❓ Opposition MP Cook questions Health Minister Hames about a broken 2008 election promise to publish pre-surgical assessment waitlist figures by hospital. Hames admits the promise wasn't kept, explains why hospital-by-hospital data is difficult to obtain, and deflects by referencing past government figures and opposition members' social media use.
AnsweredQoN 26Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
ELECTIVE SURGERY — PRE-SURGICAL
ASSESSMENT WAITLIST
26. Mr R.H. COOK to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the almost 17 000 people on elective surgery
waiting lists, to the Liberal Party promise in 2008 that from the March 2009
quarter the minister would publish, by hospital, figures showing the number of
patients waiting for a pre-surgical assessment and to the minister's
acknowledgement on 1 June 2011 that he had no idea of the election promise.
(1) Does the
minister now accept that he made this promise to the people of Western
Australia?
(2) What progress has the minister
made on this election promise?
(3) Will the
minister now apologise to the people of Western Australia who, as the Liberal
Party document says, are people waiting for operations they need to make their
lives better, and immediately publish in full those statistics that the
minister promised he would make available from March 2009?
ASSESSMENT WAITLIST
26. Mr R.H. COOK to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the almost 17 000 people on elective surgery
waiting lists, to the Liberal Party promise in 2008 that from the March 2009
quarter the minister would publish, by hospital, figures showing the number of
patients waiting for a pre-surgical assessment and to the minister's
acknowledgement on 1 June 2011 that he had no idea of the election promise.
(1) Does the
minister now accept that he made this promise to the people of Western
Australia?
(2) What progress has the minister
made on this election promise?
(3) Will the
minister now apologise to the people of Western Australia who, as the Liberal
Party document says, are people waiting for operations they need to make their
lives better, and immediately publish in full those statistics that the
minister promised he would make available from March 2009?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(3)
I do remember the member raising this before, and I have to admit that I did
not go back and try to find the copies of those statements I made. I see that
the member is about to table them for me, so I can refer to them later. It is
true that I have not —
Several
members interjected.
Dr K.D. HAMES : It
is okay; it does not matter. It is true that we have not published the number
of people waiting to get on the waiting list. I do recall that under the
previous government there were, according to Jim McGinty at the time, about 36 000
people at any one time waiting to get onto the waiting list; so they had not
made the waiting list at that time.
Mr R.H. Cook : What
do you estimate it at now?
Dr K.D. HAMES : The
last estimate we did was about 18 months to two years ago; it was down to about
24 000. It had reduced considerably. I have to admit that I have not done it
again. In response to the question, I am interested in finding that answer. We
will go through and look. We cannot work that out on a hospital-by-hospital basis.
It is not possible.
Mr R.H. Cook : That
is what you said you would do.
Dr K.D. HAMES :
Nevertheless, what I am saying is that it is not possible to do that. I will
explain why. We had a case involving someone in my electorate waiting to get on
a surgery waitlist for a knee or hip replacement. They were given a referral by
a GP and given two options: one was an orthopaedic surgeon who operated at Peel
Health Campus; and the other operated at Fremantle Hospital. The patient tried
to get into the surgeon who operated at Peel, which would have been the right
thing to do, but he was on holidays. They went to the other one. The other
surgeon only operates at Fremantle Hospital and has a very long wait time. His
wait time for secondary categories—which this lady was—was
about eight months. It was very slow. What I said not just for this patient but
for all patients in those areas, particularly in the Deputy Leader of the
Opposition's electorate and the electorate of his leader, who is
concentrating on his SMS, probably referring to Mr Rudd resigning as foreign
minister —
Mr M. McGowan : It
is Twitter, actually.
Dr K.D. HAMES : I
presume members opposite have all been getting that information on Twitter.
Mr J.N. Hyde :
Concentrate on the health of Western Australians!
Dr K.D. HAMES : You
don't want to talk about those conflicts!
Mr J.N. Hyde : He
is not focused on sick Western Australians!
Mr M. McGowan :
Keep your mind on the job!
Dr K.D. HAMES : The
only reason I referred to that is because the Leader of the Opposition was
twittering away when I was trying to talk to him about health in his
electorate. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition asks why I do not talk about
health. I do not talk about health to the Leader of the Opposition because he
is twittering about Mr Rudd, I presume.
Mr M. McGowan :
Tweeting—you have the terminology incorrect! I was not tweeting.
Dr K.D. HAMES : I
am not into tweeting. The sad news is I text longhand, not shorthand. I am a
bit old-fashioned. I am not a young fellow like the Leader of the Opposition!
