❓ Mr. Rundle raises concerns about increased emotional stress in secondary students and shortages of school psychologists and therapists. The Minister acknowledges the issue, links it to COVID-19, and highlights the government's commitment to increasing school psychologists and vaccination efforts.
AnsweredQoN 340Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
SCHOOLS
— HEALTH SUPPORT STAFF
340. Mr P.J. RUNDLE to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the state government
school study by DETECT WA in partnership with the Telethon Kids Institute that
found that around 40 per cent of secondary school students were experiencing
moderate to high levels of emotional stress. Given that these findings are
three times higher than the last similar survey results and that we continue to
face a drastic shortage of school psychologists and speech and hearing
therapists and extended wait times, what steps are being taken to rectify this
shortage of crucial health support staff?
— HEALTH SUPPORT STAFF
340. Mr P.J. RUNDLE to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the state government
school study by DETECT WA in partnership with the Telethon Kids Institute that
found that around 40 per cent of secondary school students were experiencing
moderate to high levels of emotional stress. Given that these findings are
three times higher than the last similar survey results and that we continue to
face a drastic shortage of school psychologists and speech and hearing
therapists and extended wait times, what steps are being taken to rectify this
shortage of crucial health support staff?
AnswerView source ↗
It is a good question and underpins
many of the points I was making yesterday that one of the consequences of the
COVID-19 pandemic is that we have elevated levels of anxiety in our community,
which of itself is one of the pressure factors on hospital services. As I mentioned
in this place before, if members look at eating disorder presentations at Perth
Children's Hospital between June last year and June this year, they
will see that we have had an 86 per cent increase in the number of children
presenting with eating disorder issues. This is a very real and important issue. As it so happens, the Labor
Party, in the lead-up to the last election, made a $36 million commitment around boosting the number of school
psychologists in our schools. That is a very welcome commitment and one that will play an important role as we go forward to continue to reassure the young
people of Western Australia that we will do
everything we can to protect them, their families and their friends from the
consequences of COVID-19 . We have
been successful to date and we will go on being successful, I believe, because
we are resolute in our response to any potential outbreak of the disease
and making sure that we continue to stay on top of it.
Another
issue, of course, is vaccination. Once again, do the events of today not
underscore how important it is for those people who are eligible to get
themselves vaccinated? It is so important. Yesterday, of the 46 000 30 to
39-year-olds whom we contacted by text who had registered to receive the
vaccine when their opportunity fell due, over 24 000 had booked their next vax
booking by the end of the day. That is a terrific result and that will go to
making sure that we can continue to keep Western Australians safe.
many of the points I was making yesterday that one of the consequences of the
COVID-19 pandemic is that we have elevated levels of anxiety in our community,
which of itself is one of the pressure factors on hospital services. As I mentioned
in this place before, if members look at eating disorder presentations at Perth
Children's Hospital between June last year and June this year, they
will see that we have had an 86 per cent increase in the number of children
presenting with eating disorder issues. This is a very real and important issue. As it so happens, the Labor
Party, in the lead-up to the last election, made a $36 million commitment around boosting the number of school
psychologists in our schools. That is a very welcome commitment and one that will play an important role as we go forward to continue to reassure the young
people of Western Australia that we will do
everything we can to protect them, their families and their friends from the
consequences of COVID-19 . We have
been successful to date and we will go on being successful, I believe, because
we are resolute in our response to any potential outbreak of the disease
and making sure that we continue to stay on top of it.
Another
issue, of course, is vaccination. Once again, do the events of today not
underscore how important it is for those people who are eligible to get
themselves vaccinated? It is so important. Yesterday, of the 46 000 30 to
39-year-olds whom we contacted by text who had registered to receive the
vaccine when their opportunity fell due, over 24 000 had booked their next vax
booking by the end of the day. That is a terrific result and that will go to
making sure that we can continue to keep Western Australians safe.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.