage our hospitals by providing enough staff, equipment and beds, will he either remove himself from the health ministry or focus 100 per cent on health priorities, rather than his other social agendas? Mr J.A. McGINTY
(1) Can the minister explain why, despite his boasts of how things are improving, last night the emergency departments at Royal Perth, Sir Charles Gairdner and Fremantle Hospitals were under severe stress, with reportedly up to a dozen ambulances being ramped at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital at one time? (2) How can he justify the fact that, as at this morning, there were up to 120 patients waiting for beds in our three major public hospitals? (3) Given that this meltdown is yet another result of this government’s failure to properly resource and manage our hospitals by providing enough staff, equipment and beds, will he either remove himself from the health ministry or focus 100 per cent on health priorities, rather than his other social agendas? Mr J.A. McGINTY
AnswerView source ↗
(1)-(3) I thank the member for Dawesville for the question because it gives me the opportunity to relay to the house some very important statistics about the nature of the challenges that are faced in hospital emergency departments. During the month of July this year, compared with the month of June - in other words, over the course of the month - the number of emergency department attendances increased by 21.1 per cent. That represents an extra 12 069 people who presented at emergency departments over those who presented in June. That increase of 21.1 per cent is a massive increase. Dr K.D. Hames : How much of that is for PMH? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will come to that because I think that is a very important question. I will give a July-to-July comparison, because, as the member knows, there are monthly differences. From July 2006 to July 2007, there was a 48.8 per cent increase in the number of people attending Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, and that was due to the reasons that I gave yesterday in my brief ministerial statement about the bacteria and influenza outbreak. That means that an extra 2 316 patients presented at PMH during the month of July. In the south metropolitan area, there was a 13.6 per cent increase, or 2 000 extra patients attended at the emergency department. In Joondalup, there was a 19.2 per cent increase, or an extra 829 patients. In the north metropolitan area, which is essentially Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and some other hospitals, there was a 5.8 per cent increase, or 453 extra patients. In the metropolitan area, the global figure for July 2007 was a 17.7 per cent increase in ED attendances; that is, an extra 5 691 patients were seen in emergency departments compared with the number of patients seen in July 2006. For the benefit of country members, there was a somewhat similar position in the country, although it was not quite as extreme. There was a 13.3 per cent increase in ED attendances during the month of July; that is, an extra 3 669 patients attended emergency departments in the country. That is the essential problem, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to explain to the house the magnitude of the dramatic increase in the number of people who are fronting emergency departments. Although we have a number of strategies in place to attempt to deal with that, those figures indicate that the demand for emergency department treatment is great, and it was great last night. There is no denying that. What we have essentially done to meet that demand is to try to remove from the acute beds, particularly in tertiary hospitals, those people who should be in aged care facilities. To do that, we have opened 134 beds so far. We have indicated that the target is to put an additional 228 beds into the system by the end of the year. We have so far succeeded in opening 134 of those - Dr K.D. Hames : I heard that Rockingham was half empty. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
(2) How can he justify the fact that, as at this morning, there were up to 120 patients waiting for beds in our three major public hospitals? (3) Given that this meltdown is yet another result of this government’s failure to properly resource and manage our hospitals by providing enough staff, equipment and beds, will he either remove himself from the health ministry or focus 100 per cent on health priorities, rather than his other social agendas? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Dawesville for the question because it gives me the opportunity to relay to the house some very important statistics about the nature of the challenges that are faced in hospital emergency departments. During the month of July this year, compared with the month of June - in other words, over the course of the month - the number of emergency department attendances increased by 21.1 per cent. That represents an extra 12 069 people who presented at emergency departments over those who presented in June. That increase of 21.1 per cent is a massive increase. Dr K.D. Hames : How much of that is for PMH? