❓ Opposition questions the Minister for Health about ambulance ramping crisis, citing dangerously low ambulance availability and criticising the Minister's management. The Minister defends his record, blaming increased patient numbers and historical Labor government performance.
AnsweredQoN 523Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
AMBULANCE RAMPING — 15 SEPTEMBER 2010
Last week in this house when asked about the alarming rate of ambulances ramped outside Perth hospitals, the minister answered — The opposition would have us believe that ramping started under this government and is now the worst it has ever been. Neither of those propositions is true. (1) Does the minister still hold that view? (2) Given that yesterday only one or two ambulances were available to respond to emergencies, does he finally concede that he is presiding over the worst crisis of ambulance ramping that Western Australia has seen? (3) Does the minister concede that his management of our health system over the past two years is the cause of this crisis? (4) Does the minister endorse the comments of the Australian Medical Association, of which the minister is a member, that the situation has made Perth hospitals dysfunctional and dangerous places? Dr K.D. HAMES
Last week in this house when asked about the alarming rate of ambulances ramped outside Perth hospitals, the minister answered — The opposition would have us believe that ramping started under this government and is now the worst it has ever been. Neither of those propositions is true. (1) Does the minister still hold that view? (2) Given that yesterday only one or two ambulances were available to respond to emergencies, does he finally concede that he is presiding over the worst crisis of ambulance ramping that Western Australia has seen? (3) Does the minister concede that his management of our health system over the past two years is the cause of this crisis? (4) Does the minister endorse the comments of the Australian Medical Association, of which the minister is a member, that the situation has made Perth hospitals dysfunctional and dangerous places? Dr K.D. HAMES
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(4) I made those comments last week. As the member for Kwinana knows from the statistics I provided yesterday, the worst ambulance ramping in the history of Western Australia occurred in August 2008 under the former Labor government. Yesterday was a particularly difficult day. I have advised the media—it was also my intention to advise the house—about what occurred yesterday. Yesterday there was an increase in the number of patients being transported to hospitals by St John Ambulance. That increase was 10 per cent above average. Many ambulances received calls, whilst travelling, at exactly the same time. The same number of ambulances that have been ramped outside our hospitals in recent weeks were ramped outside our hospitals yesterday because of demands in our hospitals. However, suddenly a huge number of extra patients were on their way. On top of that, there has been a 10 per cent growth in the number of patients attending our hospitals. I have ensured that waitlist surgery has been undertaken at full peak to ensure that the number of patients awaiting waitlist surgery is reduced. Yesterday all those situations came together and created difficulties in our hospitals. I immediately phoned the director general and St John Ambulance representatives and they conducted a meeting during which there were tele-links into each of the emergency departments so that they could work out exactly where the ambulances were, where they were coming from and where they should go. Our emergency department staff managed exceptionally well. They did a fantastic job looking after the patients as they came through. The problem was that, without enough hospital beds in the system, we were not able to discharge enough patients to support the extra flow of patients into our hospitals. All those factors came together. As a result of that meeting and the link-up with the hospitals, within a few hours the number of ambulances ramped at the time was reduced from 26 to 10. At 4.30 in the afternoon, the number of ambulances ramped was reduced from 10 to four. I am pleased to inform the house that as at 11.30 this morning, there was zero ambulance ramping at our hospitals. The government has had to take action to free up beds in our hospitals. A total of 25 patients who were booked for elective surgery at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and Fremantle Hospital either yesterday or today had their cases postponed. Mr E.S. Ripper : So you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. Dr K.D. HAMES : Our waitlist surgery figures—the Leader of the Opposition will see this when they come out shortly—have been excellent this month compared with previous years. Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : The Leader of the Opposition should wait to see what they look like next time around. It is never easy cancelling waitlist surgery. Patients put their lives on hold waiting for that surgery. To have it cancelled at the last minute can be very difficult. We have also had to look at some of the other cases in our hospitals to work out ways to free up beds. We turned our attention to patients who have private insurance. They are quite entitled to be treated in the public hospital system the same as anybody else. They pay their Medicare levy and are entitled to public treatment. Mr R.H. Cook : What are you doing with EDs that are overrun with demand? What are you doing to increase their capacity? Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
