❓ A parliamentary question regarding the adequacy of the Patient Assisted Travel Scheme (PATS) in Western Australia, highlighting the case of Robert McConnell who incurred significant out-of-pocket expenses due to repeated rescheduling of an operation. The Minister acknowledges the issue and promises to investigate.
AnsweredQoN 147Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
MR ROBERT MCCONNELL
Before I ask my question, I acknowledge in the public gallery the students of St Patrick’s School, Katanning; and in the Speaker’s gallery Don and Margo Redman, the parents of the member for Stirling. I refer the minister to the case of Robert McConnell of Coolgardie who travelled to Perth on eight occasions for an operation that was repeatedly rescheduled. Each return trip took 10 hours and cost Mr McConnell $220 in fuel for each trip. For each trip he received a $150 refund from the patient assisted travel scheme. (1) Is the PATS subsidy adequate, given that Mr McConnell’s ordeal has left him $560 out of pocket in fuel expenses alone, not to mention his accommodation costs? (2) Would the $1 760 paid to Mr McConnell through PATS have been better spent on improving services at Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital so that Mr McConnell could have been spared the trauma of travelling for 80 hours for a relatively simple procedure? (3) Will the minister tell me why Mr McConnell is not a victim of this government’s ongoing relentless neglect of primary health care in the country? Mr J.A. McGINTY
Before I ask my question, I acknowledge in the public gallery the students of St Patrick’s School, Katanning; and in the Speaker’s gallery Don and Margo Redman, the parents of the member for Stirling. I refer the minister to the case of Robert McConnell of Coolgardie who travelled to Perth on eight occasions for an operation that was repeatedly rescheduled. Each return trip took 10 hours and cost Mr McConnell $220 in fuel for each trip. For each trip he received a $150 refund from the patient assisted travel scheme. (1) Is the PATS subsidy adequate, given that Mr McConnell’s ordeal has left him $560 out of pocket in fuel expenses alone, not to mention his accommodation costs? (2) Would the $1 760 paid to Mr McConnell through PATS have been better spent on improving services at Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital so that Mr McConnell could have been spared the trauma of travelling for 80 hours for a relatively simple procedure? (3) Will the minister tell me why Mr McConnell is not a victim of this government’s ongoing relentless neglect of primary health care in the country? Mr J.A. McGINTY
AnswerView source ↗
(1)-(3) I thank the member for Greenough for some small notice of the question. I will answer it in two parts. Firstly, since the last election, the amount of money going to the WA Country Health Service in Western Australia has increased by 31 per cent, or $167 million. The other point I would make is that, so far as the patient assisted travel scheme is concerned, Western Australia currently has one of the highest fuel subsidy rates in the country, although it is acknowledged that it is a relatively modest contribution towards the cost of transporting the patient to Perth. PATS was never designed to completely reimburse all costs, and I think that is well understood. What concerned me when I received this question was simply this: it disturbed me greatly that this patient, who is an obese patient who requires a hernia repair, had been treated in the way in which the member claimed. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of what the member said; I have simply not had sufficient time to get a sufficient explanation from the department. It would worry me if any patient was treated in the way in which the member has described. I called for an urgent, proper assessment of this man’s medical file to see whether everything that has been said here did happen to him. If it did, I will ring him to apologise to him and will set the record straight. I need a little time to ascertain the facts. It is worrying me, and I cannot put it any higher than that at this stage.
I refer the minister to the case of Robert McConnell of Coolgardie who travelled to Perth on eight occasions for an operation that was repeatedly rescheduled. Each return trip took 10 hours and cost Mr McConnell $220 in fuel for each trip. For each trip he received a $150 refund from the patient assisted travel scheme. (1) Is the PATS subsidy adequate, given that Mr McConnell’s ordeal has left him $560 out of pocket in fuel expenses alone, not to mention his accommodation costs? (2) Would the $1 760 paid to Mr McConnell through PATS have been better spent on improving services at Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital so that Mr McConnell could have been spared the trauma of travelling for 80 hours for a relatively simple procedure? (3) Will the minister tell me why Mr McConnell is not a victim of this government’s ongoing relentless neglect of primary health care in the country? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Greenough for some small notice of the question. I will answer it in two parts. Firstly, since the last election, the amount of money going to the WA Country Health Service in Western Australia has increased by 31 per cent, or $167 million. The other point I would make is that, so far as the patient assisted travel scheme is concerned, Western Australia currently has one of the highest fuel subsidy rates in the country, although it is acknowledged that it is a relatively modest contribution towards the cost of transporting the patient to Perth. PATS was never designed to completely reimburse all costs, and I think that is well understood. What concerned me when I received this question was simply this: it disturbed me greatly that this patient, who is an obese patient who requires a hernia repair, had been treated in the way in which the member claimed. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of what the member said; I have simply not had sufficient time to get a sufficient explanation from the department. It would worry me if any patient was treated in the way in which the member has described. I called for an urgent, proper assessment of this man’s medical file to see whether everything that has been said here did happen to him. If it did, I will ring him to apologise to him and will set the record straight. I need a little time to ascertain the facts. It is worrying me, and I cannot put it any higher than that at this stage.
