❓ Mrs. Stojkovski asks about the government's work with healthcare professionals to improve patient access to timely surgeries. The Minister for Health responds by highlighting increased hospital funding, reduced waiting times, and improved performance at Perth Children's Hospital.
AnsweredQoN 420Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HEALTH SERVICES —
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
420. Mrs J.M.C. STOJKOVSKI to the Minister for Health:
Before I ask my question, on behalf
of the member for Swan Hills, I would like to welcome the amazing student
leaders from Bullsbrook College.
I refer to the strong financial
management of the McGowan Labor government that has meant record funding for Western
Australia's hospital system and the world-class health care it provides
for Western Australians.
Can the minister update the house on
how the government is working with doctors, nurses and staff to ensure more
patients get the surgeries that they need sooner and well within the
recommended time frames?
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
420. Mrs J.M.C. STOJKOVSKI to the Minister for Health:
Before I ask my question, on behalf
of the member for Swan Hills, I would like to welcome the amazing student
leaders from Bullsbrook College.
I refer to the strong financial
management of the McGowan Labor government that has meant record funding for Western
Australia's hospital system and the world-class health care it provides
for Western Australians.
Can the minister update the house on
how the government is working with doctors, nurses and staff to ensure more
patients get the surgeries that they need sooner and well within the
recommended time frames?
AnswerView source ↗
I would like to thank the member for
her question. It is an important one. The work that we have done to fix the
state's finances means that we can target the state's resources
to where they are needed. I am very proud that within our budget, we have
increased funding to our hospitals by over 2.8 per cent. A reason we have had
the discipline needed to rein in the funding of our hospitals is that we want
to target it properly. Although we have constrained growth in the health
budget, we have targeted growth in the hospital budget. The great outcome of
that is that we can focus funding where it is needed. Putting patients first is
our priority. Although we have seen an increase in the number of people on the
elective surgery waitlist, it is to be expected because we have an ageing and
growing population in Western Australia. What I am proud of is that the time
those people stay on the waitlist has actually reduced under the McGowan
government. We now see that 95 per cent of all patients have their surgery
within the clinically recommended time. This is the best result in over two
years. This is despite the fact that we have had a nine per cent increase in
activity because people are flocking to our public health system. There is a range
of reasons for that, but we will not go into them now. There will be plenty of
time during the matter of public interest motion to go through these facts. The
MPI was to be moved by the member for Scarborough, as we saw earlier today, but
now we see that the member for Churchlands will move the MPI.
The SPEAKER : Member, I have
okayed that and I know the reasons why. So, just get on with it, please.
Mr R.H. COOK : The reason we are so proud of these outcomes is
that it means that we now have the resources to make sure that more patients
are operated on. We had 86 892 reportable elective surgery cases in the last 12
months. That is almost 1 000 more than in the previous 12 months. This means
that across every category—category 1 is the most urgent, category
2 is semi-urgent, and category 3 is painful but needing to be operated on
within 12 months—we have seen a reduction in the waiting times of these
patients. This is an outstanding result for a system, which the member for
Churchlands is attacking, while it is also dealing with the biggest flu season
on record.
Earlier in the week, I was very
pleased to be with the Premier at Perth Children's Hospital to
celebrate the opening of that great hospital and its first year of operation.
During that time, the hospital has seen almost 26 000 inpatient admissions;
over 58 000 emergency department presentations, which is a 30 per cent increase
in the last month alone—of course, the member for Churchlands would not
be able to get his head around that—and almost 200 000 outpatient
appointments. The statistic that I am most proud of is that the Perth Children's
Hospital has seen a 9.7 per cent reduction—almost 10 per cent—in
elective surgery waiting times across all categories. That is an outstanding
result and we are proud of the doctors, nurses and allied health and support
staff who have made this happen.
her question. It is an important one. The work that we have done to fix the
state's finances means that we can target the state's resources
to where they are needed. I am very proud that within our budget, we have
increased funding to our hospitals by over 2.8 per cent. A reason we have had
the discipline needed to rein in the funding of our hospitals is that we want
to target it properly. Although we have constrained growth in the health
budget, we have targeted growth in the hospital budget. The great outcome of
that is that we can focus funding where it is needed. Putting patients first is
our priority. Although we have seen an increase in the number of people on the
elective surgery waitlist, it is to be expected because we have an ageing and
growing population in Western Australia. What I am proud of is that the time
those people stay on the waitlist has actually reduced under the McGowan
government. We now see that 95 per cent of all patients have their surgery
within the clinically recommended time. This is the best result in over two
years. This is despite the fact that we have had a nine per cent increase in
activity because people are flocking to our public health system. There is a range
of reasons for that, but we will not go into them now. There will be plenty of
time during the matter of public interest motion to go through these facts. The
MPI was to be moved by the member for Scarborough, as we saw earlier today, but
now we see that the member for Churchlands will move the MPI.
The SPEAKER : Member, I have
okayed that and I know the reasons why. So, just get on with it, please.
Mr R.H. COOK : The reason we are so proud of these outcomes is
that it means that we now have the resources to make sure that more patients
are operated on. We had 86 892 reportable elective surgery cases in the last 12
months. That is almost 1 000 more than in the previous 12 months. This means
that across every category—category 1 is the most urgent, category
2 is semi-urgent, and category 3 is painful but needing to be operated on
within 12 months—we have seen a reduction in the waiting times of these
patients. This is an outstanding result for a system, which the member for
Churchlands is attacking, while it is also dealing with the biggest flu season
on record.
Earlier in the week, I was very
pleased to be with the Premier at Perth Children's Hospital to
celebrate the opening of that great hospital and its first year of operation.
During that time, the hospital has seen almost 26 000 inpatient admissions;
over 58 000 emergency department presentations, which is a 30 per cent increase
in the last month alone—of course, the member for Churchlands would not
be able to get his head around that—and almost 200 000 outpatient
appointments. The statistic that I am most proud of is that the Perth Children's
Hospital has seen a 9.7 per cent reduction—almost 10 per cent—in
elective surgery waiting times across all categories. That is an outstanding
result and we are proud of the doctors, nurses and allied health and support
staff who have made this happen.
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.