(2) Given that yesterday only one or two ambulances were available to respond to emergencies, does he finally concede that he is presiding over the worst crisis of ambulance ramping that Western Australia has seen? (3) Does the minister concede that his management of our health system over the past two years is the cause of this crisis? (4) Does the minister endorse the comments of the Australian Medical Association, of which the minister is a member, that the situation has made Perth hospitals dysfunctional and dangerous places? Dr K.D. HAMES replied: (1)–(4) I made those comments last week. As the member for Kwinana knows from the statistics I provided yesterday, the worst ambulance ramping in the history of Western Australia occurred in August 2008 under the former Labor government. Yesterday was a particularly difficult day. I have advised the media—it was also my intention to advise the house—about what occurred yesterday. Yesterday there was an increase in the number of patients being transported to hospitals by St John Ambulance. That increase was 10 per cent above average. Many ambulances received calls, whilst travelling, at exactly the same time. The same number of ambulances that have been ramped outside our hospitals in recent weeks were ramped outside our hospitals yesterday because of demands in our hospitals. However, suddenly a huge number of extra patients were on their way. On top of that, there has been a 10 per cent growth in the number of patients attending our hospitals. I have ensured that waitlist surgery has been undertaken at full peak to ensure that the number of patients awaiting waitlist surgery is reduced. Yesterday all those situations came together and created difficulties in our hospitals. I immediately phoned the director general and St John Ambulance representatives and they conducted a meeting during which there were tele-links into each of the emergency departments so that they could work out exactly where the ambulances were, where they were coming from and where they should go. Our emergency department staff managed exceptionally well. They did a fantastic job looking after the patients as they came through. The problem was that, without enough hospital beds in the system, we were not able to discharge enough patients to support the extra flow of patients into our hospitals. All those factors came together. As a result of that meeting and the link-up with the hospitals, within a few hours the number of ambulances ramped at the time was reduced from 26 to 10. At 4.30 in the afternoon, the number of ambulances ramped was reduced from 10 to four. I am pleased to inform the house that as at 11.30 this morning, there was zero ambulance ramping at our hospitals. The government has had to take action to free up beds in our hospitals. A total of 25 patients who were booked for elective surgery at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and Fremantle Hospital either yesterday or today had their cases postponed. Mr E.S. Ripper : So you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. Dr K.D. HAMES : Our waitlist surgery figures—the Leader of the Opposition will see this when they come out shortly—have been excellent this month compared with previous years. Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : The Leader of the Opposition should wait to see what they look like next time around. It is never easy cancelling waitlist surgery. Patients put their lives on hold waiting for that surgery. To have it cancelled at the last minute can be very difficult. We have also had to look at some of the other cases in our hospitals to work out ways to free up beds. We turned our attention to patients who have private insurance. They are quite entitled to be treated in the public hospital system the same as anybody else. They pay their Medicare levy and are entitled to public treatment. Mr R.H. Cook : What are you doing with EDs that are overrun with demand? What are you doing to increase their capacity? Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
(3) Does the minister concede that his management of our health system over the past two years is the cause of this crisis? (4) Does the minister endorse the comments of the Australian Medical Association, of which the minister is a member, that the situation has made Perth hospitals dysfunctional and dangerous places? Dr K.D. HAMES replied: (1)–(4) I made those comments last week. As the member for Kwinana knows from the statistics I provided yesterday, the worst ambulance ramping in the history of Western Australia occurred in August 2008 under the former Labor government. Yesterday was a particularly difficult day. I have advised the media—it was also my intention to advise the house—about what occurred yesterday. Yesterday there was an increase in the number of patients being transported to hospitals by St John Ambulance. That increase was 10 per cent above average. Many ambulances received calls, whilst travelling, at exactly the same time. The same number of ambulances that have been ramped outside our hospitals in recent weeks were ramped outside our hospitals yesterday because of demands in our hospitals. However, suddenly a huge number of extra patients were on their way. On top of that, there has been a 10 per cent growth in the number of patients attending our hospitals. I have ensured that waitlist surgery has been undertaken at full peak to ensure that the number of patients awaiting waitlist surgery is reduced. Yesterday all those situations came together and created difficulties in our hospitals. I immediately phoned the director general and St John Ambulance representatives and they conducted a meeting during which there were tele-links into each of the emergency departments so that they could work out exactly where the ambulances were, where they were coming from and where they should go. Our emergency department staff managed exceptionally well. They did a fantastic job looking after the patients as they came through. The problem was that, without enough hospital beds in the system, we were not able to discharge enough patients to support the extra flow of patients into our hospitals. All those factors came together. As a result of that meeting and the link-up with the hospitals, within a few hours the number of ambulances ramped at the time was reduced from 26 to 10. At 4.30 in the afternoon, the number of ambulances ramped was reduced from 10 to four. I am pleased to inform the house that as at 11.30 this morning, there was zero ambulance ramping at our hospitals. The government has had to take action to free up beds in our hospitals. A total of 25 patients who were booked for elective surgery at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and Fremantle Hospital either yesterday or today had their cases postponed. Mr E.S. Ripper : So you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. Dr K.D. HAMES : Our waitlist surgery figures—the Leader of the Opposition will see this when they come out shortly—have been excellent this month compared with previous years. Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : The Leader of the Opposition should wait to see what they look like next time around. It is never easy cancelling waitlist surgery. Patients put their lives on hold waiting for that surgery. To have it cancelled at the last minute can be very difficult. We have also had to look at some of the other cases in our hospitals to work out ways to free up beds. We turned our attention to patients who have private insurance. They are quite entitled to be treated in the public hospital system the same as anybody else. They pay their Medicare levy and are entitled to public treatment. Mr R.H. Cook : What are you doing with EDs that are overrun with demand? What are you doing to increase their capacity? Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
