❓ Ms. Mettam questions the delay in safety improvements at Perth Children's Hospital's mental health unit following a serious incident and inquires about safety measures at Hollywood Hospital during the ward's refurbishment. The Premier defends the timeline and praises the use of Hollywood Hospital.
AnsweredQoN 194Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
PERTH CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL — MENTAL HEALTH
UNIT — REFURBISHMENT
194. Ms L. METTAM to the Premier:
I
refer to the Minister for Health's statement this morning that more
than half the beds in ward 5A at Perth Children's Hospital would
be moved to Hollywood Private Hospital later this year while works are carried
out.
(1) Given it has
been more than two years since the alleged rape of a 13-year-old in that ward
sparked a number of safety recommendations, why are those improvements
happening only now?
(2) What
infrastructure, if any, has been put in place at Hollywood hospital to ensure
the special safety needs of those patients will be met?
(3) How long is this arrangement
expected to be in place?
UNIT — REFURBISHMENT
194. Ms L. METTAM to the Premier:
I
refer to the Minister for Health's statement this morning that more
than half the beds in ward 5A at Perth Children's Hospital would
be moved to Hollywood Private Hospital later this year while works are carried
out.
(1) Given it has
been more than two years since the alleged rape of a 13-year-old in that ward
sparked a number of safety recommendations, why are those improvements
happening only now?
(2) What
infrastructure, if any, has been put in place at Hollywood hospital to ensure
the special safety needs of those patients will be met?
(3) How long is this arrangement
expected to be in place?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(3) I
thank the member for the question. As the Leader of the Liberal Party and,
indeed, all members of Parliament know, we have had a huge explosion in the
number of young people who have been impacted by mental health issues. That has
put pressure on our inpatient beds across the sector, and, in particular, in
the specialist wards at PCH. As the member observed, we have reason to redesign
and reconfigure that ward to make it safer; of course, most of all, we want to
keep those kids safe.
We have a choice about whether we
draw out this process or act deliberately and decisively and make sure that we
keep those young people safe while we undertake those works. It is a very
sensible decision that the health minister has made to utilise extra capacity
beds at Hollywood hospital with the same staff. PCH teams will still do the
work, which will make sure that we keep those kids in an appropriate facility
while we undertake the works at PCH. I think anyone would see that as a commonsense
approach and is appropriate as a way to make sure that we get on with these
works as soon as possible.
Obviously, these works will take some
time to implement. There was a review in relation to the incident to which the
member referred. We have to then take on board the recommendations from that
review. We have to redesign the facility and
that has to be done in consultation, particularly with the Chief Psychiatrist .
We then have to go about the process of procuring and the construction itself.
These things take time. We want to make sure that we do it properly and we want
to make sure that we continue to provide care for those young people while we
get on with that work. Obviously, the opportunity to take up extra beds at
Hollywood hospital where our teams will continue to provide that care is an
important opportunity and I congratulate the Minister for Health.
thank the member for the question. As the Leader of the Liberal Party and,
indeed, all members of Parliament know, we have had a huge explosion in the
number of young people who have been impacted by mental health issues. That has
put pressure on our inpatient beds across the sector, and, in particular, in
the specialist wards at PCH. As the member observed, we have reason to redesign
and reconfigure that ward to make it safer; of course, most of all, we want to
keep those kids safe.
We have a choice about whether we
draw out this process or act deliberately and decisively and make sure that we
keep those young people safe while we undertake those works. It is a very
sensible decision that the health minister has made to utilise extra capacity
beds at Hollywood hospital with the same staff. PCH teams will still do the
work, which will make sure that we keep those kids in an appropriate facility
while we undertake the works at PCH. I think anyone would see that as a commonsense
approach and is appropriate as a way to make sure that we get on with these
works as soon as possible.
Obviously, these works will take some
time to implement. There was a review in relation to the incident to which the
member referred. We have to then take on board the recommendations from that
review. We have to redesign the facility and
that has to be done in consultation, particularly with the Chief Psychiatrist .
We then have to go about the process of procuring and the construction itself.
These things take time. We want to make sure that we do it properly and we want
to make sure that we continue to provide care for those young people while we
get on with that work. Obviously, the opportunity to take up extra beds at
Hollywood hospital where our teams will continue to provide that care is an
important opportunity and I congratulate the Minister for Health.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.