❓ Dr Nahan asks about the state of WA's health system. Dr Hames responds with positive statistics on life expectancy, infant mortality, improvements to the four-hour rule, and progress on Fiona Stanley Hospital, while also criticising the opposition's past health policies.
AnsweredQoN 846Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HEALTH SYSTEM
Before I ask my question, I acknowledge the graduating year 6 class from Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Primary School in Karrinyup in the member for Scarborough’s electorate. I understand that the minister opened the WA health conference this morning. Can the minister outline to the house the state of the health system in Western Australia? Dr K.D. HAMES
Before I ask my question, I acknowledge the graduating year 6 class from Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Primary School in Karrinyup in the member for Scarborough’s electorate. I understand that the minister opened the WA health conference this morning. Can the minister outline to the house the state of the health system in Western Australia? Dr K.D. HAMES
AnswerView source ↗
I had the great pleasure of opening the WA health conference at Burswood this morning with a large number of people from across the health industry. We went through some of those issues related to the state of health in Western Australia. In conjunction with the director general Kim Snowball, we were able to talk about some of those issues relating to health in this state; some of those things indicated, in fact, what a healthy state Western Australia is. The member will be pleased to know that Western Australia has the fourth-highest life expectancy in the world, so there are only three countries above our life expectancy. The life expectancy of males—the guys will be pleased to know—is 79.3 years. Females are even luckier—84.1 years. Our infant mortality rate is, again, one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world—Australia is 4.1 per 100 000 live births, and Western Australia is in fact 3.6 per 100 000 live births. The gap in life expectancy for our Indigenous population—I am sure many of us remember that it used to be 20 years—is down to 14 years for males and 11.9 years for females. Of course, there is still a long way to go and a big gap. The other thing that I was pleased to talk about today was how some of our projects are going in Western Australia, particularly things like the four-hour rule. We have gone from being one of the worst states in Australia—in fact, the worst in Australia for people waiting longer than eight hours for a bed—to the best in Australia, well in front of the national average. This has reduced our mortality rate in Western Australia by over 200 people. The Fiona Stanley Hospital, which we acknowledge was planned by the opposition, but started by us, it has just been announced today has reached halfway—halfway in budget and halfway in construction. Of course, most of the construction is already gone — Dr J.M. Woollard : And will it have private surgery, minister? Dr K.D. HAMES : We will have that discussion later, member; in fact, we have had that discussion on a number of occasions already. Most of the outside structure of the hospital is finished, but there is a huge amount of work to do on the inside—fittings, all the furniture and fully kitting out the inside so that it is ready to open, as committed, in early 2014. Members will recall that a bit of court action was taken against this government for the contract that we awarded to Serco for the management of that. United Voice took the government to court saying that the previous arrangement by the former Minister for Health on contracting out of service prevented us from being able to do that contracting out. I am very pleased to announce that we had a decisive victory in the courts. All of the proposals put forward — Mr A.P. O’Gorman : You made a bad decision. Dr K.D. HAMES : How can you of all people say it is a bad decision? That member, of all people—one of the members associated with Joondalup hospital—is saying that is a bad decision. Not only is it a very good decision — Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
I understand that the minister opened the WA health conference this morning. Can the minister outline to the house the state of the health system in Western Australia? Dr K.D. HAMES replied: I had the great pleasure of opening the WA health conference at Burswood this morning with a large number of people from across the health industry. We went through some of those issues related to the state of health in Western Australia. In conjunction with the director general Kim Snowball, we were able to talk about some of those issues relating to health in this state; some of those things indicated, in fact, what a healthy state Western Australia is. The member will be pleased to know that Western Australia has the fourth-highest life expectancy in the world, so there are only three countries above our life expectancy. The life expectancy of males—the guys will be pleased to know—is 79.3 years. Females are even luckier—84.1 years. Our infant mortality rate is, again, one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world—Australia is 4.1 per 100 000 live births, and Western Australia is in fact 3.6 per 100 000 live births. The gap in life expectancy for our Indigenous population—I am sure many of us remember that it used to be 20 years—is down to 14 years for males and 11.9 years for females. Of course, there is still a long way to go and a big gap. The other thing that I was pleased to talk about today was how some of our projects are going in Western Australia, particularly things like the four-hour rule. We have gone from being one of the worst states in Australia—in fact, the worst in Australia for people waiting longer than eight hours for a bed—to the best in Australia, well in front of the national average. This has reduced our mortality rate in Western Australia