(4) Does the minister endorse the comments of the Australian Medical Association, of which the minister is a member, that the situation has made Perth hospitals dysfunctional and dangerous places? Dr K.D. HAMES replied: (1)–(4) I made those comments last week. As the member for Kwinana knows from the statistics I provided yesterday, the worst ambulance ramping in the history of Western Australia occurred in August 2008 under the former Labor government. Yesterday was a particularly difficult day. I have advised the media—it was also my intention to advise the house—about what occurred yesterday. Yesterday there was an increase in the number of patients being transported to hospitals by St John Ambulance. That increase was 10 per cent above average. Many ambulances received calls, whilst travelling, at exactly the same time. The same number of ambulances that have been ramped outside our hospitals in recent weeks were ramped outside our hospitals yesterday because of demands in our hospitals. However, suddenly a huge number of extra patients were on their way. On top of that, there has been a 10 per cent growth in the number of patients attending our hospitals. I have ensured that waitlist surgery has been undertaken at full peak to ensure that the number of patients awaiting waitlist surgery is reduced. Yesterday all those situations came together and created difficulties in our hospitals. I immediately phoned the director general and St John Ambulance representatives and they conducted a meeting during which there were tele-links into each of the emergency departments so that they could work out exactly where the ambulances were, where they were coming from and where they should go. Our emergency department staff managed exceptionally well. They did a fantastic job looking after the patients as they came through. The problem was that, without enough hospital beds in the system, we were not able to discharge enough patients to support the extra flow of patients into our hospitals. All those factors came together. As a result of that meeting and the link-up with the hospitals, within a few hours the number of ambulances ramped at the time was reduced from 26 to 10. At 4.30 in the afternoon, the number of ambulances ramped was reduced from 10 to four. I am pleased to inform the house that as at 11.30 this morning, there was zero ambulance ramping at our hospitals. The government has had to take action to free up beds in our hospitals. A total of 25 patients who were booked for elective surgery at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and Fremantle Hospital either yesterday or today had their cases postponed. Mr E.S. Ripper : So you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. Dr K.D. HAMES : Our waitlist surgery figures—the Leader of the Opposition will see this when they come out shortly—have been excellent this month compared with previous years. Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : The Leader of the Opposition should wait to see what they look like next time around. It is never easy cancelling waitlist surgery. Patients put their lives on hold waiting for that surgery. To have it cancelled at the last minute can be very difficult. We have also had to look at some of the other cases in our hospitals to work out ways to free up beds. We turned our attention to patients who have private insurance. They are quite entitled to be treated in the public hospital system the same as anybody else. They pay their Medicare levy and are entitled to public treatment. Mr R.H. Cook : What are you doing with EDs that are overrun with demand? What are you doing to increase their capacity? Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
Dr K.D. HAMES replied: (1)–(4) I made those comments last week. As the member for Kwinana knows from the statistics I provided yesterday, the worst ambulance ramping in the history of Western Australia occurred in August 2008 under the former Labor government. Yesterday was a particularly difficult day. I have advised the media—it was also my intention to advise the house—about what occurred yesterday. Yesterday there was an increase in the number of patients being transported to hospitals by St John Ambulance. That increase was 10 per cent above average. Many ambulances received calls, whilst travelling, at exactly the same time. The same number of ambulances that have been ramped outside our hospitals in recent weeks were ramped outside our hospitals yesterday because of demands in our hospitals. However, suddenly a huge number of extra patients were on their way. On top of that, there has been a 10 per cent growth in the number of patients attending our hospitals. I have ensured that waitlist surgery has been undertaken at full peak to ensure that the number of patients awaiting waitlist surgery is reduced. Yesterday all those situations came together and created difficulties in our hospitals. I immediately phoned the director general and St John Ambulance representatives and they conducted a meeting during which there were tele-links into each of the emergency departments so that they could work out exactly where the ambulances were, where they were coming from and where they should go. Our emergency department staff managed exceptionally well. They did a fantastic job looking after the patients as they came through. The problem was that, without enough hospital beds in the system, we were not able to discharge enough patients to support the extra flow of patients into our hospitals. All those factors came together. As a result of that meeting and the link-up with the hospitals, within a few hours the number of ambulances ramped at the time was reduced from 26 to 10. At 4.30 in the afternoon, the number of ambulances ramped was reduced from 10 to four. I am pleased to inform the house that as at 11.30 this morning, there was zero ambulance ramping at our hospitals. The government has had to take action to free up beds in our hospitals. A total of 25 patients who were booked for elective surgery at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and Fremantle Hospital either yesterday or today had their cases postponed. Mr E.S. Ripper : So you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. Dr K.D. HAMES : Our waitlist surgery figures—the Leader of the Opposition will see this when they come out shortly—have been excellent this month compared with previous years. Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : The Leader of the Opposition should wait to see what they look like next time around. It is never easy cancelling waitlist surgery. Patients put their lives on hold waiting for that surgery. To have it cancelled at the last minute can be very difficult. We have also had to look at some of the other cases in our hospitals to work out ways to free up beds. We turned our attention to patients who have private insurance. They are quite entitled to be treated in the public hospital system the same as anybody else. They pay their Medicare levy and are entitled to public treatment. Mr R.H. Cook : What are you doing with EDs that are overrun with demand? What are you doing to increase their capacity? Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
(1)–(4) I made those comments last week. As the member for Kwinana knows from the statistics I provided yesterday, the worst ambulance ramping in the history of Western Australia occurred in August 2008 under the former Labor government. Yesterday was a particularly difficult day. I have advised the media—it was also my intention to advise the house—about what occurred yesterday. Yesterday there was an increase in the number of patients being transported to hospitals by St John Ambulance. That increase was 10 per cent above average. Many ambulances received calls, whilst travelling, at exactly the same time. The same number of ambulances that have been ramped outside our hospitals in recent weeks were ramped outside our hospitals yesterday because of demands in our hospitals. However, suddenly a huge number of extra patients were on their way. On top of that, there has been a 10 per cent growth in the number of patients attending our hospitals. I have ensured that waitlist surgery has been undertaken at full peak to ensure that the number of patients awaiting waitlist surgery is reduced. Yesterday all those situations came together and created difficulties in our hospitals. I immediately phoned the director general and St John Ambulance representatives and they conducted a meeting during which there were tele-links into each of the emergency departments so that they could work out exactly where the ambulances were, where they were coming from and where they should go. Our emergency department staff managed exceptionally well. They did a fantastic job looking after the patients as they came through. The problem was that, without enough hospital beds in the system, we were not able to discharge enough patients to support the extra flow of patients into our hospitals. All those factors came together. As a result of that meeting and the link-up with the hospitals, within a few hours the number of ambulances ramped at the time was reduced from 26 to 10. At 4.30 in the afternoon, the number of ambulances ramped was reduced from 10 to four. I am pleased to inform the house that as at 11.30 this morning, there was zero ambulance ramping at our hospitals. The government has had to take action to free up beds in our hospitals. A total of 25 patients who were booked for elective surgery at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and Fremantle Hospital either yesterday or today had their cases postponed. Mr E.S. Ripper : So you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. Dr K.D. HAMES : Our waitlist surgery figures—the Leader of the Opposition will see this when they come out shortly—have been excellent this month compared with previous years. Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : The Leader of the Opposition should wait to see what they look like next time around. It is never easy cancelling waitlist surgery. Patients put their lives on hold waiting for that surgery. To have it cancelled at the last minute can be very difficult. We have also had to look at some of the other cases in our hospitals to work out ways to free up beds. We turned our attention to patients who have private insurance. They are quite entitled to be treated in the public hospital system the same as anybody else. They pay their Medicare levy and are entitled to public treatment. Mr R.H. Cook : What are you doing with EDs that are overrun with demand? What are you doing to increase their capacity? Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
Dr K.D. HAMES : Our waitlist surgery figures—the Leader of the Opposition will see this when they come out shortly—have been excellent this month compared with previous years. Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : The Leader of the Opposition should wait to see what they look like next time around. It is never easy cancelling waitlist surgery. Patients put their lives on hold waiting for that surgery. To have it cancelled at the last minute can be very difficult. We have also had to look at some of the other cases in our hospitals to work out ways to free up beds. We turned our attention to patients who have private insurance. They are quite entitled to be treated in the public hospital system the same as anybody else. They pay their Medicare levy and are entitled to public treatment. Mr R.H. Cook : What are you doing with EDs that are overrun with demand? What are you doing to increase their capacity? Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : The Leader of the Opposition should wait to see what they look like next time around. It is never easy cancelling waitlist surgery. Patients put their lives on hold waiting for that surgery. To have it cancelled at the last minute can be very difficult. We have also had to look at some of the other cases in our hospitals to work out ways to free up beds. We turned our attention to patients who have private insurance. They are quite entitled to be treated in the public hospital system the same as anybody else. They pay their Medicare levy and are entitled to public treatment. Mr R.H. Cook : What are you doing with EDs that are overrun with demand? What are you doing to increase their capacity? Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
