❓ Ms. Mettam questions the Minister for Health's commitment to women's healthcare, citing concerns from health professionals regarding the location of the new Women's and Babies' Hospital. The Minister defends the decision-making process, highlighting extensive consultation and citing a similar situation in Victoria.
AnsweredQoN 323Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
WOMEN'S AND BABIES' HOSPITAL
323. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I have a supplementary question.
How on earth can the minister call herself the Minister for Health in this
state when her —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please,
members!
Ms L. METTAM : — actions
and rhetoric are so blatantly dismissive of the majority of WA's
leading health professionals in this area —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please!
Ms L. METTAM : — who
cite a suite of academic studies from across the globe, corroborating these
negative outcomes?
The SPEAKER : Sorry, I am
just going to repeat: a supplementary question needs to be a short, sharp
question that is to the point. Yours is way too long. I will ask the minister
to respond.
323. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I have a supplementary question.
How on earth can the minister call herself the Minister for Health in this
state when her —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please,
members!
Ms L. METTAM : — actions
and rhetoric are so blatantly dismissive of the majority of WA's
leading health professionals in this area —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please!
Ms L. METTAM : — who
cite a suite of academic studies from across the globe, corroborating these
negative outcomes?
The SPEAKER : Sorry, I am
just going to repeat: a supplementary question needs to be a short, sharp
question that is to the point. Yours is way too long. I will ask the minister
to respond.
AnswerView source ↗
There
has been a range of claims in this space. I spend my time, as Minister for
Health, talking to all the stakeholders involved in health—all
the clinicians, at various sites; mothers; parents; the birthing community;
midwives; and clinicians who work at Perth Children's Hospital, King
Edward Memorial Hospital for Women, Fiona Stanley Hospital, Bunbury, Joondalup,
St John of God and Midland. They all have neonatal services. It is our job, as
the government, to speak to everyone and make decisions in the best interests
of everyone.
I will cite another example of a difficult
decision made by the government under very similar circumstances. It was not
reported much here, but the Andrews government made a decision to relocate the
Victorian women's hospital with a major tertiary hospital. That would
have made a supersized hospital of 3 000 beds and would have co-located a whole
range of services. It made that commitment on the basis of the best information
it had in front of it. That was presented to that government, and it made that
decision. It then went down the business case and project definition paths and
found that it was not safe to do so. It had to then make another decision. The
advice was that, from an infrastructure perspective, it could not build that
project safely, without major disruption, and it could not guarantee that it
would be built within the timeframe and cost. It was therefore in the best
interests of Victorian taxpayers for that government to make a different
decision.
That is what we did. We made a different
decision, but we did it on the best advice from a range of experts. I acknowledge that a group of clinicians feel very
strongly about this. I acknowledge that, and we have listened and there
has been extensive consultation with those clinicians as well as the broader
sector, particularly neonatologists who work in this sector. We are absolutely
committed to providing the best maternity framework and healthcare for women in
Western Australia. But I have to remind people that babies are transferred now—right
now, today, babies will be transferred. Is the Leader of the Liberal Party
saying that we are causing those babies death and disability? Right now, today,
we are transferring those babies, and they would have to be stabilised if they
were being transferred from Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre to the Perth
Children's Hospital. They would also have to be stabilised then. The
Leader of the Liberal Party can continue to push this barrow, but I do not
think it is going anywhere for her, because the community understands that we
have to be able to build a hospital to deliver those services. We cannot build
it at Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre, but we can build it at Murdoch, and
that is what we will do.
has been a range of claims in this space. I spend my time, as Minister for
Health, talking to all the stakeholders involved in health—all
the clinicians, at various sites; mothers; parents; the birthing community;
midwives; and clinicians who work at Perth Children's Hospital, King
Edward Memorial Hospital for Women, Fiona Stanley Hospital, Bunbury, Joondalup,
St John of God and Midland. They all have neonatal services. It is our job, as
the government, to speak to everyone and make decisions in the best interests
of everyone.
I will cite another example of a difficult
decision made by the government under very similar circumstances. It was not
reported much here, but the Andrews government made a decision to relocate the
Victorian women's hospital with a major tertiary hospital. That would
have made a supersized hospital of 3 000 beds and would have co-located a whole
range of services. It made that commitment on the basis of the best information
it had in front of it. That was presented to that government, and it made that
decision. It then went down the business case and project definition paths and
found that it was not safe to do so. It had to then make another decision. The
advice was that, from an infrastructure perspective, it could not build that
project safely, without major disruption, and it could not guarantee that it
would be built within the timeframe and cost. It was therefore in the best
interests of Victorian taxpayers for that government to make a different
decision.
That is what we did. We made a different
decision, but we did it on the best advice from a range of experts. I acknowledge that a group of clinicians feel very
strongly about this. I acknowledge that, and we have listened and there
has been extensive consultation with those clinicians as well as the broader
sector, particularly neonatologists who work in this sector. We are absolutely
committed to providing the best maternity framework and healthcare for women in
Western Australia. But I have to remind people that babies are transferred now—right
now, today, babies will be transferred. Is the Leader of the Liberal Party
saying that we are causing those babies death and disability? Right now, today,
we are transferring those babies, and they would have to be stabilised if they
were being transferred from Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre to the Perth
Children's Hospital. They would also have to be stabilised then. The
Leader of the Liberal Party can continue to push this barrow, but I do not
think it is going anywhere for her, because the community understands that we
have to be able to build a hospital to deliver those services. We cannot build
it at Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre, but we can build it at Murdoch, and
that is what we will do.
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