❓ Question regarding the Minister for Health's justification for the location of the new women's and babies' hospital and the impact on neonatal surgical procedures, particularly for premature babies. The Minister's response defends the decision and criticises the questioner's tone.
AnsweredQoN 516Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
WOMEN'S AND
BABIES' HOSPITAL — NEONATAL SURGICAL PROCEDURES
516. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the minister's
comment, when defending her decision to locate the new women's and
babies' hospital at the Fiona
Stanley Hospital site, some 20 kilometres away from Perth Children's
Hospital, that around 40 to 45 babies a year may need surgery within the
first hour of life. Joanne Beedie from Helping Little Hands, an advocacy group
that supports parents of premature babies, said it was upsetting that these
numbers were being used as justification, ''as if those lives are less
valuable than any other child's''. Yesterday, the minister
called this scaremongering. What does the minister say to Joanne Beedie and
other mothers of premature babies who found her comments ignorant, ill-informed
and disrespectful?
BABIES' HOSPITAL — NEONATAL SURGICAL PROCEDURES
516. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the minister's
comment, when defending her decision to locate the new women's and
babies' hospital at the Fiona
Stanley Hospital site, some 20 kilometres away from Perth Children's
Hospital, that around 40 to 45 babies a year may need surgery within the
first hour of life. Joanne Beedie from Helping Little Hands, an advocacy group
that supports parents of premature babies, said it was upsetting that these
numbers were being used as justification, ''as if those lives are less
valuable than any other child's''. Yesterday, the minister
called this scaremongering. What does the minister say to Joanne Beedie and
other mothers of premature babies who found her comments ignorant, ill-informed
and disrespectful?
AnswerView source ↗
I find the member's
commentary distasteful. Her comments are distasteful and personal and do no
justice to this debate or discussion. I have been very clear that we are going
to get the best possible outcomes for women and their babies with these
decisions. The subtext of the member's comments is incredibly
distasteful, but that is in keeping with her
modus operandi, so no-one is surprised by that. The government has made a very
difficult decision around how to deliver the best possible hospital for
women across Western Australia, because regional women with acute needs will
also need this hospital. We were provided with a 200-page document that
outlined the insurmountable risks to other parts of the health system in
delivering this project. No reasonable and responsible government would accept
those risks on behalf of taxpayers. We are working with the very highly
specialised, highly skilled clinicians who are involved in neonatal surgery
around the safest and best way to do this, given the concerns around the extra
15 minutes of transport. These babies are currently transported through our
world-class Newborn Emergency Transport
Service, which has received a multimillion-dollar investment over the last few
years . NETS safely transfers babies from Broome, Kalgoorlie and
Esperance—all over the state—to tertiary hospitals in Western Australia.
There is a concern about increasing the travel time by another 15 minutes as
these babies are very fragile. We are
working with clinicians around what we need to do to provide the safest
environment for mothers and babies. I caution the member about the tone
of her commentary and exactly what she is accusing me of; it is becoming
distasteful and personal.
commentary distasteful. Her comments are distasteful and personal and do no
justice to this debate or discussion. I have been very clear that we are going
to get the best possible outcomes for women and their babies with these
decisions. The subtext of the member's comments is incredibly
distasteful, but that is in keeping with her
modus operandi, so no-one is surprised by that. The government has made a very
difficult decision around how to deliver the best possible hospital for
women across Western Australia, because regional women with acute needs will
also need this hospital. We were provided with a 200-page document that
outlined the insurmountable risks to other parts of the health system in
delivering this project. No reasonable and responsible government would accept
those risks on behalf of taxpayers. We are working with the very highly
specialised, highly skilled clinicians who are involved in neonatal surgery
around the safest and best way to do this, given the concerns around the extra
15 minutes of transport. These babies are currently transported through our
world-class Newborn Emergency Transport
Service, which has received a multimillion-dollar investment over the last few
years . NETS safely transfers babies from Broome, Kalgoorlie and
Esperance—all over the state—to tertiary hospitals in Western Australia.
There is a concern about increasing the travel time by another 15 minutes as
these babies are very fragile. We are
working with clinicians around what we need to do to provide the safest
environment for mothers and babies. I caution the member about the tone
of her commentary and exactly what she is accusing me of; it is becoming
distasteful and personal.
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