by over 200 people. The Fiona Stanley Hospital, which we acknowledge was planned by the opposition, but started by us, it has just been announced today has reached halfway—halfway in budget and halfway in construction. Of course, most of the construction is already gone — Dr J.M. Woollard : And will it have private surgery, minister? Dr K.D. HAMES : We will have that discussion later, member; in fact, we have had that discussion on a number of occasions already. Most of the outside structure of the hospital is finished, but there is a huge amount of work to do on the inside—fittings, all the furniture and fully kitting out the inside so that it is ready to open, as committed, in early 2014. Members will recall that a bit of court action was taken against this government for the contract that we awarded to Serco for the management of that. United Voice took the government to court saying that the previous arrangement by the former Minister for Health on contracting out of service prevented us from being able to do that contracting out. I am very pleased to announce that we had a decisive victory in the courts. All of the proposals put forward — Mr A.P. O’Gorman : You made a bad decision. Dr K.D. HAMES : How can you of all people say it is a bad decision? That member, of all people—one of the members associated with Joondalup hospital—is saying that is a bad decision. Not only is it a very good decision — Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
Dr K.D. HAMES replied: I had the great pleasure of opening the WA health conference at Burswood this morning with a large number of people from across the health industry. We went through some of those issues related to the state of health in Western Australia. In conjunction with the director general Kim Snowball, we were able to talk about some of those issues relating to health in this state; some of those things indicated, in fact, what a healthy state Western Australia is. The member will be pleased to know that Western Australia has the fourth-highest life expectancy in the world, so there are only three countries above our life expectancy. The life expectancy of males—the guys will be pleased to know—is 79.3 years. Females are even luckier—84.1 years. Our infant mortality rate is, again, one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world—Australia is 4.1 per 100 000 live births, and Western Australia is in fact 3.6 per 100 000 live births. The gap in life expectancy for our Indigenous population—I am sure many of us remember that it used to be 20 years—is down to 14 years for males and 11.9 years for females. Of course, there is still a long way to go and a big gap. The other thing that I was pleased to talk about today was how some of our projects are going in Western Australia, particularly things like the four-hour rule. We have gone from being one of the worst states in Australia—in fact, the worst in Australia for people waiting longer than eight hours for a bed—to the best in Australia, well in front of the national average. This has reduced our mortality rate in Western Australia by over 200 people. The Fiona Stanley Hospital, which we acknowledge was planned by the opposition, but started by us, it has just been announced today has reached halfway—halfway in budget and halfway in construction. Of course, most of the construction is already gone — Dr J.M. Woollard : And will it have private surgery, minister? Dr K.D. HAMES : We will have that discussion later, member; in fact, we have had that discussion on a number of occasions already. Most of the outside structure of the hospital is finished, but there is a huge amount of work to do on the inside—fittings, all the furniture and fully kitting out the inside so that it is ready to open, as committed, in early 2014. Members will recall that a bit of court action was taken against this government for the contract that we awarded to Serco for the management of that. United Voice took the government to court saying that the previous arrangement by the former Minister for Health on contracting out of service prevented us from being able to do that contracting out. I am very pleased to announce that we had a decisive victory in the courts. All of the proposals put forward — Mr A.P. O’Gorman : You made a bad decision. Dr K.D. HAMES : How can you of all people say it is a bad decision? That member, of all people—one of the members associated with Joondalup hospital—is saying that is a bad decision. Not only is it a very good decision — Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
I had the great pleasure of opening the WA health conference at Burswood this morning with a large number of people from across the health industry. We went through some of those issues related to the state of health in Western Australia. In conjunction with the director general Kim Snowball, we were able to talk about some of those issues relating to health in this state; some of those things indicated, in fact, what a healthy state Western Australia is. The member will be pleased to know that Western Australia has the fourth-highest life expectancy in the world, so there are only three countries above our life expectancy. The life expectancy of males—the guys will be pleased to know—is 79.3 years. Females are even luckier—84.1 years. Our infant mortality rate is, again, one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world—Australia is 4.1 per 100 000 live births, and Western Australia is in fact 3.6 per 100 000 live births. The gap in life expectancy for our Indigenous population—I am sure many of us remember that it used to be 20 years—is down to 14 years for males and 11.9 years for females. Of course, there is still a long way to go and a big gap. The other thing that I was pleased to talk about today was how some of our projects are going in Western Australia, particularly things like the four-hour rule. We have gone from being one of the worst states in Australia—in fact, the worst in Australia