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will come to that because I think that is a very important question. I will give a July-to-July comparison, because, as the member knows, there are monthly differences. From July 2006 to July 2007, there was a 48.8 per cent increase in the number of people attending Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, and that was due to the reasons that I gave yesterday in my brief ministerial statement about the bacteria and influenza outbreak. That means that an extra 2 316 patients presented at PMH during the month of July. In the south metropolitan area, there was a 13.6 per cent increase, or 2 000 extra patients attended at the emergency department. In Joondalup, there was a 19.2 per cent increase, or an extra 829 patients. In the north metropolitan area, which is essentially Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and some other hospitals, there was a 5.8 per cent increase, or 453 extra patients. In the metropolitan area, the global figure for July 2007 was a 17.7 per cent increase in ED attendances; that is, an extra 5 691 patients were seen in emergency departments compared with the number of patients seen in July 2006. For the benefit of country members, there was a somewhat similar position in the country, although it was not quite as extreme. There was a 13.3 per cent increase in ED attendances during the month of July; that is, an extra 3 669 patients attended emergency departments in the country. That is the essential problem, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to explain to the house the magnitude of the dramatic increase in the number of people who are fronting emergency departments. Although we have a number of strategies in place to attempt to deal with that, those figures indicate that the demand for emergency department treatment is great, and it was great last night. There is no denying that. What we have essentially done to meet that demand is to try to remove from the acute beds, particularly in tertiary hospitals, those people who should be in aged care facilities. To do that, we have opened 134 beds so far. We have indicated that the target is to put an additional 228 beds into the system by the end of the year. We have so far succeeded in opening 134 of those - Dr K.D. Hames : I heard that Rockingham was half empty. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
(3) Given that this meltdown is yet another result of this government’s failure to properly resource and manage our hospitals by providing enough staff, equipment and beds, will he either remove himself from the health ministry or focus 100 per cent on health priorities, rather than his other social agendas? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Dawesville for the question because it gives me the opportunity to relay to the house some very important statistics about the nature of the challenges that are faced in hospital emergency departments. During the month of July this year, compared with the month of June - in other words, over the course of the month - the number of emergency department attendances increased by 21.1 per cent. That represents an extra 12 069 people who presented at emergency departments over those who presented in June. That increase of 21.1 per cent is a massive increase. Dr K.D. Hames : How much of that is for PMH? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will come to that because I think that is a very important question. I will give a July-to-July comparison, because, as the member knows, there are monthly differences. From July 2006 to July 2007, there was a 48.8 per cent increase in the number of people attending Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, and that was due to the reasons that I gave yesterday in my brief ministerial statement about the bacteria and influenza outbreak. That means that an extra 2 316 patients presented at PMH during the month of July. In the south metropolitan area, there was a 13.6 per cent increase, or 2 000 extra patients attended at the emergency department. In Joondalup, there was a 19.2 per cent increase, or an extra 829 patients. In the north metropolitan area, which is essentially Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and some other hospitals, there was a 5.8 per cent increase, or 453 extra patients. In the metropolitan area, the global figure for July 2007 was a 17.7 per cent increase in ED attendances; that is, an extra 5 691 patients were seen in emergency departments compared with the number of patients seen in July 2006. For the benefit of country members, there was a somewhat similar position in the country, although it was not quite as extreme. There was a 13.3 per cent increase in ED attendances during the month of July; that is, an extra 3 669 patients attended emergency departments in the country. That is the essential problem, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to explain to the house the magnitude of the dramatic increase in the number of people who are fronting emergency departments. Although we have a number of strategies in place to attempt to deal with that, those figures indicate that the demand for emergency department treatment is great, and it was great last night. There is no denying that. What we have essentially done to meet that demand is to try to remove from the acute beds, particularly in tertiary hospitals, those people who should be in aged care facilities. To do that, we have opened 134 beds so far. We have indicated that the target is to put an additional 228 beds into the system by the end of the year. We have so far succeeded in opening 134 of those - Dr K.D. Hames : I heard that Rockingham was half empty. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Dawesville for the question because it gives me the opportunity to relay to the house some very important statistics about the nature of the challenges that are faced in hospital emergency departments. During the month of July this year, compared with the month of June - in other words, over the course of the month - the number of emergency department attendances increased by 21.1 per cent. That represents an extra 12 069 people who presented at emergency departments over those who presented in June. That increase of 21.1 per cent is a massive increase. Dr K.D. Hames : How much of that is for PMH? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will come to that because I think that is a very important question. I will give a July-to-July comparison, because, as the member knows, there are monthly differences. From July 2006 to July 2007, there was a 48.8 per cent increase in the number of people attending Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, and that was due to the reasons that I gave yesterday in my brief ministerial statement about the bacteria and influenza outbreak. That means that an extra 2 316 patients presented at PMH during the month of July. In the south metropolitan area, there was a 13.6 per cent increase, or 2 000 extra patients attended at the emergency department. In Joondalup, there was a 19.2 per cent increase, or an extra 829 patients. In the north metropolitan area, which is essentially Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and some other hospitals, there was a 5.8 per cent increase, or 453 extra patients. In the metropolitan area, the global figure for July 2007 was a 17.7 per cent increase in ED attendances; that is, an extra 5 691 patients were seen in emergency departments compared with the number of patients seen in July 2006. For the benefit of country members, there was a somewhat similar position in the country, although it was not quite as extreme. There was a 13.3 per cent increase in ED attendances during the month of July; that is, an extra 3 669 patients attended emergency departments in the country. That is the essential problem, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to explain to the house the magnitude of the dramatic increase in the number of people who are fronting emergency departments. Although we have a number of strategies in place to attempt to deal with that, those figures indicate that the demand for emergency department treatment is great, and it was great last night. There is no denying that. What we have essentially done to meet that demand is to try to remove from the acute beds, particularly in tertiary hospitals, those people who should be in aged care facilities. To do that, we have opened 134 beds so far. We have indicated that the target is to put an additional 228 beds into the system by the end of the year. We have so far succeeded in opening 134 of those - Dr K.D. Hames : I heard that Rockingham was half empty. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
(1)-(3) I thank the member for Dawesville for the question because it gives me the opportunity to relay to the house some very important statistics about the nature of the challenges that are faced in hospital emergency departments. During the month of July this year, compared with the month of June - in other words, over the course of the month - the number of emergency department attendances increased by 21.1 per cent. That represents an extra 12 069 people who presented at emergency departments over those who presented in June. That increase of 21.1 per cent is a massive increase. Dr K.D. Hames : How much of that is for PMH? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will come to that because I think that is a very important question. I will give a July-to-July comparison, because, as the member knows, there are monthly differences. From July 2006 to July 2007, there was a 48.8 per cent increase in the number of people attending Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, and that was due to the reasons that I gave yesterday in my brief ministerial statement about the bacteria and influenza outbreak. That means that an extra 2 316 patients presented at PMH during the month of July. In the south metropolitan area, there was a 13.6 per cent increase, or 2 000 extra patients attended at the emergency department. In Joondalup, there was a 19.2 per cent increase, or an extra 829 patients. In the north metropolitan area, which is essentially Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and some other hospitals, there was a 5.8 per cent increase, or 453 extra patients. In the metropolitan area, the global figure for July 2007 was a 17.7 per cent increase in ED attendances; that is, an extra 5 691 patients were seen in emergency departments compared with the number of patients seen in July 2006. For the benefit of country members, there was a somewhat similar position in the country, although it was not quite as extreme. There was a 13.3 per cent increase in ED attendances during the month of July; that is, an extra 3 669 patients attended emergency departments in the country. That is the essential problem, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to explain to the house the magnitude of the dramatic increase in the number of people who are fronting emergency departments. Although we have a number of strategies in place to attempt to deal with that, those figures indicate that the demand for emergency department treatment is great, and it was great last night. There is no denying that. What we have essentially done to meet that demand is to try to remove from the acute beds, particularly in tertiary hospitals, those people who should be in aged care facilities. To do that, we have opened 134 beds so far. We have indicated that the target is to put an additional 228 beds into the system by the end of the year. We have so far succeeded in opening 134 of those - Dr K.D. Hames : I heard that Rockingham was half empty. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
Dr K.D. Hames : How much of that is for PMH? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will come to that because I think that is a very important question. I will give a July-to-July comparison, because, as the member knows, there are monthly differences. From July 2006 to July 2007, there was a 48.8 per cent increase in the number of people attending Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, and that was due to the reasons that I gave yesterday in my brief ministerial statement about the bacteria and influenza outbreak. That means that an extra 2 316 patients presented at PMH during the month of July. In the south metropolitan area, there was a 13.6 per cent increase, or 2 000 extra patients attended at the emergency department. In Joondalup, there was a 19.2 per cent increase, or an extra 829 patients. In the north metropolitan area, which is essentially Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and some other hospitals, there was a 5.8 per cent increase, or 453 extra patients. In the metropolitan area, the global figure for July 2007 was a 