❓ Opposition Leader McGowan questions Health Minister Hames about job losses at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital due to funding cuts and the transfer of staff to the privately-run Joondalup Health Campus. The Minister defends the government's actions, citing the Reid review and shifting resources to peripheral hospitals.
AnsweredQoN 588Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
SIR
CHARLES GAIRDNER HOSPITAL — AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
588. Mr M. McGOWAN to the
Minister for Health:
I relish the coming eight weeks, Mr Speaker, as I am sure all
members do. I refer to comments by the Australian Medical Association
confirming that the job losses at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital are actually
due to funding cuts.
(1) Exactly how many jobs are to go
from Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital?
(2) How will the
minister transfer those jobs and those people to Joondalup Health Campus, given
that it is run by a private operator?
(3) Will other
hospitals experience job losses; and, if so, which ones?
CHARLES GAIRDNER HOSPITAL — AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
588. Mr M. McGOWAN to the
Minister for Health:
I relish the coming eight weeks, Mr Speaker, as I am sure all
members do. I refer to comments by the Australian Medical Association
confirming that the job losses at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital are actually
due to funding cuts.
(1) Exactly how many jobs are to go
from Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital?
(2) How will the
minister transfer those jobs and those people to Joondalup Health Campus, given
that it is run by a private operator?
(3) Will other
hospitals experience job losses; and, if so, which ones?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(3)
Mr Speaker, I forget which word I am allowed to use—''hypocrites''
or ''hypocritical''—but whichever one it is that I am
allowed to use, that is what the opposition is. It is absolutely hypocritical.
Mr P.B. Watson :
That was the oath you took.
Dr K.D. HAMES :
That sounded like a really good interjection and I missed it. Members opposite
will have to tell me what it was later. It sounded good.
When the Labor Party was in government, it implemented the
recommendations of the Reid review. We strongly supported the Reid review in
opposition and have continued to put it in place in government—apart
from the ridiculous notion of closing Royal Perth Hospital, which we opposed
and the opposition now agrees was the right thing. Apart from that, we have
supported the Reid review. The Reid review recommended taking the reliance off
the central tertiary hospitals and moving patients to the periphery. That means
building up Joondalup Health Campus.
Mr M. McGowan : The
question was very specific.
Dr K.D. HAMES : I
know, but this is very relevant to the question.
Mr
M. McGowan : The minister has said all this.
The SPEAKER :
Members and Leader of the Opposition!
Dr K.D. HAMES :
There is a beginning, a middle and an end. This is the beginning. The middle
will answer the question, but there has to be a beginning, and this is the
beginning.
The purpose of that review was to move doctors and services
to the peripheral hospitals or outside the metropolitan area. The plan was to
build Fiona Stanley Hospital, upgrade Swan District Hospital and the Peel
Health Campus and develop facilities in the north at Joondalup and in the east
at Midland. When people move to those peripheral areas and we get growth, the
staff have to move as well. This is the Reid review in action. We are seeing a
flattening at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and, in some cases, a slight
decrease, in the weighted activity and, in fact, in the number of patients
presenting to the emergency department. In that same north metropolitan region
we are seeing a big increase in weighted activity at Joondalup. Quite rightly,
we are moving money to that location.
The Leader of the Opposition
interpreted what I said about Joondalup as meaning that the staff would move
from Sir Charles Gairdner to Joondalup. He needs to sit down and listen to the
comments I made on the ABC with Geoff Hutchison. I made it quite clear that
that was a private entity and the staff would not move from one hospital to the
other. I said that we have 36 000 staff within the health system. We will
either go through natural attrition, with redundancies, not renewing contracts,
retirements and the like, or we will transfer those staff elsewhere within the
health system. People can go from Sir Charles Gairdner to Joondalup. They will
resign from the public sector and get a job out there. At the same time as we
are looking at having about 200 fewer staff at Sir Charles Gairdner, there has
been a huge increase; in the last 18 months there has been a
seven-point-something per cent increase in staff numbers compared with a
two-point-something per cent increase in weighted activity over 18 months.
There has been a huge surge in staff numbers at that hospital compared with
other hospitals. We are making sure that we are putting the money where the
patients are. Working at a hospital is not a job for life if the patients are
not there anymore.
Mr
R.H. Cook interjected.