(1) Is the PATS subsidy adequate, given that Mr McConnell’s ordeal has left him $560 out of pocket in fuel expenses alone, not to mention his accommodation costs? (2) Would the $1 760 paid to Mr McConnell through PATS have been better spent on improving services at Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital so that Mr McConnell could have been spared the trauma of travelling for 80 hours for a relatively simple procedure? (3) Will the minister tell me why Mr McConnell is not a victim of this government’s ongoing relentless neglect of primary health care in the country? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Greenough for some small notice of the question. I will answer it in two parts. Firstly, since the last election, the amount of money going to the WA Country Health Service in Western Australia has increased by 31 per cent, or $167 million. The other point I would make is that, so far as the patient assisted travel scheme is concerned, Western Australia currently has one of the highest fuel subsidy rates in the country, although it is acknowledged that it is a relatively modest contribution towards the cost of transporting the patient to Perth. PATS was never designed to completely reimburse all costs, and I think that is well understood. What concerned me when I received this question was simply this: it disturbed me greatly that this patient, who is an obese patient who requires a hernia repair, had been treated in the way in which the member claimed. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of what the member said; I have simply not had sufficient time to get a sufficient explanation from the department. It would worry me if any patient was treated in the way in which the member has described. I called for an urgent, proper assessment of this man’s medical file to see whether everything that has been said here did happen to him. If it did, I will ring him to apologise to him and will set the record straight. I need a little time to ascertain the facts. It is worrying me, and I cannot put it any higher than that at this stage.
(2) Would the $1 760 paid to Mr McConnell through PATS have been better spent on improving services at Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital so that Mr McConnell could have been spared the trauma of travelling for 80 hours for a relatively simple procedure? (3) Will the minister tell me why Mr McConnell is not a victim of this government’s ongoing relentless neglect of primary health care in the country? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Greenough for some small notice of the question. I will answer it in two parts. Firstly, since the last election, the amount of money going to the WA Country Health Service in Western Australia has increased by 31 per cent, or $167 million. The other point I would make is that, so far as the patient assisted travel scheme is concerned, Western Australia currently has one of the highest fuel subsidy rates in the country, although it is acknowledged that it is a relatively modest contribution towards the cost of transporting the patient to Perth. PATS was never designed to completely reimburse all costs, and I think that is well understood. What concerned me when I received this question was simply this: it disturbed me greatly that this patient, who is an obese patient who requires a hernia repair, had been treated in the way in which the member claimed. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of what the member said; I have simply not had sufficient time to get a sufficient explanation from the department. It would worry me if any patient was treated in the way in which the member has described. I called for an urgent, proper assessment of this man’s medical file to see whether everything that has been said here did happen to him. If it did, I will ring him to apologise to him and will set the record straight. I need a little time to ascertain the facts. It is worrying me, and I cannot put it any higher than that at this stage.
(3) Will the minister tell me why Mr McConnell is not a victim of this government’s ongoing relentless neglect of primary health care in the country? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Greenough for some small notice of the question. I will answer it in two parts. Firstly, since the last election, the amount of money going to the WA Country Health Service in Western Australia has increased by 31 per cent, or $167 million. The other point I would make is that, so far as the patient assisted travel scheme is concerned, Western Australia currently has one of the highest fuel subsidy rates in the country, although it is acknowledged that it is a relatively modest contribution towards the cost of transporting the patient to Perth. PATS was never designed to completely reimburse all costs, and I think that is well understood. What concerned me when I received this question was simply this: it disturbed me greatly that this patient, who is an obese patient who requires a hernia repair, had been treated in the way in which the member claimed. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of what the member said; I have simply not had sufficient time to get a sufficient explanation from the department. It would worry me if any patient was treated in the way in which the member has described. I called for an urgent, proper assessment of this man’s medical file to see whether everything that has been said here did happen to him. If it did, I will ring him to apologise to him and will set the record straight. I need a little time to ascertain the facts. It is worrying me, and I cannot put it any higher than that at this stage.