Dr K.D. HAMES : The Leader of the Opposition should wait to see what they look like next time around. It is never easy cancelling waitlist surgery. Patients put their lives on hold waiting for that surgery. To have it cancelled at the last minute can be very difficult. We have also had to look at some of the other cases in our hospitals to work out ways to free up beds. We turned our attention to patients who have private insurance. They are quite entitled to be treated in the public hospital system the same as anybody else. They pay their Medicare levy and are entitled to public treatment. Mr R.H. Cook : What are you doing with EDs that are overrun with demand? What are you doing to increase their capacity? Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
Mr R.H. Cook : What are you doing with EDs that are overrun with demand? What are you doing to increase their capacity? Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
(2) Given that yesterday only one or two ambulances were available to respond to emergencies, does he finally concede that he is presiding over the worst crisis of ambulance ramping that Western Australia has seen? (3) Does the minister concede that his management of our health system over the past two years is the cause of this crisis? (4) Does the minister endorse the comments of the Australian Medical Association, of which the minister is a member, that the situation has made Perth hospitals dysfunctional and dangerous places? Dr K.D. HAMES replied: (1)–(4) I made those comments last week. As the member for Kwinana knows from the statistics I provided yesterday, the worst ambulance ramping in the history of Western Australia occurred in August 2008 under the former Labor government. Yesterday was a particularly difficult day. I have advised the media—it was also my intention to advise the house—about what occurred yesterday. Yesterday there was an increase in the number of patients being transported to hospitals by St John Ambulance. That increase was 10 per cent above average. Many ambulances received calls, whilst travelling, at exactly the same time. The same number of ambulances that have been ramped outside our hospitals in recent weeks were ramped outside our hospitals yesterday because of demands in our hospitals. However, suddenly a huge number of extra patients were on their way. On top of that, there has been a 10 per cent growth in the number of patients attending our hospitals. I have ensured that waitlist surgery has been undertaken at full peak to ensure that the number of patients awaiting waitlist surgery is reduced. Yesterday all those situations came together and created difficulties in our hospitals. I immediately phoned the director general and St John Ambulance representatives and they conducted a meeting during which there were tele-links into each of the emergency departments so that they could work out exactly where the ambulances were, where they were coming from and where they should go. Our emergency department staff managed exceptionally well. They did a fantastic job looking after the patients as they came through. The problem was that, without enough hospital beds in the system, we were not able to discharge enough patients to support the extra flow of patients into our hospitals. All those factors came together. As a result of that meeting and the link-up with the hospitals, within a few hours the number of ambulances ramped at the time was reduced from 26 to 10. At 4.30 in the afternoon, the number of ambulances ramped was reduced from 10 to four. I am pleased to inform the house that as at 11.30 this morning, there was zero ambulance ramping at our hospitals. The government has had to take action to free up beds in our hospitals. A total of 25 patients who were booked for elective surgery at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and Fremantle Hospital either yesterday or today had their cases postponed. Mr E.S. Ripper : So you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. Dr K.D. HAMES : Our waitlist surgery figures—the Leader of the Opposition will see this when they come out shortly—have been excellent this month compared with previous years. Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : The Leader of the Opposition should wait to see what they look like next time around. It is never easy cancelling waitlist surgery. Patients put their lives on hold waiting for that surgery. To have it cancelled at the last minute can be very difficult. We have also had to look at some of the other cases in our hospitals to work out ways to free up beds. We turned our attention to patients who have private insurance. They are quite entitled to be treated in the public hospital system the same as anybody else. They pay their Medicare levy and are entitled to public treatment. Mr R.H. Cook : What are you doing with EDs that are overrun with demand? What are you doing to increase their capacity? Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
(3) Does the minister concede that his management of our health system over the past two years is the cause of this crisis? (4) Does the minister endorse the comments of the Australian Medical Association, of which the minister is a member, that the situation has made Perth hospitals dysfunctional and dangerous places? Dr K.D. HAMES replied: (1)–(4) I made those comments last week. As the member for Kwinana knows from the statistics I provided yesterday, the worst ambulance ramping in the history of Western Australia occurred in August 2008 under the former Labor government. Yesterday was a particularly difficult day. I have advised the media—it was also my intention to advise the house—about what occurred yesterday. Yesterday there was an increase in the number of patients being transported to hospitals by St John Ambulance. That increase was 10 per cent above average. Many ambulances received calls, whilst travelling, at exactly the same time. The same number of ambulances that have been ramped outside our hospitals in recent weeks were ramped outside our hospitals yesterday because of demands in our hospitals. However, suddenly a huge number of extra patients were on their way. On top of that, there has been a 10 per cent growth in the number of patients attending our hospitals. I have ensured that waitlist surgery has been undertaken at full peak to ensure