Dr
K.D. HAMES : It may be. At the same time as we are looking at having 200
fewer staff, Sir Charles Gairdner has employed 200 more staff. Any one of those
employees, particularly those who might not get their contracts renewed, can
get a job out there instead. Alternatively, we have retirements, redundancies
and a range of opportunities for people within the total health system. In just
a year Fiona Stanley Hospital will be open. A significant number of staff at
Sir Charles Gairdner have indicated that they are very keen to go to the new
Fiona Stanley Hospital. We did not say that tomorrow we are going to get rid of
200 staff. The hospital has a budget problem; it has to work at that over the
rest of this financial year and, I suspect, into the next financial year. It
will make sure that staff have an opportunity to move to a brand-new
state-of-the-art $2 billion hospital in the southern suburbs.
Mr Speaker, I forget which word I am allowed to use—''hypocrites''
or ''hypocritical''—but whichever one it is that I am
allowed to use, that is what the opposition is. It is absolutely hypocritical.
Mr P.B. Watson :
That was the oath you took.
Dr K.D. HAMES :
That sounded like a really good interjection and I missed it. Members opposite
will have to tell me what it was later. It sounded good.
When the Labor Party was in government, it implemented the
recommendations of the Reid review. We strongly supported the Reid review in
opposition and have continued to put it in place in government—apart
from the ridiculous notion of closing Royal Perth Hospital, which we opposed
and the opposition now agrees was the right thing. Apart from that, we have
supported the Reid review. The Reid review recommended taking the reliance off
the central tertiary hospitals and moving patients to the periphery. That means
building up Joondalup Health Campus.
Mr M. McGowan : The
question was very specific.
Dr K.D. HAMES : I
know, but this is very relevant to the question.
Mr
M. McGowan : The minister has said all this.
The SPEAKER :
Members and Leader of the Opposition!
Dr K.D. HAMES :
There is a beginning, a middle and an end. This is the beginning. The middle
will answer the question, but there has to be a beginning, and this is the
beginning.
The purpose of that review was to move doctors and services
to the peripheral hospitals or outside the metropolitan area. The plan was to
build Fiona Stanley Hospital, upgrade Swan District Hospital and the Peel
Health Campus and develop facilities in the north at Joondalup and in the east
at Midland. When people move to those peripheral areas and we get growth, the
staff have to move as well. This is the Reid review in action. We are seeing a
flattening at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and, in some cases, a slight
decrease, in the weighted activity and, in fact, in the number of patients
presenting to the emergency department. In that same north metropolitan region
we are seeing a big increase in weighted activity at Joondalup. Quite rightly,
we are moving money to that location.
The Leader of the Opposition
interpreted what I said about Joondalup as meaning that the staff would move
from Sir Charles Gairdner to Joondalup. He needs to sit down and listen to the
comments I made on the ABC with Geoff Hutchison. I made it quite clear that
that was a private entity and the staff would not move from one hospital to the
other. I said that we have 36 000 staff within the health system. We will
either go through natural attrition, with redundancies, not renewing contracts,
retirements and the like, or we will transfer those staff elsewhere within the
health system. People can go from Sir Charles Gairdner to Joondalup. They will
resign from the public sector and get a job out there. At the same time as we
are looking at having about 200 fewer staff at Sir Charles Gairdner, there has
been a huge increase; in the last 18 months there has been a
seven-point-something per cent increase in staff numbers compared with a
two-point-something per cent increase in weighted activity over 18 months.
There has been a huge surge in staff numbers at that hospital compared with
other hospitals. We are making sure that we are putting the money where the
patients are. Working at a hospital is not a job for life if the patients are
not there anymore.
Mr
R.H. Cook interjected.
Dr
K.D. HAMES : It may be. At the same time as we are looking at having 200
fewer staff, Sir Charles Gairdner has employed 200 more staff. Any one of those
employees, particularly those who might not get their contracts renewed, can
get a job out there instead. Alternatively, we have retirements, redundancies
and a range of opportunities for people within the total health system. In just
a year Fiona Stanley Hospital will be open. A significant number of staff at
Sir Charles Gairdner have indicated that they are very keen to go to the new
Fiona Stanley Hospital. We did not say that tomorrow we are going to get rid of
200 staff. The hospital has a budget problem; it has to work at that over the
rest of this financial year and, I suspect, into the next financial year. It
will make sure that staff have an opportunity to move to a brand-new
state-of-the-art $2 billion hospital in the southern suburbs.
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