for people waiting longer than eight hours for a bed—to the best in Australia, well in front of the national average. This has reduced our mortality rate in Western Australia by over 200 people. The Fiona Stanley Hospital, which we acknowledge was planned by the opposition, but started by us, it has just been announced today has reached halfway—halfway in budget and halfway in construction. Of course, most of the construction is already gone — Dr J.M. Woollard : And will it have private surgery, minister? Dr K.D. HAMES : We will have that discussion later, member; in fact, we have had that discussion on a number of occasions already. Most of the outside structure of the hospital is finished, but there is a huge amount of work to do on the inside—fittings, all the furniture and fully kitting out the inside so that it is ready to open, as committed, in early 2014. Members will recall that a bit of court action was taken against this government for the contract that we awarded to Serco for the management of that. United Voice took the government to court saying that the previous arrangement by the former Minister for Health on contracting out of service prevented us from being able to do that contracting out. I am very pleased to announce that we had a decisive victory in the courts. All of the proposals put forward — Mr A.P. O’Gorman : You made a bad decision. Dr K.D. HAMES : How can you of all people say it is a bad decision? That member, of all people—one of the members associated with Joondalup hospital—is saying that is a bad decision. Not only is it a very good decision — Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
The other thing that I was pleased to talk about today was how some of our projects are going in Western Australia, particularly things like the four-hour rule. We have gone from being one of the worst states in Australia—in fact, the worst in Australia for people waiting longer than eight hours for a bed—to the best in Australia, well in front of the national average. This has reduced our mortality rate in Western Australia by over 200 people. The Fiona Stanley Hospital, which we acknowledge was planned by the opposition, but started by us, it has just been announced today has reached halfway—halfway in budget and halfway in construction. Of course, most of the construction is already gone — Dr J.M. Woollard : And will it have private surgery, minister? Dr K.D. HAMES : We will have that discussion later, member; in fact, we have had that discussion on a number of occasions already. Most of the outside structure of the hospital is finished, but there is a huge amount of work to do on the inside—fittings, all the furniture and fully kitting out the inside so that it is ready to open, as committed, in early 2014. Members will recall that a bit of court action was taken against this government for the contract that we awarded to Serco for the management of that. United Voice took the government to court saying that the previous arrangement by the former Minister for Health on contracting out of service prevented us from being able to do that contracting out. I am very pleased to announce that we had a decisive victory in the courts. All of the proposals put forward — Mr A.P. O’Gorman : You made a bad decision. Dr K.D. HAMES : How can you of all people say it is a bad decision? That member, of all people—one of the members associated with Joondalup hospital—is saying that is a bad decision. Not only is it a very good decision — Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
Dr J.M. Woollard : And will it have private surgery, minister? Dr K.D. HAMES : We will have that discussion later, member; in fact, we have had that discussion on a number of occasions already. Most of the outside structure of the hospital is finished, but there is a huge amount of work to do on the inside—fittings, all the furniture and fully kitting out the inside so that it is ready to open, as committed, in early 2014. Members will recall that a bit of court action was taken against this government for the contract that we awarded to Serco for the management of that. United Voice took the government to court saying that the previous arrangement by the former Minister for Health on contracting out of service prevented us from being able to do that contracting out. I am very pleased to announce that we had a decisive victory in the courts. All of the proposals put forward — Mr A.P. O’Gorman : You made a bad decision. Dr K.D. HAMES : How can you of all people say it is a bad decision? That member, of all people—one of the members associated with Joondalup hospital—is saying that is a bad decision. Not only is it a very good decision — Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
Dr K.D. HAMES : We will have that discussion later, member; in fact, we have had that discussion on a number of occasions already. Most of the outside structure of the hospital is finished, but there is a huge amount of work to do on the inside—fittings, all the furniture and fully kitting out the inside so that it is ready to open, as committed, in early 2014. Members will recall that a bit of court action was taken against this government for the contract that we awarded to Serco for the management of that. United Voice took the government to court saying that the previous arrangement by the former Minister for Health on contracting out of service prevented us from being able to do that contracting out. I am very pleased to announce that we had a decisive victory in the courts. All of the proposals put forward — Mr A.P. O’Gorman : You made a bad decision. Dr K.D. HAMES : How can you of all people say it is a bad decision? That member, of all people—one of the members associated with Joondalup hospital—is saying that is a bad decision. Not only is it a very good decision — Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
