❓ Question regarding the technology to be used at Fiona Stanley Hospital and whether it will provide a superior patient experience. The Minister responds, addressing the 'paperless hospital' goal and challenges in achieving it fully at opening.
AnsweredQoN 856Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
FIONA STANLEY HOSPITAL — INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS
856. Mr D.C. NALDER to the Minister
for Health:
I see that today the minister is being accused by the
opposition of breaking a promise about how much paper will be used at the new
$2 billion Fiona Stanley Hospital. Could the minister please advise the house
on the technology that will be used at Fiona Stanley Hospital —
Mr B.S. Wyatt interjected.
The SPEAKER : Can
the member sit down please. Member for Victoria Park, I call you to order for
the first time.
Mr D.C. NALDER : I
will just finish the question.
Mr
B.S. Wyatt interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Victoria Park!
Mr
D.C. NALDER : Can the minister please advise the house on the technology
that will be used at Fiona Stanley Hospital and whether it will provide a
superior experience than that which is currently available for patients in this
state?
TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS
856. Mr D.C. NALDER to the Minister
for Health:
I see that today the minister is being accused by the
opposition of breaking a promise about how much paper will be used at the new
$2 billion Fiona Stanley Hospital. Could the minister please advise the house
on the technology that will be used at Fiona Stanley Hospital —
Mr B.S. Wyatt interjected.
The SPEAKER : Can
the member sit down please. Member for Victoria Park, I call you to order for
the first time.
Mr D.C. NALDER : I
will just finish the question.
Mr
B.S. Wyatt interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Victoria Park!
Mr
D.C. NALDER : Can the minister please advise the house on the technology
that will be used at Fiona Stanley Hospital and whether it will provide a
superior experience than that which is currently available for patients in this
state?
AnswerView source ↗
I have probably cut out one of the
opposition's questions and it will have to find a new one. It amazed me
to hear the shadow Minister for Health carrying on in the media about a broken
promise. Members opposite are using that phrase over and again. It is putting
together a list of things that it is calling broken promises. What a lot of
nonsense. It is like saying I promised my wife a house; I filled it with
furniture and I got the best block in the street and I said I would paint the
bathroom purple, but I decided to paint it pink instead. Therefore, I have
broken a promise. What a load of rubbish!
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Mirrabooka, I call you to order for the first time.
Minister, let us get over the colour schemes and move on.
Dr
K.D. HAMES : The Labor Party —
Ms
R. Saffioti interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for West Swan, I call you to order for the first time.
Dr
K.D. HAMES : The Labor Party in 2007 promised that it would try to achieve a
paperless hospital. That was its intention in 2007 when Jim McGinty was
Minister for Health. Clearly, that was also the intention of this government
when I said in 2012 that we would develop a paperless hospital with the new
technology available. That was the advice that we were given by our IT people all through that period. We said we
would achieve a paperless hospital and it is still likely that we will achieve
a paperless hospital.
Ms
J.M. Freeman : No, you won't.
Dr
K.D. HAMES : Yes, we will. It just will not be at the time of the hospital
opening. It will be largely paperless. I made the statement in the middle of
this year that the hospital would be virtually paperless. It is not as though
this is new news and the opposition found out only this week that it will be a
paperless hospital, and then decided to move the matter of public interest
motion. If it did that, it did not read things properly six months ago when I
said it would be virtually paperless.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Bassendean, I call you to order for the first time.
That is unnecessary.
Dr
K.D. HAMES : A very large component of the operation of this hospital,
including records of patients as they come in and X-rays, blood tests and the
like from the ward people, will be stored electronically. Doctors will be able
to use TV computer screens to look at patients' records and record
patient information. Electronic records of a patient's stay will be
sent immediately to their general practitioner on discharge of the patient. If
patients present to the emergency department, their history will be able to be
sent immediately via electronic record to the hospital wherever they may go.
It is true that in the early stages,
because of the difficulty of getting that complex piece of computer technology, we are unable to achieve the
final result that everyone hoped for, but nobody else in Australia has the
capacity to do that either. We had it as a goal. To call it a broken promise is
a ridiculous extrapolation of the term when we have not been able to reach just one goal in hundreds in a $2
billion hospital, which will be the most state-of-the-art hospital in
Australia, and when the goal was set two or three years ago by the Labor Party
in government and by us. This will be one of the best hospitals, if not the
best hospital in Australia, and we and the public of Western Australia, unlike
the opposition, will be extraordinarily proud of this hospital when it opens.
opposition's questions and it will have to find a new one. It amazed me
to hear the shadow Minister for Health carrying on in the media about a broken
promise. Members opposite are using that phrase over and again. It is putting
together a list of things that it is calling broken promises. What a lot of
nonsense. It is like saying I promised my wife a house; I filled it with
furniture and I got the best block in the street and I said I would paint the
bathroom purple, but I decided to paint it pink instead. Therefore, I have
broken a promise. What a load of rubbish!
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Mirrabooka, I call you to order for the first time.
Minister, let us get over the colour schemes and move on.
Dr
K.D. HAMES : The Labor Party —
Ms
R. Saffioti interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for West Swan, I call you to order for the first time.
Dr
K.D. HAMES : The Labor Party in 2007 promised that it would try to achieve a
paperless hospital. That was its intention in 2007 when Jim McGinty was
Minister for Health. Clearly, that was also the intention of this government
when I said in 2012 that we would develop a paperless hospital with the new
technology available. That was the advice that we were given by our IT people all through that period. We said we
would achieve a paperless hospital and it is still likely that we will achieve
a paperless hospital.
Ms
J.M. Freeman : No, you won't.
Dr
K.D. HAMES : Yes, we will. It just will not be at the time of the hospital
opening. It will be largely paperless. I made the statement in the middle of
this year that the hospital would be virtually paperless. It is not as though
this is new news and the opposition found out only this week that it will be a
paperless hospital, and then decided to move the matter of public interest
motion. If it did that, it did not read things properly six months ago when I
said it would be virtually paperless.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Bassendean, I call you to order for the first time.
That is unnecessary.
Dr
K.D. HAMES : A very large component of the operation of this hospital,
including records of patients as they come in and X-rays, blood tests and the
like from the ward people, will be stored electronically. Doctors will be able
to use TV computer screens to look at patients' records and record
patient information. Electronic records of a patient's stay will be
sent immediately to their general practitioner on discharge of the patient. If
patients present to the emergency department, their history will be able to be
sent immediately via electronic record to the hospital wherever they may go.
It is true that in the early stages,
because of the difficulty of getting that complex piece of computer technology, we are unable to achieve the
final result that everyone hoped for, but nobody else in Australia has the
capacity to do that either. We had it as a goal. To call it a broken promise is
a ridiculous extrapolation of the term when we have not been able to reach just one goal in hundreds in a $2
billion hospital, which will be the most state-of-the-art hospital in
Australia, and when the goal was set two or three years ago by the Labor Party
in government and by us. This will be one of the best hospitals, if not the
best hospital in Australia, and we and the public of Western Australia, unlike
the opposition, will be extraordinarily proud of this hospital when it opens.
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