that the number of patients awaiting waitlist surgery is reduced. Yesterday all those situations came together and created difficulties in our hospitals. I immediately phoned the director general and St John Ambulance representatives and they conducted a meeting during which there were tele-links into each of the emergency departments so that they could work out exactly where the ambulances were, where they were coming from and where they should go. Our emergency department staff managed exceptionally well. They did a fantastic job looking after the patients as they came through. The problem was that, without enough hospital beds in the system, we were not able to discharge enough patients to support the extra flow of patients into our hospitals. All those factors came together. As a result of that meeting and the link-up with the hospitals, within a few hours the number of ambulances ramped at the time was reduced from 26 to 10. At 4.30 in the afternoon, the number of ambulances ramped was reduced from 10 to four. I am pleased to inform the house that as at 11.30 this morning, there was zero ambulance ramping at our hospitals. The government has had to take action to free up beds in our hospitals. A total of 25 patients who were booked for elective surgery at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and Fremantle Hospital either yesterday or today had their cases postponed. Mr E.S. Ripper : So you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. Dr K.D. HAMES : Our waitlist surgery figures—the Leader of the Opposition will see this when they come out shortly—have been excellent this month compared with previous years. Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : The Leader of the Opposition should wait to see what they look like next time around. It is never easy cancelling waitlist surgery. Patients put their lives on hold waiting for that surgery. To have it cancelled at the last minute can be very difficult. We have also had to look at some of the other cases in our hospitals to work out ways to free up beds. We turned our attention to patients who have private insurance. They are quite entitled to be treated in the public hospital system the same as anybody else. They pay their Medicare levy and are entitled to public treatment. Mr R.H. Cook : What are you doing with EDs that are overrun with demand? What are you doing to increase their capacity? Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
(4) Does the minister endorse the comments of the Australian Medical Association, of which the minister is a member, that the situation has made Perth hospitals dysfunctional and dangerous places? Dr K.D. HAMES replied: (1)–(4) I made those comments last week. As the member for Kwinana knows from the statistics I provided yesterday, the worst ambulance ramping in the history of Western Australia occurred in August 2008 under the former Labor government. Yesterday was a particularly difficult day. I have advised the media—it was also my intention to advise the house—about what occurred yesterday. Yesterday there was an increase in the number of patients being transported to hospitals by St John Ambulance. That increase was 10 per cent above average. Many ambulances received calls, whilst travelling, at exactly the same time. The same number of ambulances that have been ramped outside our hospitals in recent weeks were ramped outside our hospitals yesterday because of demands in our hospitals. However, suddenly a huge number of extra patients were on their way. On top of that, there has been a 10 per cent growth in the number of patients attending our hospitals. I have ensured that waitlist surgery has been undertaken at full peak to ensure that the number of patients awaiting waitlist surgery is reduced. Yesterday all those situations came together and created difficulties in our hospitals. I immediately phoned the director general and St John Ambulance representatives and they conducted a meeting during which there were tele-links into each of the emergency departments so that they could work out exactly where the ambulances were, where they were coming from and where they should go. Our emergency department staff managed exceptionally well. They did a fantastic job looking after the patients as they came through. The problem was that, without enough hospital beds in the system, we were not able to discharge enough patients to support the extra flow of patients into our hospitals. All those factors came together. As a result of that meeting and the link-up with the hospitals, within a few hours the number of ambulances ramped at the time was reduced from 26 to 10. At 4.30 in the afternoon, the number of ambulances ramped was reduced from 10 to four. I am pleased to inform the house that as at 11.30 this morning, there was zero ambulance ramping at our hospitals. The government has had to take action to free up beds in our hospitals. A total of 25 patients who were booked for elective surgery at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and Fremantle Hospital either yesterday or today had their cases postponed. Mr E.S. Ripper : So you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. Dr K.D. HAMES : Our waitlist surgery figures—the Leader of the Opposition will see this when they come out shortly—have been excellent this month compared with previous years. Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : The Leader of the Opposition should wait to see what they look like next time around. It is never easy cancelling waitlist surgery. Patients put their lives on hold waiting for that surgery. To have it cancelled at the last minute can be very difficult. We have also had to look at some of the other cases in our hospitals to work out ways to free up beds. We turned our attention to patients who have private insurance. They are quite entitled to be treated in the public hospital system the same as anybody else. They pay their Medicare levy and are entitled to public treatment. Mr R.H. Cook : What are you doing with EDs that are overrun with demand? What are you doing to increase their capacity? Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