17.7 per cent increase in ED attendances; that is, an extra 5 691 patients were seen in emergency departments compared with the number of patients seen in July 2006. For the benefit of country members, there was a somewhat similar position in the country, although it was not quite as extreme. There was a 13.3 per cent increase in ED attendances during the month of July; that is, an extra 3 669 patients attended emergency departments in the country. That is the essential problem, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to explain to the house the magnitude of the dramatic increase in the number of people who are fronting emergency departments. Although we have a number of strategies in place to attempt to deal with that, those figures indicate that the demand for emergency department treatment is great, and it was great last night. There is no denying that. What we have essentially done to meet that demand is to try to remove from the acute beds, particularly in tertiary hospitals, those people who should be in aged care facilities. To do that, we have opened 134 beds so far. We have indicated that the target is to put an additional 228 beds into the system by the end of the year. We have so far succeeded in opening 134 of those - Dr K.D. Hames : I heard that Rockingham was half empty. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will come to that because I think that is a very important question. I will give a July-to-July comparison, because, as the member knows, there are monthly differences. From July 2006 to July 2007, there was a 48.8 per cent increase in the number of people attending Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, and that was due to the reasons that I gave yesterday in my brief ministerial statement about the bacteria and influenza outbreak. That means that an extra 2 316 patients presented at PMH during the month of July. In the south metropolitan area, there was a 13.6 per cent increase, or 2 000 extra patients attended at the emergency department. In Joondalup, there was a 19.2 per cent increase, or an extra 829 patients. In the north metropolitan area, which is essentially Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and some other hospitals, there was a 5.8 per cent increase, or 453 extra patients. In the metropolitan area, the global figure for July 2007 was a 17.7 per cent increase in ED attendances; that is, an extra 5 691 patients were seen in emergency departments compared with the number of patients seen in July 2006. For the benefit of country members, there was a somewhat similar position in the country, although it was not quite as extreme. There was a 13.3 per cent increase in ED attendances during the month of July; that is, an extra 3 669 patients attended emergency departments in the country. That is the essential problem, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to explain to the house the magnitude of the dramatic increase in the number of people who are fronting emergency departments. Although we have a number of strategies in place to attempt to deal with that, those figures indicate that the demand for emergency department treatment is great, and it was great last night. There is no denying that. What we have essentially done to meet that demand is to try to remove from the acute beds, particularly in tertiary hospitals, those people who should be in aged care facilities. To do that, we have opened 134 beds so far. We have indicated that the target is to put an additional 228 beds into the system by the end of the year. We have so far succeeded in opening 134 of those - Dr K.D. Hames : I heard that Rockingham was half empty. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
I will give a July-to-July comparison, because, as the member knows, there are monthly differences. From July 2006 to July 2007, there was a 48.8 per cent increase in the number of people attending Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, and that was due to the reasons that I gave yesterday in my brief ministerial statement about the bacteria and influenza outbreak. That means that an extra 2 316 patients presented at PMH during the month of July. In the south metropolitan area, there was a 13.6 per cent increase, or 2 000 extra patients attended at the emergency department. In Joondalup, there was a 19.2 per cent increase, or an extra 829 patients. In the north metropolitan area, which is essentially Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and some other hospitals, there was a 5.8 per cent increase, or 453 extra patients. In the metropolitan area, the global figure for July 2007 was a 17.7 per cent increase in ED attendances; that is, an extra 5 691 patients were seen in emergency departments compared with the number of patients seen in July 2006. For the benefit of country members, there was a somewhat similar position in the country, although it was not quite as extreme. There was a 13.3 per cent increase in ED attendances during the month of July; that is, an extra 3 669 patients attended emergency departments in the country. That is the essential problem, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to explain to the house the magnitude of the dramatic increase in the number of people who are fronting emergency departments. Although we have a number of strategies in place to attempt to deal with that, those figures indicate that the demand for emergency department treatment is great, and it was great last night. There is no denying that. What we have essentially done to meet that demand is to try to remove from the acute beds, particularly in tertiary hospitals, those people who should be in aged care facilities. To do that, we have opened 134 beds so far. We have indicated that the target is to put an additional 228 beds into the system by the end of the year. We have so far succeeded in opening 134 of those - Dr K.D. Hames : I heard that Rockingham was half empty. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