I am trying to get back to the argument about health and
members opposite are distracting me. The problem for the electorates of the
Leader of the Opposition, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the member for
Mandurah and mine is that patients keep getting referred to Freo. They go on
lists for tertiary hospitals when they are quite suitable to be done in
Rockingham and Peel as secondary cases. I have had an updated review of every
patient who goes on this list to make sure only tertiary cases go to Royal
Perth Hospital. If they are secondary cases, they use the facilities in our
hospital. That will significantly reduce waitlists. That means we cannot tell
on a hospital-by-hospital basis how many people are waiting to get on the
waiting list. I will follow up those figures. The key point the Premier made is
that while the total number has gone up, that figure is not as relevant as the
time at which a patient is seen. If 20 people require surgery and 19 get done
in the appropriate time, that is better than nine out of 10 having surgery,
which means 20 and 18. So, more patients on the list and more being done in the
appropriate time —
Mr R.H. Cook : The
key point is that he's uncaring and you've broken an election
promise!
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : I do
not know if the Minister for Health has anything further to add.
Dr K.D. Hames :
Only a small amount.
The SPEAKER : I am
going to sit down and give the call to somebody else.
I do remember the member raising this before, and I have to admit that I did
not go back and try to find the copies of those statements I made. I see that
the member is about to table them for me, so I can refer to them later. It is
true that I have not —
Several
members interjected.
Dr K.D. HAMES : It
is okay; it does not matter. It is true that we have not published the number
of people waiting to get on the waiting list. I do recall that under the
previous government there were, according to Jim McGinty at the time, about 36 000
people at any one time waiting to get onto the waiting list; so they had not
made the waiting list at that time.
Mr R.H. Cook : What
do you estimate it at now?
Dr K.D. HAMES : The
last estimate we did was about 18 months to two years ago; it was down to about
24 000. It had reduced considerably. I have to admit that I have not done it
again. In response to the question, I am interested in finding that answer. We
will go through and look. We cannot work that out on a hospital-by-hospital basis.
It is not possible.
Mr R.H. Cook : That
is what you said you would do.
Dr K.D. HAMES :
Nevertheless, what I am saying is that it is not possible to do that. I will
explain why. We had a case involving someone in my electorate waiting to get on
a surgery waitlist for a knee or hip replacement. They were given a referral by
a GP and given two options: one was an orthopaedic surgeon who operated at Peel
Health Campus; and the other operated at Fremantle Hospital. The patient tried
to get into the surgeon who operated at Peel, which would have been the right
thing to do, but he was on holidays. They went to the other one. The other
surgeon only operates at Fremantle Hospital and has a very long wait time. His
wait time for secondary categories—which this lady was—was
about eight months. It was very slow. What I said not just for this patient but
for all patients in those areas, particularly in the Deputy Leader of the
Opposition's electorate and the electorate of his leader, who is
concentrating on his SMS, probably referring to Mr Rudd resigning as foreign
minister —
Mr M. McGowan : It
is Twitter, actually.
Dr K.D. HAMES : I
presume members opposite have all been getting that information on Twitter.
Mr J.N. Hyde :
Concentrate on the health of Western Australians!
Dr K.D. HAMES : You
don't want to talk about those conflicts!
Mr J.N. Hyde : He
is not focused on sick Western Australians!
Mr M. McGowan :
Keep your mind on the job!
Dr K.D. HAMES : The
only reason I referred to that is because the Leader of the Opposition was
twittering away when I was trying to talk to him about health in his
electorate. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition asks why I do not talk about
health. I do not talk about health to the Leader of the Opposition because he
is twittering about Mr Rudd, I presume.
Mr M. McGowan :
Tweeting—you have the terminology incorrect! I was not tweeting.
Dr K.D. HAMES : I
am not into tweeting. The sad news is I text longhand, not shorthand. I am a
bit old-fashioned. I am not a young fellow like the Leader of the Opposition!
I am trying to get back to the argument about health and
members opposite are distracting me. The problem for the electorates of the
Leader of the Opposition, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the member for
Mandurah and mine is that patients keep getting referred to Freo. They go on
lists for tertiary hospitals when they are quite suitable to be done in
Rockingham and Peel as secondary cases. I have had an updated review of every
patient who goes on this list to make sure only tertiary cases go to Royal
Perth Hospital. If they are secondary cases, they use the facilities in our
hospital. That will significantly reduce waitlists. That means we cannot tell
on a hospital-by-hospital basis how many people are waiting to get on the
waiting list. I will follow up those figures. The key point the Premier made is
that while the total number has gone up, that figure is not as relevant as the
time at which a patient is seen. If 20 people require surgery and 19 get done
in the appropriate time, that is better than nine out of 10 having surgery,
which means 20 and 18. So, more patients on the list and more being done in the
appropriate time —
Mr R.H. Cook : The
key point is that he's uncaring and you've broken an election
promise!
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : I do
not know if the Minister for Health has anything further to add.
Dr K.D. Hames :
Only a small amount.
The SPEAKER : I am
going to sit down and give the call to somebody else.
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