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Greenough for some small notice of the question. I will answer it in two parts. Firstly, since the last election, the amount of money going to the WA Country Health Service in Western Australia has increased by 31 per cent, or $167 million. The other point I would make is that, so far as the patient assisted travel scheme is concerned, Western Australia currently has one of the highest fuel subsidy rates in the country, although it is acknowledged that it is a relatively modest contribution towards the cost of transporting the patient to Perth. PATS was never designed to completely reimburse all costs, and I think that is well understood. What concerned me when I received this question was simply this: it disturbed me greatly that this patient, who is an obese patient who requires a hernia repair, had been treated in the way in which the member claimed. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of what the member said; I have simply not had sufficient time to get a sufficient explanation from the department. It would worry me if any patient was treated in the way in which the member has described. I called for an urgent, proper assessment of this man’s medical file to see whether everything that has been said here did happen to him. If it did, I will ring him to apologise to him and will set the record straight. I need a little time to ascertain the facts. It is worrying me, and I cannot put it any higher than that at this stage.
(1)-(3) I thank the member for Greenough for some small notice of the question. I will answer it in two parts. Firstly, since the last election, the amount of money going to the WA Country Health Service in Western Australia has increased by 31 per cent, or $167 million. The other point I would make is that, so far as the patient assisted travel scheme is concerned, Western Australia currently has one of the highest fuel subsidy rates in the country, although it is acknowledged that it is a relatively modest contribution towards the cost of transporting the patient to Perth. PATS was never designed to completely reimburse all costs, and I think that is well understood. What concerned me when I received this question was simply this: it disturbed me greatly that this patient, who is an obese patient who requires a hernia repair, had been treated in the way in which the member claimed. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of what the member said; I have simply not had sufficient time to get a sufficient explanation from the department. It would worry me if any patient was treated in the way in which the member has described. I called for an urgent, proper assessment of this man’s medical file to see whether everything that has been said here did happen to him. If it did, I will ring him to apologise to him and will set the record straight. I need a little time to ascertain the facts. It is worrying me, and I cannot put it any higher than that at this stage.
I refer the minister to the case of Robert McConnell of Coolgardie who travelled to Perth on eight occasions for an operation that was repeatedly rescheduled. Each return trip took 10 hours and cost Mr McConnell $220 in fuel for each trip. For each trip he received a $150 refund from the patient assisted travel scheme. (1) Is the PATS subsidy adequate, given that Mr McConnell’s ordeal has left him $560 out of pocket in fuel expenses alone, not to mention his accommodation costs? (2) Would the $1 760 paid to Mr McConnell through PATS have been better spent on improving services at Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital so that Mr McConnell could have been spared the trauma of travelling for 80 hours for a relatively simple procedure? (3) Will the minister tell me why Mr McConnell is not a victim of this government’s ongoing relentless neglect of primary health care in the country? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Greenough for some small notice of the question. I will answer it in two parts. Firstly, since the last election, the amount of money going to the WA Country Health Service in Western Australia has increased by 31 per cent, or $167 million. The other point I would make is that, so far as the patient assisted travel scheme is concerned, Western Australia currently has one of the highest fuel subsidy rates in the country, although it is acknowledged that it is a relatively modest contribution towards the cost of transporting the patient to Perth. PATS was never designed to completely reimburse all costs, and I think that is well understood. What concerned me when I received this question was simply this: it disturbed me greatly that this patient, who is an obese patient who requires a hernia repair, had been treated in the way in which the member claimed. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of what the member said; I have simply not had sufficient time to get a sufficient explanation from the department. It would worry me if any patient was treated in the way in which the member has described. I called for an urgent, proper assessment of this man’s medical file to see whether everything that has been said here did happen to him. If it did, I will ring him to apologise to him and will set the record straight. I need a little time to ascertain the facts. It is worrying me, and I cannot put it any higher than that at this stage.
(1) Is the PATS subsidy adequate, given that Mr McConnell’s ordeal has left him $560 out of pocket in fuel expenses alone, not to mention his accommodation costs? (2) Would the $1 760 paid to Mr McConnell through PATS have been better spent on improving services at Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital so that Mr McConnell could have been spared the trauma of travelling for 80 hours for a relatively simple procedure? (3) Will the minister tell me why Mr McConnell is not a victim of this government’s ongoing relentless neglect of primary health care in the country? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Greenough for some small notice of the question. I will answer it in two parts. Firstly, since the last election, the amount of money going to the WA Country Health Service in Western Australia has increased by 31 per cent, or $167 million. The other point I would make is that, so far as the patient assisted travel scheme is concerned, Western Australia currently has one of the highest fuel subsidy rates in the country, although it is acknowledged that it is a relatively modest contribution towards the cost of transporting the patient to Perth. PATS was never designed to completely reimburse all costs, and I think that is well understood. What concerned me when I received this question was simply this: it disturbed me greatly that this patient, who is an obese patient who requires a hernia repair, had been treated in the way in which the member claimed. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of what the member said; I have simply not had sufficient time to get a sufficient explanation from the department. It would worry me if any patient was treated in the way in which the member has described. I called for an urgent, proper assessment of this man’s medical file to see whether everything that has been said here did happen to him. If it did, I will ring him to apologise to him and will set the record straight. I need a little time to ascertain the facts. It is worrying me, and I cannot put it any higher than that at this stage.