That is the essential problem, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to explain to the house the magnitude of the dramatic increase in the number of people who are fronting emergency departments. Although we have a number of strategies in place to attempt to deal with that, those figures indicate that the demand for emergency department treatment is great, and it was great last night. There is no denying that. What we have essentially done to meet that demand is to try to remove from the acute beds, particularly in tertiary hospitals, those people who should be in aged care facilities. To do that, we have opened 134 beds so far. We have indicated that the target is to put an additional 228 beds into the system by the end of the year. We have so far succeeded in opening 134 of those - Dr K.D. Hames : I heard that Rockingham was half empty. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
Dr K.D. Hames : I heard that Rockingham was half empty. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
(2) How can he justify the fact that, as at this morning, there were up to 120 patients waiting for beds in our three major public hospitals? (3) Given that this meltdown is yet another result of this government’s failure to properly resource and manage our hospitals by providing enough staff, equipment and beds, will he either remove himself from the health ministry or focus 100 per cent on health priorities, rather than his other social agendas? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Dawesville for the question because it gives me the opportunity to relay to the house some very important statistics about the nature of the challenges that are faced in hospital emergency departments. During the month of July this year, compared with the month of June - in other words, over the course of the month - the number of emergency department attendances increased by 21.1 per cent. That represents an extra 12 069 people who presented at emergency departments over those who presented in June. That increase of 21.1 per cent is a massive increase. Dr K.D. Hames : How much of that is for PMH? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will come to that because I think that is a very important question. I will give a July-to-July comparison, because, as the member knows, there are monthly differences. From July 2006 to July 2007, there was a 48.8 per cent increase in the number of people attending Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, and that was due to the reasons that I gave yesterday in my brief ministerial statement about the bacteria and influenza outbreak. That means that an extra 2 316 patients presented at PMH during the month of July. In the south metropolitan area, there was a 13.6 per cent increase, or 2 000 extra patients attended at the emergency department. In Joondalup, there was a 19.2 per cent increase, or an extra 829 patients. In the north metropolitan area, which is essentially Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and some other hospitals, there was a 5.8 per cent increase, or 453 extra patients. In the metropolitan area, the global figure for July 2007 was a 17.7 per cent increase in ED attendances; that is, an extra 5 691 patients were seen in emergency departments compared with the number of patients seen in July 2006. For the benefit of country members, there was a somewhat similar position in the country, although it was not quite as extreme. There was a 13.3 per cent increase in ED attendances during the month of July; that is, an extra 3 669 patients attended emergency departments in the country. That is the essential problem, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to explain to the house the magnitude of the dramatic increase in the number of people who are fronting emergency departments. Although we have a number of strategies in place to attempt to deal with that, those figures indicate that the demand for emergency department treatment is great, and it was great last night. There is no denying that. What we have essentially done to meet that demand is to try to remove from the acute beds, particularly in tertiary hospitals, those people who should be in aged care facilities. To do that, we have opened 134 beds so far. We have indicated that the target is to put an additional 228 beds into the system by the end of the year. We have so far succeeded in opening 134 of those - Dr K.D. Hames : I heard that Rockingham was half empty. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
(3) Given that this meltdown is yet another result of this government’s failure to properly resource and manage our hospitals by providing enough staff, equipment and beds, will he either remove himself from the health ministry or focus 100 per cent on health priorities, rather than his other social agendas? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Dawesville for the question because it gives me the opportunity to relay to the house some very important statistics about the nature of the challenges that are faced in hospital emergency departments. During the month of July this year, compared with the month of June - in other words, over the course of the month - the number of emergency department attendances increased by 21.1 per cent. That represents an extra 12 069 people who presented at emergency departments over those who presented in June. That increase of 21.1 per cent is a massive increase. Dr K.D. Hames : How much of that is for PMH? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will come to that because I think that is a very important question. I will give a July-to-July comparison, because, as the member knows, there are monthly differences. From July 2006 to July 2007, there was a 48.8 per cent increase in the number of people attending Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, and that was due to the reasons that I gave yesterday in my brief ministerial statement about the bacteria and influenza outbreak. That means that an extra 2 316 patients presented at PMH during the month of July. In the south metropolitan area, there was a 13.6 per cent increase, or 2 000 extra patients attended at the emergency department. In Joondalup, there was a 19.2 per cent increase, or an extra 829 patients. In the north metropolitan area, which is essentially Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and some other hospitals, there was a 5.8 per cent increase, or 453 extra patients. In the metropolitan area, the global figure for July 2007 was a 17.7 per cent increase in ED attendances; that is, an extra 5 691 patients were seen in emergency departments compared with the number of patients seen in July 2006. For the benefit of country members, there was a somewhat similar position in the country, although it was not quite as extreme. There was a 13.3 per cent increase in ED attendances during the month of July; that is, an extra 3 669 patients attended emergency departments in the country. That is the essential problem, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to explain to the house the magnitude of the dramatic increase in the number of people who are fronting emergency departments. Although we have a number of strategies in place to attempt to deal with that, those figures indicate that the demand for emergency department treatment is great, and it was great last night. There is no denying that. What we have essentially done to meet that demand is to try to remove from the acute beds, particularly in tertiary hospitals, those people who should be in aged care facilities. To do that, we have opened 134 beds so far. We have indicated that the target is to put an additional 228 beds into the system by the end of the year. We have so far succeeded in opening 134 of those - Dr K.D. Hames : I heard that Rockingham was half empty. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Dawesville for the question because it gives me the opportunity to relay to the house some very important statistics about the nature of the challenges that are faced in hospital emergency departments. During the month of July this year, compared with the month of June - in other words, over the course of the month - the number of emergency department attendances increased by 21.1 per cent. That represents an extra 12 069 people who presented at emergency departments over those who presented in June. That increase of 21.1 per cent is a massive increase. Dr K.D. Hames : How much of that is for PMH? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will come to that because I think that is a very important question. I will give a July-to-July comparison, because, as the member knows, there are monthly differences. From July 2006 to July 2007, there was a 48.8 per cent increase in the number of people attending Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, and that was due to the reasons that I gave yesterday in my brief ministerial statement about the bacteria and influenza outbreak. That means that an extra 2 316 patients presented at PMH during the month of July. In the south metropolitan area, there was a 13.6 per cent increase, or 2 000 extra patients attended at the emergency department. In Joondalup, there was a 19.2 per cent increase, or an extra 829 patients. In the north metropolitan area, which is essentially Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and some other hospitals, there was a 5.8 per cent increase, or 453 extra patients. In the metropolitan area, the global figure for July 2007 was a 17.7 per cent increase in ED attendances; that is, an extra 5 691 patients were seen in emergency departments compared with the number of patients seen in July 2006. For the benefit of country members, there was a somewhat similar position in the country, although it was not quite as extreme. There was a 13.3 per cent increase in ED attendances during the month of July; that is, an extra 3 669 patients attended emergency departments in the country. That is the essential problem, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to explain to the house the magnitude of the dramatic increase in the number of people who are fronting emergency departments. Although we have a number of strategies in place to attempt to deal with that, those figures indicate that the demand for emergency department treatment is great, and it was great last night. There is no denying that. What we have essentially done to meet that demand is to try to remove from the acute beds, particularly in tertiary hospitals, those people who should be in aged care facilities. To do that, we have opened 134 beds so far. We have indicated that the target is to put an additional 228 beds into the system by the end of the year. We have so far succeeded in opening 134 of those - Dr K.D. Hames : I heard that Rockingham was half empty. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
(1)-(3) I thank the member for Dawesville for the question because it gives me the opportunity to relay to the house some very important statistics about the nature of the challenges that are faced in hospital emergency departments. During the month of July this year, compared with the month of June - in other words, over the course of the month - the number of emergency department attendances increased by 21.1 per cent. That represents an extra 12 069 people who presented at emergency departments over those who presented in June. That increase of 21.1 per cent is a massive increase. Dr K.D. Hames : How much of that is for PMH? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will come to that because I think that is a very important question. I will give a July-to-July comparison, because, as the member knows, there are monthly differences. From July 2006 to July 2007, there was a 48.8 per cent increase in the number of people attending Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, and that was due to the reasons that I gave yesterday in my brief ministerial statement about the bacteria and influenza outbreak. That means that an extra 2 316 patients presented at PMH during the month of July. In the south metropolitan area, there was a 13.6 per cent increase, or 2 000 extra patients attended at the emergency department. In Joondalup, there was a 19.2 per cent increase, or an extra 829 patients. In the north metropolitan area, which is essentially Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and some other hospitals, there was a 5.8 per cent increase, or 453 extra patients. In the metropolitan area, the global figure for July 2007 was a 17.7 per cent increase in ED attendances; that is, an extra 5 691 patients were seen in emergency departments compared with the number of patients seen in July 2006. For the benefit of country members, there was a somewhat similar position in the country, although it was not quite as extreme. There was a 13.3 per cent increase in ED attendances during the month of July; that is, an extra 3 669 patients attended emergency departments in the country. That is the essential problem, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to explain to the house the magnitude of the dramatic increase in the number of people who are fronting emergency departments. Although we have a number of strategies in place to attempt to deal with that, those figures indicate that the demand for emergency department treatment is great, and it was great last night. There is no denying that. What we have essentially done to meet that demand is to try to remove from the acute beds, particularly in tertiary hospitals, those people who should be in aged care facilities. To do that, we have opened 134 beds so far. We have indicated that the target is to put an additional 228 beds into the system by the end of the year. We have so far succeeded in opening 134 of those - Dr K.D. Hames : I heard that Rockingham was half empty. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
Dr K.D. Hames : How much of that is for PMH? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will come to that because I think that is a very important question. I will give a July-to-July comparison, because, as the member knows, there are monthly differences. From July 2006 to July 2007, there was a 48.8 per cent increase in the number of people attending Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, and that was due to the reasons that I gave yesterday in my brief ministerial statement about the bacteria and influenza outbreak. That means that an extra 2 316 patients presented at PMH during the month of July. In the south metropolitan area, there was a 13.6 per cent increase, or 2 000 extra patients attended at the emergency department. In Joondalup, there was a 19.2 per cent increase, or an extra 829 patients. In the north metropolitan area, which is essentially Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and some other hospitals, there was a 5.8 per cent increase, or 453 extra patients. In the metropolitan area, the global figure for July 2007 was a 17.7 per cent increase in ED attendances; that is, an extra 5 691 patients were seen in emergency departments compared with the number of patients seen in July 2006. For the benefit of country members, there was a somewhat similar position in the country, although it was not quite as extreme. There was a 13.3 per cent increase in ED attendances during the month of July; that is, an extra 3 669 patients attended emergency departments in the country. That is the essential problem, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to explain to the house the magnitude of the dramatic increase in the number of people who are fronting emergency departments. Although we have a number of strategies in place to attempt to deal with that, those figures indicate that the demand for emergency department treatment is great, and it was great last night. There is no denying that. What we have essentially done to meet that demand is to try to remove from the acute beds, particularly in tertiary hospitals, those people who should be in aged care facilities. To do that, we have opened 134 beds so far. We have indicated that the target is to put an additional 228 beds into the system by the end of the year. We have so far succeeded in opening 134 of those - Dr K.D. Hames : I heard that Rockingham was half empty. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : I will come to that because I think that is a very important question. I will give a July-to-July comparison, because, as the member knows, there are monthly differences. From July 2006 to July 2007, there was a 48.8 per cent increase in the number of people attending Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, and that was due to the reasons that I gave yesterday in my brief ministerial statement about the bacteria and influenza outbreak. That means that an extra 2 316 patients presented at PMH during the month of July. In the south metropolitan area, there was a 13.6 per cent increase, or 2 000 extra patients attended at the emergency department. In Joondalup, there was a 19.2 per cent increase, or an extra 829 patients. In the north metropolitan area, which is essentially Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and some other hospitals, there was a 5.8 per cent increase, or 453 extra patients. In the metropolitan area, the global figure for July 2007 was a 17.7 per cent increase in ED attendances; that is, an extra 5 691 patients were seen in emergency departments compared with the number of patients seen in July 2006. For the benefit of country members, there was a somewhat similar position in the country, although it was not quite as extreme. There was a 13.3 per cent increase in ED attendances during the month of July; that is, an extra 3 669 patients attended emergency departments in the country. That is the essential problem, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to explain to the house the magnitude of the dramatic increase in the number of people who are fronting emergency departments. Although we have a number of strategies in place to attempt to deal with that, those figures indicate that the demand for emergency department treatment is great, and it was great last night. There is no denying that. What we have essentially done to meet that demand is to try to remove from the acute beds, particularly in tertiary hospitals, those people who should be in aged care facilities. To do that, we have opened 134 beds so far. We have indicated that the target is to put an additional 228 beds into the system by the end of the year. We have so far succeeded in opening 134 of those - Dr K.D. Hames : I heard that Rockingham was half empty. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
