❓ Mr. Eatts questions the Minister for Health about the Margaret River Hospital upgrade. The Minister responds by highlighting general health infrastructure investments and telehealth initiatives in regional WA, without directly addressing the hospital's upgrade timeline.
AnsweredQoN 261Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Margaret River Hospital—Upgrade
261. Mr Bevan Eatts to
the Minister for Health:
I refer to the
business case for Margaret River Hospital, which is located in one of the
fastest growing regions in Western Australia and has been stretched beyond
capacity for years. When will the minister's government provide Margaret River
Hospital with the capacity to care for the local community and the thousands of
visitors it serves each year?
261. Mr Bevan Eatts to
the Minister for Health:
I refer to the
business case for Margaret River Hospital, which is located in one of the
fastest growing regions in Western Australia and has been stretched beyond
capacity for years. When will the minister's government provide Margaret River
Hospital with the capacity to care for the local community and the thousands of
visitors it serves each year?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member
for the question and for raising the business case that has been undertaken in
that hospital. We are doing a range of things in health infrastructure. We are
really proud of the work that we are doing. This budget has $3.2 billion to
make sure that we deliver additional infrastructure for communities, not just
in the metropolitan area but right throughout regional Western Australia.
I want to take this
opportunity to talk about some of the things that we are doing to provide
additional health care for people in regional areas. As people have observed,
it is not all about delivering hospitals and people getting access to the care
they need. One of the things we are spending time on is making sure that people
get access to community care in a variety of ways. In a state the size of
Western Australia, the largest health jurisdiction in the world, covering 2.5 million
square kilometres, we are leaning in to doing things like telehealth to ensure
that people get access to the care they need. I can tell the member that the WA
Country Health Service is a leader in the provision of telehealth.
We have also put in
place staff incentives to encourage staffing in regional areas. I know the
member will be very excited to hear that the recent budget included an increase
in Patient Assisted Travel Scheme funding from 26c a kilometre to 40c a
kilometre.
We are always
undertaking work to assess our infrastructure needs. I believe that we will
continue to do that to assess what we need. We will continue to work on making
sure that people in regional areas have access not just to health
infrastructure but a whole range of services to support them.
for the question and for raising the business case that has been undertaken in
that hospital. We are doing a range of things in health infrastructure. We are
really proud of the work that we are doing. This budget has $3.2 billion to
make sure that we deliver additional infrastructure for communities, not just
in the metropolitan area but right throughout regional Western Australia.
I want to take this
opportunity to talk about some of the things that we are doing to provide
additional health care for people in regional areas. As people have observed,
it is not all about delivering hospitals and people getting access to the care
they need. One of the things we are spending time on is making sure that people
get access to community care in a variety of ways. In a state the size of
Western Australia, the largest health jurisdiction in the world, covering 2.5 million
square kilometres, we are leaning in to doing things like telehealth to ensure
that people get access to the care they need. I can tell the member that the WA
Country Health Service is a leader in the provision of telehealth.
We have also put in
place staff incentives to encourage staffing in regional areas. I know the
member will be very excited to hear that the recent budget included an increase
in Patient Assisted Travel Scheme funding from 26c a kilometre to 40c a
kilometre.
We are always
undertaking work to assess our infrastructure needs. I believe that we will
continue to do that to assess what we need. We will continue to work on making
sure that people in regional areas have access not just to health
infrastructure but a whole range of services to support them.
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