Most of the outside structure of the hospital is finished, but there is a huge amount of work to do on the inside—fittings, all the furniture and fully kitting out the inside so that it is ready to open, as committed, in early 2014. Members will recall that a bit of court action was taken against this government for the contract that we awarded to Serco for the management of that. United Voice took the government to court saying that the previous arrangement by the former Minister for Health on contracting out of service prevented us from being able to do that contracting out. I am very pleased to announce that we had a decisive victory in the courts. All of the proposals put forward — Mr A.P. O’Gorman : You made a bad decision. Dr K.D. HAMES : How can you of all people say it is a bad decision? That member, of all people—one of the members associated with Joondalup hospital—is saying that is a bad decision. Not only is it a very good decision — Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
Mr A.P. O’Gorman : You made a bad decision. Dr K.D. HAMES : How can you of all people say it is a bad decision? That member, of all people—one of the members associated with Joondalup hospital—is saying that is a bad decision. Not only is it a very good decision — Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
Dr K.D. HAMES : How can you of all people say it is a bad decision? That member, of all people—one of the members associated with Joondalup hospital—is saying that is a bad decision. Not only is it a very good decision — Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
I understand that the minister opened the WA health conference this morning. Can the minister outline to the house the state of the health system in Western Australia? Dr K.D. HAMES replied: I had the great pleasure of opening the WA health conference at Burswood this morning with a large number of people from across the health industry. We went through some of those issues related to the state of health in Western Australia. In conjunction with the director general Kim Snowball, we were able to talk about some of those issues relating to health in this state; some of those things indicated, in fact, what a healthy state Western Australia is. The member will be pleased to know that Western Australia has the fourth-highest life expectancy in the world, so there are only three countries above our life expectancy. The life expectancy of males—the guys will be pleased to know—is 79.3 years. Females are even luckier—84.1 years. Our infant mortality rate is, again, one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world—Australia is 4.1 per 100 000 live births, and Western Australia is in fact 3.6 per 100 000 live births. The gap in life expectancy for our Indigenous population—I am sure many of us remember that it used to be 20 years—is down to 14 years for males and 11.9 years for females. Of course, there is still a long way to go and a big gap. The other thing that I was pleased to talk about today was how some of our projects are going in Western Australia, particularly things like the four-hour rule. We have gone from being one of the worst states in Australia—in fact, the worst in Australia for people waiting longer than eight hours for a bed—to the best in Australia, well in front of the national average. This has reduced our mortality rate in Western Australia by over 200 people. The Fiona Stanley Hospital, which we acknowledge was planned by the opposition, but started by us, it has just been announced today has reached halfway—halfway in budget and halfway in construction. Of course, most of the construction is already gone — Dr J.M. Woollard : And will it have private surgery, minister? Dr K.D. HAMES : We will have that discussion later, member; in fact, we have had that discussion on a number of occasions already. Most of the outside structure of the hospital is finished, but there is a huge amount of work to do on the inside—fittings, all the furniture and fully kitting out the inside so that it is ready to open, as committed, in early 2014. Members will recall that a bit of court action was taken against this government for the contract that we awarded to Serco for the management of that. United Voice took the government to court saying that the previous arrangement by the former Minister for Health on contracting out of service prevented us from being able to do that contracting out. I am very pleased to announce that we had a decisive victory in the courts. All of the proposals put forward — Mr A.P. O’Gorman : You made a bad decision. Dr K.D. HAMES : How can you of all people say it is a bad decision? That member, of all people—one of the members associated with Joondalup hospital—is saying that is a bad decision. Not only is it a very good decision — Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
Dr K.D. HAMES replied: I had the great pleasure of opening the WA health conference at Burswood this morning with a large number of people from across the health industry. We went through some of those issues related to the state of health in Western Australia. In conjunction with the director general Kim Snowball, we were able to talk about some of those issues relating to health in this state; some of those things indicated, in fact, what a healthy state Western Australia is. The member will be pleased to know that Western Australia has the fourth-highest life expectancy in the world, so there are only three countries above our life expectancy. The life expectancy of males—the guys will be pleased to know—is 79.3 years. Females are even luckier—84.1 years. Our infant mortality rate is, again, one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world—Australia is 4.1 per 100 000 live births, and Western Australia is in fact 3.6 per 100 000 live births. The gap in life expectancy for our Indigenous population—I am sure many of us remember that it used to be 20 years—is down to 14 years for males and 11.9 years for females. Of course, there is still a long way to go and a big gap. The other thing that I was pleased to talk