I will give a July-to-July comparison, because, as the member knows, there are monthly differences. From July 2006 to July 2007, there was a 48.8 per cent increase in the number of people attending Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, and that was due to the reasons that I gave yesterday in my brief ministerial statement about the bacteria and influenza outbreak. That means that an extra 2 316 patients presented at PMH during the month of July. In the south metropolitan area, there was a 13.6 per cent increase, or 2 000 extra patients attended at the emergency department. In Joondalup, there was a 19.2 per cent increase, or an extra 829 patients. In the north metropolitan area, which is essentially Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and some other hospitals, there was a 5.8 per cent increase, or 453 extra patients. In the metropolitan area, the global figure for July 2007 was a 17.7 per cent increase in ED attendances; that is, an extra 5 691 patients were seen in emergency departments compared with the number of patients seen in July 2006. For the benefit of country members, there was a somewhat similar position in the country, although it was not quite as extreme. There was a 13.3 per cent increase in ED attendances during the month of July; that is, an extra 3 669 patients attended emergency departments in the country. That is the essential problem, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to explain to the house the magnitude of the dramatic increase in the number of people who are fronting emergency departments. Although we have a number of strategies in place to attempt to deal with that, those figures indicate that the demand for emergency department treatment is great, and it was great last night. There is no denying that. What we have essentially done to meet that demand is to try to remove from the acute beds, particularly in tertiary hospitals, those people who should be in aged care facilities. To do that, we have opened 134 beds so far. We have indicated that the target is to put an additional 228 beds into the system by the end of the year. We have so far succeeded in opening 134 of those - Dr K.D. Hames : I heard that Rockingham was half empty. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
That is the essential problem, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to explain to the house the magnitude of the dramatic increase in the number of people who are fronting emergency departments. Although we have a number of strategies in place to attempt to deal with that, those figures indicate that the demand for emergency department treatment is great, and it was great last night. There is no denying that. What we have essentially done to meet that demand is to try to remove from the acute beds, particularly in tertiary hospitals, those people who should be in aged care facilities. To do that, we have opened 134 beds so far. We have indicated that the target is to put an additional 228 beds into the system by the end of the year. We have so far succeeded in opening 134 of those - Dr K.D. Hames : I heard that Rockingham was half empty. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
Dr K.D. Hames : I heard that Rockingham was half empty. Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : The single biggest initiative was at the Mertome Village in Bayswater. We have purchased 70 beds in the private sector to transfer out of acute beds in public hospitals patients awaiting care placements or people who should be in aged care facilities. All 70 of those beds are operating. In addition to that, 18 beds have been opened at Kaleeya Hospital, seven at Bentley Hospital and 10 at Kalamunda District Community Hospital. In a variety of hospitals extra beds have been opened, but principally at Fremantle Hospital 29 extra beds have been opened. That adds up to 134 beds that have been opened to date. We will be progressively opening the remaining 90-odd between now and the end of the year. I say to the member for South Perth that we have acquired some beds at South Perth Community Hospital, which will be open, I think, in November, hopefully. We are focusing particularly on psychogeriatric patients who should not be in acute beds in public hospitals in any event. Therefore, 134 of the 228 beds - Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
Dr K.D. Hames : Why are there still no beds available in the public hospitals? Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : Because of demand. There has been a 21.1 per cent increase in attendances. Twelve thousand extra people turned up at emergency departments last month. It is not just Princess Margaret Hospital for Children; it is across the board. It is not just at tertiary hospitals; it is also at general hospitals; namely, Armadale-Kelmscott Memorial Hospital, Rockingham-Kwinana District Hospital, Swan District Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus. There is no doubt that this is the single biggest issue confronting the hospital system, and it is all driven by demand, which is related to the absence of general practitioner clinics, the absence of primary care in the community and the absence of alternatives. We are picking up the failure, in my view, of commonwealth government policies, and we need to do more to meet it.
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