❓ The Minister for Health details the Cook Labor government's $47.2 million State Health Operations Centre (SHOC), highlighting its use of real-time data, AI, and virtual care to improve patient flow and coordination across WA, particularly in regional areas. The Minister contrasts this with the Liberal Party's perceived lack of interest and solutions for healthcare challenges.
AnsweredQoN 746Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HEALTH — STATE
HEALTH OPERATIONS CENTRE
746. Ms C.M. ROWE to the Minister for Health:
I
refer to the demand placed on hospitals and emergency health services across
the nation, including in Western Australia.
(1) Can the
minister update the house on the Cook Labor government's delivery of
the $47.2 million State Health Operations Centre?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house how this centre builds on other measures to provide
better care to patients right across WA?
HEALTH OPERATIONS CENTRE
746. Ms C.M. ROWE to the Minister for Health:
I
refer to the demand placed on hospitals and emergency health services across
the nation, including in Western Australia.
(1) Can the
minister update the house on the Cook Labor government's delivery of
the $47.2 million State Health Operations Centre?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house how this centre builds on other measures to provide
better care to patients right across WA?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I
thank the member for Belmont for her question. We know that we deliver health
care across the largest health jurisdiction
in the world, covering 2.5 million square kilometres, with around three million
episodes of care every single year. Services are provided through
outpatient clinics, ambulances, patient transfers, Royal Flying Doctor Service flights and all the activity that occurs in
our metropolitan hospitals. Delivering that care at the right time and
in the right place is a huge challenge in this kind of jurisdiction. For many
years, management of the logistics and patient flow fell to our frontline
hospital staff, who had to navigate the complex hospital system to find the
right outcomes for their patients. Patients had their care disrupted as they were moved between different patient
transport modes. Coordination of that flow also became even more
challenging during our winter peak, when hospitals face a sudden surge from
ambulances. A site in Halls Creek, for example, was not aware of what was going
on in the metropolitan area when they put a patient on an RFDS flight to the
city.
The
new State Health Operations Centre—SHOC—changes all that with
its revolutionary way of managing patient flow across our entire system.
It uses real-time data to coordinate transfers based on ambulance demand across sites. This gives the system the
ability to predict and prepare for surge demand. It uses AI technology
and predictive analytics to predict surges and demand, allowing sites to
prepare in advance for what is expected. It also incorporates virtual care
services, such as the virtual emergency department. All WA Country Health
Service telehealth mental health services and obstetric services will be
co-located with SHOC. For example, if a patient in regional WA starts to
deteriorate really quickly, the specialist in the country health team will be
able to speak with clinicians on the ground and decide whether the patient
needs to get to a tertiary hospital as soon as possible. Rather than the
clinician onsite making that call and coordinating the transfer with the RFDS
and St John Ambulance, SHOC will take that work off clinicians and seamlessly
coordinate with the RFDS, St John Ambulance and multiple hospital sites to
ensure that the patient can get to an
airstrip, be flown to Jandakot and go straight to, for example, Fiona Stanley
Hospital , where they know a bed is available. That will be more
efficient for clinicians, allowing them to focus more time on their clinical work. Patients will also know that they will
have a more seamless journey with less handover clunkiness and fewer
handovers.
SHOC will ease pressure and make our
system more resilient to demand. It will ensure that patients who do not need
an emergency department will be able to get other care, whether through a virtual
consultation with a specialist or an extended care paramedic. It will also help
to smooth demand and capacity across our system so that hospitals have fewer
uneven peaks and troughs throughout the day. It will also ensure that we
maintain a really good geographic spread of ambulances so that they can always
be on call and get to priority 1 calls as fast as they can.
SHOC is the way of the future. Other
states have been doing this. It is supported by all our key partners in health—the
RFDS, St John Ambulance and the Australian Medical Association—but it
was completely dismissed and undermined by the Liberal Party, which called it
tinkering around the edges. The Liberal Party has failed to show any interest
whatsoever in this fundamental change to the way that we coordinate health
care. The Cook Labor government has real, long-term solutions to the challenges
facing our health services. The Liberals have no plan and no detail.
thank the member for Belmont for her question. We know that we deliver health
care across the largest health jurisdiction
in the world, covering 2.5 million square kilometres, with around three million
episodes of care every single year. Services are provided through
outpatient clinics, ambulances, patient transfers, Royal Flying Doctor Service flights and all the activity that occurs in
our metropolitan hospitals. Delivering that care at the right time and
in the right place is a huge challenge in this kind of jurisdiction. For many
years, management of the logistics and patient flow fell to our frontline
hospital staff, who had to navigate the complex hospital system to find the
right outcomes for their patients. Patients had their care disrupted as they were moved between different patient
transport modes. Coordination of that flow also became even more
challenging during our winter peak, when hospitals face a sudden surge from
ambulances. A site in Halls Creek, for example, was not aware of what was going
on in the metropolitan area when they put a patient on an RFDS flight to the
city.
The
new State Health Operations Centre—SHOC—changes all that with
its revolutionary way of managing patient flow across our entire system.
It uses real-time data to coordinate transfers based on ambulance demand across sites. This gives the system the
ability to predict and prepare for surge demand. It uses AI technology
and predictive analytics to predict surges and demand, allowing sites to
prepare in advance for what is expected. It also incorporates virtual care
services, such as the virtual emergency department. All WA Country Health
Service telehealth mental health services and obstetric services will be
co-located with SHOC. For example, if a patient in regional WA starts to
deteriorate really quickly, the specialist in the country health team will be
able to speak with clinicians on the ground and decide whether the patient
needs to get to a tertiary hospital as soon as possible. Rather than the
clinician onsite making that call and coordinating the transfer with the RFDS
and St John Ambulance, SHOC will take that work off clinicians and seamlessly
coordinate with the RFDS, St John Ambulance and multiple hospital sites to
ensure that the patient can get to an
airstrip, be flown to Jandakot and go straight to, for example, Fiona Stanley
Hospital , where they know a bed is available. That will be more
efficient for clinicians, allowing them to focus more time on their clinical work. Patients will also know that they will
have a more seamless journey with less handover clunkiness and fewer
handovers.
SHOC will ease pressure and make our
system more resilient to demand. It will ensure that patients who do not need
an emergency department will be able to get other care, whether through a virtual
consultation with a specialist or an extended care paramedic. It will also help
to smooth demand and capacity across our system so that hospitals have fewer
uneven peaks and troughs throughout the day. It will also ensure that we
maintain a really good geographic spread of ambulances so that they can always
be on call and get to priority 1 calls as fast as they can.
SHOC is the way of the future. Other
states have been doing this. It is supported by all our key partners in health—the
RFDS, St John Ambulance and the Australian Medical Association—but it
was completely dismissed and undermined by the Liberal Party, which called it
tinkering around the edges. The Liberal Party has failed to show any interest
whatsoever in this fundamental change to the way that we coordinate health
care. The Cook Labor government has real, long-term solutions to the challenges
facing our health services. The Liberals have no plan and no detail.
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