about today was how some of our projects are going in Western Australia, particularly things like the four-hour rule. We have gone from being one of the worst states in Australia—in fact, the worst in Australia for people waiting longer than eight hours for a bed—to the best in Australia, well in front of the national average. This has reduced our mortality rate in Western Australia by over 200 people. The Fiona Stanley Hospital, which we acknowledge was planned by the opposition, but started by us, it has just been announced today has reached halfway—halfway in budget and halfway in construction. Of course, most of the construction is already gone — Dr J.M. Woollard : And will it have private surgery, minister? Dr K.D. HAMES : We will have that discussion later, member; in fact, we have had that discussion on a number of occasions already. Most of the outside structure of the hospital is finished, but there is a huge amount of work to do on the inside—fittings, all the furniture and fully kitting out the inside so that it is ready to open, as committed, in early 2014. Members will recall that a bit of court action was taken against this government for the contract that we awarded to Serco for the management of that. United Voice took the government to court saying that the previous arrangement by the former Minister for Health on contracting out of service prevented us from being able to do that contracting out. I am very pleased to announce that we had a decisive victory in the courts. All of the proposals put forward — Mr A.P. O’Gorman : You made a bad decision. Dr K.D. HAMES : How can you of all people say it is a bad decision? That member, of all people—one of the members associated with Joondalup hospital—is saying that is a bad decision. Not only is it a very good decision — Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
I had the great pleasure of opening the WA health conference at Burswood this morning with a large number of people from across the health industry. We went through some of those issues related to the state of health in Western Australia. In conjunction with the director general Kim Snowball, we were able to talk about some of those issues relating to health in this state; some of those things indicated, in fact, what a healthy state Western Australia is. The member will be pleased to know that Western Australia has the fourth-highest life expectancy in the world, so there are only three countries above our life expectancy. The life expectancy of males—the guys will be pleased to know—is 79.3 years. Females are even luckier—84.1 years. Our infant mortality rate is, again, one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world—Australia is 4.1 per 100 000 live births, and Western Australia is in fact 3.6 per 100 000 live births. The gap in life expectancy for our Indigenous population—I am sure many of us remember that it used to be 20 years—is down to 14 years for males and 11.9 years for females. Of course, there is still a long way to go and a big gap. The other thing that I was pleased to talk about today was how some of our projects are going in Western Australia, particularly things like the four-hour rule. We have gone from being one of the worst states in Australia—in fact, the worst in Australia for people waiting longer than eight hours for a bed—to the best in Australia, well in front of the national average. This has reduced our mortality rate in Western Australia by over 200 people. The Fiona Stanley Hospital, which we acknowledge was planned by the opposition, but started by us, it has just been announced today has reached halfway—halfway in budget and halfway in construction. Of course, most of the construction is already gone — Dr J.M. Woollard : And will it have private surgery, minister? Dr K.D. HAMES : We will have that discussion later, member; in fact, we have had that discussion on a number of occasions already. Most of the outside structure of the hospital is finished, but there is a huge amount of work to do on the inside—fittings, all the furniture and fully kitting out the inside so that it is ready to open, as committed, in early 2014. Members will recall that a bit of court action was taken against this government for the contract that we awarded to Serco for the management of that. United Voice took the government to court saying that the previous arrangement by the former Minister for Health on contracting out of service prevented us from being able to do that contracting out. I am very pleased to announce that we had a decisive victory in the courts. All of the proposals put forward — Mr A.P. O’Gorman : You made a bad decision. Dr K.D. HAMES : How can you of all people say it is a bad decision? That member, of all people—one of the members associated with Joondalup hospital—is saying that is a bad decision. Not only is it a very good decision — Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
The other thing that I was pleased to talk about today was how some of our projects are going in Western Australia, particularly things like the four-hour rule. We have gone from being one of the worst states in Australia—in fact, the worst in Australia for people waiting longer than eight hours for a bed—to the best in Australia, well in front of the national average. This has reduced our mortality rate in Western Australia by over 200 people. The Fiona Stanley Hospital, which we acknowledge was planned by the opposition, but started by us, it has just been announced today has reached halfway—halfway in budget and halfway in construction. Of course, most of the construction is already gone — Dr J.M. Woollard : And will it have private surgery, minister? Dr K.D. HAMES : We will have that discussion later, member; in fact, we have had that discussion on a number of occasions already. Most of the outside structure of the hospital is finished, but there is a huge amount of work to do on the inside—fittings, all the furniture and fully kitting out the inside so that it is ready to open, as committed, in early 2014. Members will recall that a bit of court action was taken against this government for the contract that we awarded to Serco for the management of that. United Voice took the government to court saying that the previous arrangement by the former Minister for Health on contracting out of service prevented us from being able to do that contracting out. I am very pleased to announce that we had a decisive victory in the courts. All of the proposals put forward — Mr A.P. O’Gorman : You made a bad decision. Dr K.D. HAMES : How can you of all people say it is a bad decision? That member, of all people—one of the members associated with Joondalup hospital—is saying that is a bad decision. Not only is it a very good decision — Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