Dr K.D. HAMES replied: (1)–(4) I made those comments last week. As the member for Kwinana knows from the statistics I provided yesterday, the worst ambulance ramping in the history of Western Australia occurred in August 2008 under the former Labor government. Yesterday was a particularly difficult day. I have advised the media—it was also my intention to advise the house—about what occurred yesterday. Yesterday there was an increase in the number of patients being transported to hospitals by St John Ambulance. That increase was 10 per cent above average. Many ambulances received calls, whilst travelling, at exactly the same time. The same number of ambulances that have been ramped outside our hospitals in recent weeks were ramped outside our hospitals yesterday because of demands in our hospitals. However, suddenly a huge number of extra patients were on their way. On top of that, there has been a 10 per cent growth in the number of patients attending our hospitals. I have ensured that waitlist surgery has been undertaken at full peak to ensure that the number of patients awaiting waitlist surgery is reduced. Yesterday all those situations came together and created difficulties in our hospitals. I immediately phoned the director general and St John Ambulance representatives and they conducted a meeting during which there were tele-links into each of the emergency departments so that they could work out exactly where the ambulances were, where they were coming from and where they should go. Our emergency department staff managed exceptionally well. They did a fantastic job looking after the patients as they came through. The problem was that, without enough hospital beds in the system, we were not able to discharge enough patients to support the extra flow of patients into our hospitals. All those factors came together. As a result of that meeting and the link-up with the hospitals, within a few hours the number of ambulances ramped at the time was reduced from 26 to 10. At 4.30 in the afternoon, the number of ambulances ramped was reduced from 10 to four. I am pleased to inform the house that as at 11.30 this morning, there was zero ambulance ramping at our hospitals. The government has had to take action to free up beds in our hospitals. A total of 25 patients who were booked for elective surgery at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and Fremantle Hospital either yesterday or today had their cases postponed. Mr E.S. Ripper : So you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. Dr K.D. HAMES : Our waitlist surgery figures—the Leader of the Opposition will see this when they come out shortly—have been excellent this month compared with previous years. Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : The Leader of the Opposition should wait to see what they look like next time around. It is never easy cancelling waitlist surgery. Patients put their lives on hold waiting for that surgery. To have it cancelled at the last minute can be very difficult. We have also had to look at some of the other cases in our hospitals to work out ways to free up beds. We turned our attention to patients who have private insurance. They are quite entitled to be treated in the public hospital system the same as anybody else. They pay their Medicare levy and are entitled to public treatment. Mr R.H. Cook : What are you doing with EDs that are overrun with demand? What are you doing to increase their capacity? Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
(1)–(4) I made those comments last week. As the member for Kwinana knows from the statistics I provided yesterday, the worst ambulance ramping in the history of Western Australia occurred in August 2008 under the former Labor government. Yesterday was a particularly difficult day. I have advised the media—it was also my intention to advise the house—about what occurred yesterday. Yesterday there was an increase in the number of patients being transported to hospitals by St John Ambulance. That increase was 10 per cent above average. Many ambulances received calls, whilst travelling, at exactly the same time. The same number of ambulances that have been ramped outside our hospitals in recent weeks were ramped outside our hospitals yesterday because of demands in our hospitals. However, suddenly a huge number of extra patients were on their way. On top of that, there has been a 10 per cent growth in the number of patients attending our hospitals. I have ensured that waitlist surgery has been undertaken at full peak to ensure that the number of patients awaiting waitlist surgery is reduced. Yesterday all those situations came together and created difficulties in our hospitals. I immediately phoned the director general and St John Ambulance representatives and they conducted a meeting during which there were tele-links into each of the emergency departments so that they could work out exactly where the ambulances were, where they were coming from and where they should go. Our emergency department staff managed exceptionally well. They did a fantastic job looking after the patients as they came through. The problem was that, without enough hospital beds in the system, we were not able to discharge enough patients to support the extra flow of patients into our hospitals. All those factors came together. As a result of that meeting and the link-up with the hospitals, within a few hours the number of ambulances ramped at the time was reduced from 26 to 10. At 4.30 in the afternoon, the number of ambulances ramped was reduced from 10 to four. I am pleased to inform the house that as at 11.30 this morning, there was zero ambulance ramping at our hospitals. The government has had to take action to free up beds in our hospitals. A total of 25 patients who were booked for elective surgery at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and Fremantle Hospital either yesterday or today had their cases postponed. Mr E.S. Ripper : So you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. Dr K.D. HAMES : Our waitlist surgery figures—the Leader of the Opposition will see this when they come out shortly—have been excellent this month compared with previous years. Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : The Leader of the Opposition should wait to see what they look like next time around. It is never easy cancelling waitlist surgery. Patients put their lives on hold waiting for that surgery. To have it cancelled at the last minute can be very difficult. We have also had to look at some of the other cases in our hospitals to work out ways to free up beds. We turned our attention to patients who have private insurance. They are quite entitled to be treated in the public hospital system the same as anybody else. They pay their Medicare levy and are entitled to public treatment. Mr R.H. Cook : What are you doing with EDs that are overrun with demand? What are you doing to increase their capacity? Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
