Hon Martin Aldridge asks about average and longest specialist wait times in WA public hospitals across various health services for the 2019-20 financial year. The response indicates data is unavailable due to ongoing data quality reforms.

AnsweredQoN 158Legislative Council
Asked
16 June 2021
Portfolio
Health

QuestionView source ↗

I refer to all public hospitals, including public hospitals
with private operators, and
I ask: (a) for the North Metropolitan Health Service (NMHS): (i) what was the average wait time for specialists during the 2019-20 financial year across the NMHS; and (ii) which hospital had the longest wait time for
specialists for the same time period, and what was that figure; (b) for the South Metropolitan Health Service (SMHS): (i) what was the average wait time for specialists during the 2019-20 financial year across the SMHS; and (ii) which hospital had the longest wait time for specialists for the same time period, and what was that figure; (c) for the East Metropolitan Health Service (EMHS): (i) what was the average wait time for specialists during the 2019-20 financial year across the EMHS; and (ii) which hospital had the longest wait time for specialists in that same time period, and what was that figure; (d) for the Child and Adolescent Health Service (CAHS): (i) what was the average wait time for specialists during the 2019-20 financial year across the CAHS; and (ii) which hospital had the longest wait time for specialists in that same time period, and what was that figure; and (e) for the Western Australian Country Health
Service (WACHS): (i) what was the average wait time for specialists during the 2019-20 financial year across WACHS; and (ii) which hospital had the longest wait time for specialists during that same time period, and what was that figure?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
12 August 2021
Responded by
Minister for Mental Health representing the Minister for Health
Response time
10 days
(a)-(e) The Department of Health has invested significant effort through the Sustainable Health Review Implementation program to address a wide range of critical reforms, including comprehensive Outpatient Reform Projects that involve extensive work to improve the quality, consistency and accuracy of outpatient data. This will enable accurate reporting of wait times for outpatient appointments to assist clinicians and the public in accessing appropriate care. Further work is occurring to identify and remediate identified quality issues. Until such time as these reforms are complete, outpatient waiting time data is unavailable.

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