Dr J.M. Woollard : And will it have private surgery, minister? Dr K.D. HAMES : We will have that discussion later, member; in fact, we have had that discussion on a number of occasions already. Most of the outside structure of the hospital is finished, but there is a huge amount of work to do on the inside—fittings, all the furniture and fully kitting out the inside so that it is ready to open, as committed, in early 2014. Members will recall that a bit of court action was taken against this government for the contract that we awarded to Serco for the management of that. United Voice took the government to court saying that the previous arrangement by the former Minister for Health on contracting out of service prevented us from being able to do that contracting out. I am very pleased to announce that we had a decisive victory in the courts. All of the proposals put forward — Mr A.P. O’Gorman : You made a bad decision. Dr K.D. HAMES : How can you of all people say it is a bad decision? That member, of all people—one of the members associated with Joondalup hospital—is saying that is a bad decision. Not only is it a very good decision — Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
Dr K.D. HAMES : We will have that discussion later, member; in fact, we have had that discussion on a number of occasions already. Most of the outside structure of the hospital is finished, but there is a huge amount of work to do on the inside—fittings, all the furniture and fully kitting out the inside so that it is ready to open, as committed, in early 2014. Members will recall that a bit of court action was taken against this government for the contract that we awarded to Serco for the management of that. United Voice took the government to court saying that the previous arrangement by the former Minister for Health on contracting out of service prevented us from being able to do that contracting out. I am very pleased to announce that we had a decisive victory in the courts. All of the proposals put forward — Mr A.P. O’Gorman : You made a bad decision. Dr K.D. HAMES : How can you of all people say it is a bad decision? That member, of all people—one of the members associated with Joondalup hospital—is saying that is a bad decision. Not only is it a very good decision — Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
Most of the outside structure of the hospital is finished, but there is a huge amount of work to do on the inside—fittings, all the furniture and fully kitting out the inside so that it is ready to open, as committed, in early 2014. Members will recall that a bit of court action was taken against this government for the contract that we awarded to Serco for the management of that. United Voice took the government to court saying that the previous arrangement by the former Minister for Health on contracting out of service prevented us from being able to do that contracting out. I am very pleased to announce that we had a decisive victory in the courts. All of the proposals put forward — Mr A.P. O’Gorman : You made a bad decision. Dr K.D. HAMES : How can you of all people say it is a bad decision? That member, of all people—one of the members associated with Joondalup hospital—is saying that is a bad decision. Not only is it a very good decision — Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
Mr A.P. O’Gorman : You made a bad decision. Dr K.D. HAMES : How can you of all people say it is a bad decision? That member, of all people—one of the members associated with Joondalup hospital—is saying that is a bad decision. Not only is it a very good decision — Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
Dr K.D. HAMES : How can you of all people say it is a bad decision? That member, of all people—one of the members associated with Joondalup hospital—is saying that is a bad decision. Not only is it a very good decision — Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
Mr A.P. O’Gorman interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
The SPEAKER : Member for Joondalup, I formally call you to order for the second time today. Minister, if you are going to engage in and seek interjections across the chamber, this is the response you will get. Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
Dr K.D. HAMES : Thank you, Mr Speaker. I was not responding to an interjection; I am surprised—given not only the huge success rate of Joondalup hospital, but also the fact that the opposition renewed and extended the contract, how can the member say what a dreadful decision it was when the opposition, when in government, extended the contract? It was not a dreadful decision; it was a very good decision, and we will see the fruits of that decision. What is much more important is that the other side, when in government, put clauses in the contract designed to bind the government from properly managing the health system. It took it to court and failed—absolutely failed. So there is no case for the opposition to try to stop this government properly managing our hospital system, and we will continue to do that into the future.
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