❓ Ms. Mettam questions the Minister for Health regarding ambulance ramping hours and claims of reduction. The Minister accuses Ms. Mettam of misrepresenting data and defends the government's health plan and its impact on reducing ramping.
AnsweredQoN 576Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HEALTH — AMBULANCE RAMPING
576. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the record 6 972 hours
of ambulance ramping that occurred in July 2022 and campaign material from the member
for Perth that claims that there has been a 22 per cent reduction in ramping.
Does the minister believe, like the member for Perth, that 5 900 hours of
ramping in one month is something to be proud of?
576. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the record 6 972 hours
of ambulance ramping that occurred in July 2022 and campaign material from the member
for Perth that claims that there has been a 22 per cent reduction in ramping.
Does the minister believe, like the member for Perth, that 5 900 hours of
ramping in one month is something to be proud of?
AnswerView source ↗
The Leader of the Liberal Party has
entirely mischaracterised and misrepresented what the member for Perth put in
the flyer.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please.
Ms A. SANDERSON : She
entirely misrepresented what the member for Perth put in the flyer.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Sorry, just
pause for a moment, minister. Leader of the Liberal Party, you have asked the
question . The minister is responding to it. You made your assertions.
She is now giving you an answer. You cannot just continually interject.
Ms A. SANDERSON : Thank you,
Madam Speaker. The data that was included in material from the member for Perth
and a number of government members relates to the financial year decrease from
2023–24 to 2024–25. That is referenced in the material. The parallels
that the member is making are completely incorrect. She has entirely
misrepresented the facts, as is her general approach to most things in health.
I can say that, like most things in the health system, particularly with demand
pressures currently, the drivers of demand are complex and ramping is a symptom
of both demand and, of course, how we are able to discharge people out of the
system into other, more appropriate areas of care. We have seen, this winter in
particular, that a number of our reforms are working. Certainly for the last
two to three years, a number of our reforms are working. Labor has a plan and
the plan is working. As the Premier quite rightly and very articulately pointed
out, a crisis is when you do not have a plan and you do not know what to do.
That is exactly what happened under the Barnett government with Kim Hames as
Minister for Health. They threw their hands in the air and said, ''We
just don't know how to deal with this!'' It had no solutions other than to privatise large sections
of the health system. Our plan—Labor's plan—involves
increasing the number of beds by 700 in the last three years. We have
increased our bed stock by 700, with another 80 coming online with the
medi-hotel and 75 mental health beds at the Cockburn Central clinic.
We have increased our staffing by
30 per cent with 4 400 more nurses and more doctors. We are about to sign a historic
enterprise bargaining agreement with our junior doctor workforce, in
particular. We are also reforming the way people access our healthcare system
to help ease pressure on emergency departments, to make it easier for older Western Australians to access the health
care that they need at the time that they need it through the WA virtual
emergency department, through our supports with residential aged-care
facilities and through our reformed contract with St John Ambulance. I am not
going to say there is not demand on the system; of course there is demand on the system but we have seen a consistent
trending down of ambulance ramping under our reforms with increasing
staff and increasing bed stock. That plan is working and we have been fully
transparent with the electorate about that plan. They will come asking
opposition members: what is your plan?
entirely mischaracterised and misrepresented what the member for Perth put in
the flyer.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please.
Ms A. SANDERSON : She
entirely misrepresented what the member for Perth put in the flyer.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Sorry, just
pause for a moment, minister. Leader of the Liberal Party, you have asked the
question . The minister is responding to it. You made your assertions.
She is now giving you an answer. You cannot just continually interject.
Ms A. SANDERSON : Thank you,
Madam Speaker. The data that was included in material from the member for Perth
and a number of government members relates to the financial year decrease from
2023–24 to 2024–25. That is referenced in the material. The parallels
that the member is making are completely incorrect. She has entirely
misrepresented the facts, as is her general approach to most things in health.
I can say that, like most things in the health system, particularly with demand
pressures currently, the drivers of demand are complex and ramping is a symptom
of both demand and, of course, how we are able to discharge people out of the
system into other, more appropriate areas of care. We have seen, this winter in
particular, that a number of our reforms are working. Certainly for the last
two to three years, a number of our reforms are working. Labor has a plan and
the plan is working. As the Premier quite rightly and very articulately pointed
out, a crisis is when you do not have a plan and you do not know what to do.
That is exactly what happened under the Barnett government with Kim Hames as
Minister for Health. They threw their hands in the air and said, ''We
just don't know how to deal with this!'' It had no solutions other than to privatise large sections
of the health system. Our plan—Labor's plan—involves
increasing the number of beds by 700 in the last three years. We have
increased our bed stock by 700, with another 80 coming online with the
medi-hotel and 75 mental health beds at the Cockburn Central clinic.
We have increased our staffing by
30 per cent with 4 400 more nurses and more doctors. We are about to sign a historic
enterprise bargaining agreement with our junior doctor workforce, in
particular. We are also reforming the way people access our healthcare system
to help ease pressure on emergency departments, to make it easier for older Western Australians to access the health
care that they need at the time that they need it through the WA virtual
emergency department, through our supports with residential aged-care
facilities and through our reformed contract with St John Ambulance. I am not
going to say there is not demand on the system; of course there is demand on the system but we have seen a consistent
trending down of ambulance ramping under our reforms with increasing
staff and increasing bed stock. That plan is working and we have been fully
transparent with the electorate about that plan. They will come asking
opposition members: what is your plan?
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