❓ The Minister for Health outlines several initiatives undertaken by the Liberal-National government to improve the WA health sector, including telehealth services, cancer treatment advancements, and legislative reforms aimed at efficiency and responsiveness.
AnsweredQoN 783Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HEALTH
PORTFOLIO
783. Mr M.H. TAYLOR to the
Minister for Health:
Can the minister please advise the house what the Liberal–National
government has been doing across the health sector to make life easier and
better for Western Australians?
PORTFOLIO
783. Mr M.H. TAYLOR to the
Minister for Health:
Can the minister please advise the house what the Liberal–National
government has been doing across the health sector to make life easier and
better for Western Australians?
AnswerView source ↗
We could spend three hours talking about how we have made
life better and easier for the public of Western Australia as a result of our
extensive public hospitals and, I emphasise, public health system across the
state, but I will give just a few examples. The emergency telehealth service,
which was established about a year ago, is now available in over 70 hospitals,
health centres and nursing posts across the state. They provide access to
emergency health services, making it easier for people living in regional
areas. In 2015–16, there were over 1 400 patient consultations each
month with emergency specialists, doctors and nurses via this service. It has
been really innovative and has made an enormous difference to the high quality
care and advice being provided right around Western Australia. Other examples
include the introduction of state-of-the-art and very precise cancer treatment
in the CyberKnife system at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, and just this year
an additional linear accelerator at Fiona Stanley Hospital, valued at about
$2.5 million, was provided through a public–private partnership. It is
reducing radiation therapy wait times from weeks to days, ensuring that certain
cancer treatments are provided 60 per cent more quickly and providing increased
capacity for up to 200 patients a day.
What has been done to make the health system more efficient
and responsive has been significant. The Health Services Act 2016, which passed
through Parliament earlier this year, has enabled the establishment of the area
health services and the boards, about which the opposition complained. They
have a significant responsibility to ensure that local needs are met as best as
possible and also that we have a financially sustainable health system. I know
that may not be of much interest to the member for Kwinana but is of a lot of
interest to the member for Victoria Park as the shadow Treasurer, who knows
that the financial pressures from the health system are potentially a major
challenge for what the Labor Party will do in the election campaign when
explaining how it will fund all that it is promising.
The Health Act has been completely revised, which was about a
20-year project. The Public Health Act 2016 updated 105-year-old legislation to
provide a much more proactive, flexible and risk-based framework to prevent the
spread of infectious diseases and deal with other issues. The Medicines and
Poisons Act passed in 2014. The drafting of new regulations under that act is
close to being completed. That will further help to reduce inefficiencies
across industry and government, particularly for pharmaceutical businesses. As
members would be aware, at the end of 2014 the government also amended the
current Poisons Regulations to enable adults in Western Australia to start
accessing flu vaccinations through local pharmacists. That is another important
support that we have provided to one sector of the small business community in Western
Australia.
They are just a few examples of the enormous changes that
have been put in place under this government. I acknowledge the role of the
member for Dawesville, who is now sitting towards the back, as health minister
for seven and a half years.
Mrs
M.H. Roberts : Are you trying to distance yourself?
Mr
J.H.D. DAY : Not at all. I am completely supportive of what has been done
over the time we have been in government. I also acknowledge the role of the
many staff in the health department and the health system in Western Australia
who have played such an important role in putting in place major changes that
are to the benefit of the people of WA.
life better and easier for the public of Western Australia as a result of our
extensive public hospitals and, I emphasise, public health system across the
state, but I will give just a few examples. The emergency telehealth service,
which was established about a year ago, is now available in over 70 hospitals,
health centres and nursing posts across the state. They provide access to
emergency health services, making it easier for people living in regional
areas. In 2015–16, there were over 1 400 patient consultations each
month with emergency specialists, doctors and nurses via this service. It has
been really innovative and has made an enormous difference to the high quality
care and advice being provided right around Western Australia. Other examples
include the introduction of state-of-the-art and very precise cancer treatment
in the CyberKnife system at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, and just this year
an additional linear accelerator at Fiona Stanley Hospital, valued at about
$2.5 million, was provided through a public–private partnership. It is
reducing radiation therapy wait times from weeks to days, ensuring that certain
cancer treatments are provided 60 per cent more quickly and providing increased
capacity for up to 200 patients a day.
What has been done to make the health system more efficient
and responsive has been significant. The Health Services Act 2016, which passed
through Parliament earlier this year, has enabled the establishment of the area
health services and the boards, about which the opposition complained. They
have a significant responsibility to ensure that local needs are met as best as
possible and also that we have a financially sustainable health system. I know
that may not be of much interest to the member for Kwinana but is of a lot of
interest to the member for Victoria Park as the shadow Treasurer, who knows
that the financial pressures from the health system are potentially a major
challenge for what the Labor Party will do in the election campaign when
explaining how it will fund all that it is promising.
The Health Act has been completely revised, which was about a
20-year project. The Public Health Act 2016 updated 105-year-old legislation to
provide a much more proactive, flexible and risk-based framework to prevent the
spread of infectious diseases and deal with other issues. The Medicines and
Poisons Act passed in 2014. The drafting of new regulations under that act is
close to being completed. That will further help to reduce inefficiencies
across industry and government, particularly for pharmaceutical businesses. As
members would be aware, at the end of 2014 the government also amended the
current Poisons Regulations to enable adults in Western Australia to start
accessing flu vaccinations through local pharmacists. That is another important
support that we have provided to one sector of the small business community in Western
Australia.
They are just a few examples of the enormous changes that
have been put in place under this government. I acknowledge the role of the
member for Dawesville, who is now sitting towards the back, as health minister
for seven and a half years.
Mrs
M.H. Roberts : Are you trying to distance yourself?
Mr
J.H.D. DAY : Not at all. I am completely supportive of what has been done
over the time we have been in government. I also acknowledge the role of the
many staff in the health department and the health system in Western Australia
who have played such an important role in putting in place major changes that
are to the benefit of the people of WA.
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