❓ Mrs O'Malley asks the Minister for Health about the government's plan to address ambulance ramping and alternative plans. The Minister responds by outlining the government's achievements and criticising the opposition's lack of proposals.
AnsweredQoN 870Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HEALTH
— AMBULANCE RAMPING
870. Mrs L.M. O'MALLEY to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the Cook Labor government's strong record
of addressing the causes of ambulance ramping.
(1) Can the
minister outline to the house how this government's comprehensive plan
to tackle the causes of ambulance ramping is
delivering results and ensuring Western Australians receive timely access to
health care?
(2) Can the minister advise the house whether she is
aware of any alternative plans to tackle ambulance ramping?
— AMBULANCE RAMPING
870. Mrs L.M. O'MALLEY to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the Cook Labor government's strong record
of addressing the causes of ambulance ramping.
(1) Can the
minister outline to the house how this government's comprehensive plan
to tackle the causes of ambulance ramping is
delivering results and ensuring Western Australians receive timely access to
health care?
(2) Can the minister advise the house whether she is
aware of any alternative plans to tackle ambulance ramping?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2)
I thank the member for Bicton for her question. It is exactly 1 071 days that I
have been health minister, and we have certainly achieved a lot in that time
and in the last nearly eight years as a Labor government. Our plan has
delivered a 22 per cent decrease in ambulance ramping across the last financial
year, and we achieved that through
collaboration with our healthcare workforce by reaching out, talking to the
experts and the people on the front line, saying, ''What do you
think will work'', and funding those outcomes—organisations like
the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and the Australian Medical
Association. This was led by the ministerial taskforce to address ramping and
hospital access. These are genuine solutions that are delivering impacts to our
hospitals. We know there is not a quick fix to busy hospitals and increased
demand on our healthcare system. There is no quick fix; there is no one answer.
It is a mix of investment and reform, and that is exactly what the government
has been focused on. It is an increase in hospital beds. We have increased beds
by 800 in the last nearly four years of this term of government. That is bigger than Fiona Stanley Hospital across Western Australia.
There is another tertiary hospital worth of beds in the pipeline already
in the forward estimates.
We
have grown the healthcare workforce in a global workforce crisis by 30 per cent
in the last three years —since the pandemic. We have also
introduced the new virtual emergency department that allows older people to
stay at home and access the care they need instead of going to the hospital. We
are supporting more people with more
Hospital in the Home and in-reach into aged-care facilities to support their
residents to stay in place. We have partnered with the commonwealth to
deliver seven urgent care clinics across the state. There is free access to GP
care, giving the right care at the right time. They are solutions that are good
for the system because they come from the system, and that is why they are
working. They are giving more patients more choice and better access to medical
care.
But we know the Liberal Party has
a record on health, and in eight years of opposition it has not presented a single
alternative policy to address pressure on healthcare systems—it has not
presented a single alternative policy in eight years. The 70-page glossy that
we got from the Liberal Party is virtually silent on ambulance ramping and
access to health care. We have had four shadow health ministers in the last
eight years, and not one of them has offered a single solution to address
ramping. They have only sought to criticise, have called for more beds, but
have conveniently ignored the 800 beds we have put in the system in the last
three years. We and the community want to know when the Liberal Party will tell
us about its plans—when it will outline its plans for the health
system. When will it tell us how it will address pressure on our busy hospital
systems and ambulance ramping? The Liberal Party has hinted that there will be
a policy announcement on hospital systems coming and we look forward to seeing
the detail, if there is any.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please!
Ms A. SANDERSON : We know the
Liberals will take us back to when they were last in government. They have a record
on health in which there are fewer nurses, fewer doctors, less investment —
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order!
Ms
A. SANDERSON : They will privatise
the health system. They will privatise, like they did with St John of God ,
Peel Health Campus and Fiona Stanley Hospital. There is only one. They will
botch infrastructure projects. That is what we will get with the Liberal Party.
It will not matter who leads the Liberal Party. That is what we will get. Western
Australians know that Labor delivers for public health care.
The SPEAKER : The member for
Cottesloe with the last question.
I thank the member for Bicton for her question. It is exactly 1 071 days that I
have been health minister, and we have certainly achieved a lot in that time
and in the last nearly eight years as a Labor government. Our plan has
delivered a 22 per cent decrease in ambulance ramping across the last financial
year, and we achieved that through
collaboration with our healthcare workforce by reaching out, talking to the
experts and the people on the front line, saying, ''What do you
think will work'', and funding those outcomes—organisations like
the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and the Australian Medical
Association. This was led by the ministerial taskforce to address ramping and
hospital access. These are genuine solutions that are delivering impacts to our
hospitals. We know there is not a quick fix to busy hospitals and increased
demand on our healthcare system. There is no quick fix; there is no one answer.
It is a mix of investment and reform, and that is exactly what the government
has been focused on. It is an increase in hospital beds. We have increased beds
by 800 in the last nearly four years of this term of government. That is bigger than Fiona Stanley Hospital across Western Australia.
There is another tertiary hospital worth of beds in the pipeline already
in the forward estimates.
We
have grown the healthcare workforce in a global workforce crisis by 30 per cent
in the last three years —since the pandemic. We have also
introduced the new virtual emergency department that allows older people to
stay at home and access the care they need instead of going to the hospital. We
are supporting more people with more
Hospital in the Home and in-reach into aged-care facilities to support their
residents to stay in place. We have partnered with the commonwealth to
deliver seven urgent care clinics across the state. There is free access to GP
care, giving the right care at the right time. They are solutions that are good
for the system because they come from the system, and that is why they are
working. They are giving more patients more choice and better access to medical
care.
But we know the Liberal Party has
a record on health, and in eight years of opposition it has not presented a single
alternative policy to address pressure on healthcare systems—it has not
presented a single alternative policy in eight years. The 70-page glossy that
we got from the Liberal Party is virtually silent on ambulance ramping and
access to health care. We have had four shadow health ministers in the last
eight years, and not one of them has offered a single solution to address
ramping. They have only sought to criticise, have called for more beds, but
have conveniently ignored the 800 beds we have put in the system in the last
three years. We and the community want to know when the Liberal Party will tell
us about its plans—when it will outline its plans for the health
system. When will it tell us how it will address pressure on our busy hospital
systems and ambulance ramping? The Liberal Party has hinted that there will be
a policy announcement on hospital systems coming and we look forward to seeing
the detail, if there is any.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please!
Ms A. SANDERSON : We know the
Liberals will take us back to when they were last in government. They have a record
on health in which there are fewer nurses, fewer doctors, less investment —
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order!
Ms
A. SANDERSON : They will privatise
the health system. They will privatise, like they did with St John of God ,
Peel Health Campus and Fiona Stanley Hospital. There is only one. They will
botch infrastructure projects. That is what we will get with the Liberal Party.
It will not matter who leads the Liberal Party. That is what we will get. Western
Australians know that Labor delivers for public health care.
The SPEAKER : The member for
Cottesloe with the last question.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.