❓ Question on Notice regarding WA's public hospital emergency department wait times, referencing a Productivity Commission report and constituent experience. The Minister's response is a non-answer.
AnsweredQoN 194Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
I refer the Minister to the recent Productivity Commission report titled, 'Report on Government Services 2025 Health', which suggested that Western Australia (WA) has the nation's worst wait times for urgent presentations to public hospital emergency departments, and having heard from one constituent who recently waited six hours in a private emergency department here in Perth, at least in part because of an overflow from a neighbouring public hospital, I ask: (a) what is the clinically recommended timeframe for a patient to be seen in a public emergency department here in WA; (b) in reference to (a), what percentage of patients presenting at our public emergency departments are currently being seen within that timeframe; and (c) does the Government recognise the concerns raised by a spokesperson for the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine WA, who has argued that patients are waiting "much longer than we would consider safe", and that the situation is both "demoralizing" and "poses risks"?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
12 August 2025
Responded by
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health
Response time
9 days
(a-c)
Clinically recommended timeframes for the commencement of medical treatment vary and are outlined in the Australasian Triage Scale.
WA Health aims to provide high quality clinical care to the community of Western Australia. WA Health clinicians are highly skilled at ensuring patients receive the care they need urgently.
Clinically recommended timeframes for the commencement of medical treatment vary and are outlined in the Australasian Triage Scale.
WA Health aims to provide high quality clinical care to the community of Western Australia. WA Health clinicians are highly skilled at ensuring patients receive the care they need urgently.
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.