❓ A parliamentary question regarding a potential satellite birthing facility at QEII Medical Centre and the decision to move the women's and babies' hospital to Murdoch. The Minister's answer defends the decision and criticizes the Leader of the Liberal Party's understanding of the issue.
AnsweredQoN 804Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
QUEEN ELIZABETH II
MEDICAL CENTRE — SATELLITE BIRTHING FACILITY
804. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the minister's
thought bubble over the weekend that the state government is considering a satellite
birthing facility at the Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre campus for high-risk
births.
(1) Is this
simply an admission that her decision to move the women's and babies'
hospital to Murdoch is wrong and will put mothers and babies at risk?
(2) How many beds
will this facility remove from general use at either Perth Children's
Hospital or Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital?
MEDICAL CENTRE — SATELLITE BIRTHING FACILITY
804. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the minister's
thought bubble over the weekend that the state government is considering a satellite
birthing facility at the Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre campus for high-risk
births.
(1) Is this
simply an admission that her decision to move the women's and babies'
hospital to Murdoch is wrong and will put mothers and babies at risk?
(2) How many beds
will this facility remove from general use at either Perth Children's
Hospital or Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) Again
I am astounded by the lack of understanding and detail that is engaged in by
the Leader of the Liberal Party when it
comes to complex health issues. At no point have I or the government either
promoted or announced an alternative maternity site at QEII. When faced
with the business case for building the maternity hospital at QEII, we were
provided with expert opinion on both infrastructure and clinical services
planning that it could not be safely built there without serious disruption to
existing services, staff and patients at both Perth Children's Hospital
and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. The expert advice was that it could not be
delivered safely, even to the point at which experts outlined their concern
about the capacity of putting a crane and equipment on site to build the
hospital. A whole range of expert opinion led us to the view that it was unsafe
and irresponsible to build another tertiary hospital on top of Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. We had to make the
decision to locate it so that there was co-location of services , because
co-location is an important principle when delivering safe care for mothers and
newborns. The Murdoch site provides
outstanding co-location for women, women with gynaecological cancers and women with serious health issues who are giving birth, who are already often flown to
Fiona Stanley Hospital to give birth. There is outstanding co-location for
paediatric and neonatal services as well. It is the sensible and responsible
decision to build the hospital there.
I have said in my very open
engagement with clinicians in addressing and mitigating their concerns, which
we are very committed to, that we should look at all the options for the very
small number of babies born who will be diagnosed in utero. Women give birth
now at King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women and are transferred. That is
good faith engagement. That is good faith consultation—to be open
minded. It is exactly what the Leader of the Liberal Party has asked me to do.
She criticised me for apparently not consulting on this decision and now she is
criticising me for consulting! Now I am getting criticised for consulting with
clinicians. This was a difficult decision that the government had to make, but
it was the right decision.
I ask myself always: did the Leader
of the Liberal Party actually read the business case? It is astounding that she read the business case and still said, ''We're
going to barrel ahead with this'', with no outline of what she is
going to do with King Edward. What is she going to do with King Edward for the
next 15 years? It is already past its use-by date, and the staff and mothers
deserve brand new facilities sooner rather than later. What is she going to do
about the parking contract that the former government entered the taxpayers into? What is she going to do about the cap on
parking and the contract that the former government entered into? How
will she make sure that people have better access? It is actually astounding
not only that the Leader of the Liberal Party said that she would continue with
this irresponsible plan based on a plan that is 20 years old and ignores the
realities of the QEII site, but also that she has read and is aware of the
risks and is still willing to recklessly barrel ahead with that plan.
I am astounded by the lack of understanding and detail that is engaged in by
the Leader of the Liberal Party when it
comes to complex health issues. At no point have I or the government either
promoted or announced an alternative maternity site at QEII. When faced
with the business case for building the maternity hospital at QEII, we were
provided with expert opinion on both infrastructure and clinical services
planning that it could not be safely built there without serious disruption to
existing services, staff and patients at both Perth Children's Hospital
and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. The expert advice was that it could not be
delivered safely, even to the point at which experts outlined their concern
about the capacity of putting a crane and equipment on site to build the
hospital. A whole range of expert opinion led us to the view that it was unsafe
and irresponsible to build another tertiary hospital on top of Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. We had to make the
decision to locate it so that there was co-location of services , because
co-location is an important principle when delivering safe care for mothers and
newborns. The Murdoch site provides
outstanding co-location for women, women with gynaecological cancers and women with serious health issues who are giving birth, who are already often flown to
Fiona Stanley Hospital to give birth. There is outstanding co-location for
paediatric and neonatal services as well. It is the sensible and responsible
decision to build the hospital there.
I have said in my very open
engagement with clinicians in addressing and mitigating their concerns, which
we are very committed to, that we should look at all the options for the very
small number of babies born who will be diagnosed in utero. Women give birth
now at King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women and are transferred. That is
good faith engagement. That is good faith consultation—to be open
minded. It is exactly what the Leader of the Liberal Party has asked me to do.
She criticised me for apparently not consulting on this decision and now she is
criticising me for consulting! Now I am getting criticised for consulting with
clinicians. This was a difficult decision that the government had to make, but
it was the right decision.
I ask myself always: did the Leader
of the Liberal Party actually read the business case? It is astounding that she read the business case and still said, ''We're
going to barrel ahead with this'', with no outline of what she is
going to do with King Edward. What is she going to do with King Edward for the
next 15 years? It is already past its use-by date, and the staff and mothers
deserve brand new facilities sooner rather than later. What is she going to do
about the parking contract that the former government entered the taxpayers into? What is she going to do about the cap on
parking and the contract that the former government entered into? How
will she make sure that people have better access? It is actually astounding
not only that the Leader of the Liberal Party said that she would continue with
this irresponsible plan based on a plan that is 20 years old and ignores the
realities of the QEII site, but also that she has read and is aware of the
risks and is still willing to recklessly barrel ahead with that plan.
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