(2) Would the $1 760 paid to Mr McConnell through PATS have been better spent on improving services at Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital so that Mr McConnell could have been spared the trauma of travelling for 80 hours for a relatively simple procedure? (3) Will the minister tell me why Mr McConnell is not a victim of this government’s ongoing relentless neglect of primary health care in the country? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Greenough for some small notice of the question. I will answer it in two parts. Firstly, since the last election, the amount of money going to the WA Country Health Service in Western Australia has increased by 31 per cent, or $167 million. The other point I would make is that, so far as the patient assisted travel scheme is concerned, Western Australia currently has one of the highest fuel subsidy rates in the country, although it is acknowledged that it is a relatively modest contribution towards the cost of transporting the patient to Perth. PATS was never designed to completely reimburse all costs, and I think that is well understood. What concerned me when I received this question was simply this: it disturbed me greatly that this patient, who is an obese patient who requires a hernia repair, had been treated in the way in which the member claimed. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of what the member said; I have simply not had sufficient time to get a sufficient explanation from the department. It would worry me if any patient was treated in the way in which the member has described. I called for an urgent, proper assessment of this man’s medical file to see whether everything that has been said here did happen to him. If it did, I will ring him to apologise to him and will set the record straight. I need a little time to ascertain the facts. It is worrying me, and I cannot put it any higher than that at this stage.
(3) Will the minister tell me why Mr McConnell is not a victim of this government’s ongoing relentless neglect of primary health care in the country? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Greenough for some small notice of the question. I will answer it in two parts. Firstly, since the last election, the amount of money going to the WA Country Health Service in Western Australia has increased by 31 per cent, or $167 million. The other point I would make is that, so far as the patient assisted travel scheme is concerned, Western Australia currently has one of the highest fuel subsidy rates in the country, although it is acknowledged that it is a relatively modest contribution towards the cost of transporting the patient to Perth. PATS was never designed to completely reimburse all costs, and I think that is well understood. What concerned me when I received this question was simply this: it disturbed me greatly that this patient, who is an obese patient who requires a hernia repair, had been treated in the way in which the member claimed. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of what the member said; I have simply not had sufficient time to get a sufficient explanation from the department. It would worry me if any patient was treated in the way in which the member has described. I called for an urgent, proper assessment of this man’s medical file to see whether everything that has been said here did happen to him. If it did, I will ring him to apologise to him and will set the record straight. I need a little time to ascertain the facts. It is worrying me, and I cannot put it any higher than that at this stage.
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Greenough for some small notice of the question. I will answer it in two parts. Firstly, since the last election, the amount of money going to the WA Country Health Service in Western Australia has increased by 31 per cent, or $167 million. The other point I would make is that, so far as the patient assisted travel scheme is concerned, Western Australia currently has one of the highest fuel subsidy rates in the country, although it is acknowledged that it is a relatively modest contribution towards the cost of transporting the patient to Perth. PATS was never designed to completely reimburse all costs, and I think that is well understood. What concerned me when I received this question was simply this: it disturbed me greatly that this patient, who is an obese patient who requires a hernia repair, had been treated in the way in which the member claimed. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of what the member said; I have simply not had sufficient time to get a sufficient explanation from the department. It would worry me if any patient was treated in the way in which the member has described. I called for an urgent, proper assessment of this man’s medical file to see whether everything that has been said here did happen to him. If it did, I will ring him to apologise to him and will set the record straight. I need a little time to ascertain the facts. It is worrying me, and I cannot put it any higher than that at this stage.
(1)-(3) I thank the member for Greenough for some small notice of the question. I will answer it in two parts. Firstly, since the last election, the amount of money going to the WA Country Health Service in Western Australia has increased by 31 per cent, or $167 million. The other point I would make is that, so far as the patient assisted travel scheme is concerned, Western Australia currently has one of the highest fuel subsidy rates in the country, although it is acknowledged that it is a relatively modest contribution towards the cost of transporting the patient to Perth. PATS was never designed to completely reimburse all costs, and I think that is well understood. What concerned me when I received this question was simply this: it disturbed me greatly that this patient, who is an obese patient who requires a hernia repair, had been treated in the way in which the member claimed. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of what the member said; I have simply not had sufficient time to get a sufficient explanation from the department. It would worry me if any patient was treated in the way in which the member has described. I called for an urgent, proper assessment of this man’s medical file to see whether everything that has been said here did happen to him. If it did, I will ring him to apologise to him and will set the record straight. I need a little time to ascertain the facts. It is worrying me, and I cannot put it any higher than that at this stage.
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