Dr K.D. HAMES : Our waitlist surgery figures—the Leader of the Opposition will see this when they come out shortly—have been excellent this month compared with previous years. Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : The Leader of the Opposition should wait to see what they look like next time around. It is never easy cancelling waitlist surgery. Patients put their lives on hold waiting for that surgery. To have it cancelled at the last minute can be very difficult. We have also had to look at some of the other cases in our hospitals to work out ways to free up beds. We turned our attention to patients who have private insurance. They are quite entitled to be treated in the public hospital system the same as anybody else. They pay their Medicare levy and are entitled to public treatment. Mr R.H. Cook : What are you doing with EDs that are overrun with demand? What are you doing to increase their capacity? Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
Mr E.S. Ripper interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : The Leader of the Opposition should wait to see what they look like next time around. It is never easy cancelling waitlist surgery. Patients put their lives on hold waiting for that surgery. To have it cancelled at the last minute can be very difficult. We have also had to look at some of the other cases in our hospitals to work out ways to free up beds. We turned our attention to patients who have private insurance. They are quite entitled to be treated in the public hospital system the same as anybody else. They pay their Medicare levy and are entitled to public treatment. Mr R.H. Cook : What are you doing with EDs that are overrun with demand? What are you doing to increase their capacity? Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
Dr K.D. HAMES : The Leader of the Opposition should wait to see what they look like next time around. It is never easy cancelling waitlist surgery. Patients put their lives on hold waiting for that surgery. To have it cancelled at the last minute can be very difficult. We have also had to look at some of the other cases in our hospitals to work out ways to free up beds. We turned our attention to patients who have private insurance. They are quite entitled to be treated in the public hospital system the same as anybody else. They pay their Medicare levy and are entitled to public treatment. Mr R.H. Cook : What are you doing with EDs that are overrun with demand? What are you doing to increase their capacity? Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
Mr R.H. Cook : What are you doing with EDs that are overrun with demand? What are you doing to increase their capacity? Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
Dr K.D. HAMES : Give it a break. I am trying to provide the answer. We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
We asked those patients with private insurance whether they were prepared to go to other hospitals, and they were. We also looked at the issue of aged-care patients in our hospitals who are eligible for aged-care accommodation but who remain in hospital while they wait for that accommodation. Some members may not know this, but compared with the other states, Western Australia is worse off when it comes to aged-care accommodation, which is a direct commonwealth responsibility. In the past few years the number of aged-care beds available in WA has gone down 4.5 per cent while the number in other states has gone up 1.5 per cent. Currently 508 patients are waiting for aged-care accommodation. The issue that the Australian Medical Association talks about all the time is the number of beds available in our system. It states that we need an extra 500 beds, which is absolutely true. We have had the same number of beds for a number of years despite growing demand and an ageing population. More and more patients are attending our hospitals and there are not enough beds to cope with them. What could the former government have done to address that issue? The former government had a clinical services — Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
The SPEAKER : Order, members! Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
Dr K.D. HAMES : “Mr Sporker” — Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
Several members interjected. Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
Dr K.D. HAMES : My apologies, Mr Speaker. That was a combination of a porker and spoiler; you had better call me to order for the first time! The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
The former government’s clinical services framework predicted that Fiona Stanley Hospital would be open by 2010 and that additional beds would be available at Joondalup Health Campus, Rockingham General Hospital and Midland hospital. Those predictions were wrong. When construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital was announced in 2005, the government predicted that it would open in 2010. A year later the prediction was 2011 and a year after that the prediction was 2012. It remains unopened. I went through the number of beds that we should have had in 2010 under the former government’s prediction, the number we have and what we had when we came to government. Funnily enough, the number is about 500. Because the former Labor government was not a better manager of the construction of Fiona Stanley Hospital and because it did not get on with the work at Joondalup and Rockingham hospitals that it predicted it would get on with, we are 500 beds short of what we should have had. There are difficulties in our hospitals. However, I am confident that we have control of what is happening with those patients. I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
I think that is reflected in the fact that, today, ambulance ramping is down to zero. That is not to say that we will not have ramping again, but we need to make sure that we are freeing up those beds more quickly. I take responsibility for the fact that we did not have enough beds yesterday, but I will make sure that those beds are made available in future, even if it means we have to be a little tougher than we have been in the past.
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