❓ Mr. Quigley asks for evidence of WA's health system leading the nation. Mr. McGinty cites the Evatt Foundation report and internal data showing positive health outcomes and low waiting lists, while acknowledging funding challenges and future improvement goals.
AnsweredQoN 725Legislative Assembly
Asked
16 November 2005
Member
QuestionView source ↗
Will the minister please detail the latest independent report that shows the Western Australian health system is leading the nation? Mr J.A. McGINTY
AnswerView source ↗
I am sure members on both sides of the house will be delighted to hear that the Western Australian public health system has been recognised as the best in the nation by the Evatt Foundation’s The State of the States report. That report states - The state’s best performance was in health services, where it ranked a commendable first with a score of 22 percentage points above the CGC average and 17 points above the next ranked state of South Australia. Continuing the quote - Western Australia performed above average in all the health sub-categories. In particular, the state was a runaway winner in population and preventative health . . . The SPEAKER : I call to order the members for Dawesville and Roe. Mr J.A. McGINTY : In other excellent results, WA ranked second in community health services and third in hospital services. This is a very big tick when we consider that last year there were 643 000 emergency department visits, 72 000 same-day surgery separations, 111 000 overnight surgery separations, 13 000 new patient separations for mental health disorders, more than 350 000 individual contacts for community public mental health services and 582 000 doctor-attended outpatient services in our public hospitals. In other words, in total, more than 1.5 million public hospital services were delivered to Western Australian citizens last year. The Evatt Foundation report follows a Department of Health report released last month that shows Western Australians are amongst the longest living and healthiest people in the world. Life expectancy for a Western Australian male is now 78.1 years and 83 years for women, higher than that in any other state or territory in the nation. In 2004, the proportion of Western Australians smoking on a daily basis fell to 15.5 per cent, the lowest in Australia. Cancer mortality rates fell by an average of 1.4 per cent a year among males and 1.3 per cent among females. Elective surgery waiting lists are at an all-time historic low. As at 13 November, there were 15 435 people waiting for treatment for just over four months on average. While this is very good news for our public health system, we still have a lot more to do. That is why we are investing a record $3.6 billion to rebuild and upgrade our hospitals in both metropolitan and country Western Australia over the next few years. Dr G.I. Gallop : Minister, would you take an interjection? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I would be delighted to. Dr G.I. Gallop : Perhaps you might like to inform the house that those statistics and those results are not just good in themselves but they are especially good given the level of Medicare expenditure in Western Australia due to the shortage of GPs. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Of course the Premier is perfectly correct. We do not receive the support via commonwealth funding that we should. A very great deal of this has been achieved by the state government going it alone and delivering those services. We all believe that with the health reform process that is now under way, the people of Western Australia will see our public health system improve from being the best in the nation to one of the best in the world.
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: I am sure members on both sides of the house will be delighted to hear that the Western Australian public health system has been recognised as the best in the nation by the Evatt Foundation’s The State of the States report. That report states - The state’s best performance was in health services, where it ranked a commendable first with a score of 22 percentage points above the CGC average and 17 points above the next ranked state of South Australia. Continuing the quote - Western Australia performed above average in all the health sub-categories. In particular, the state was a runaway winner in population and preventative health . . . The SPEAKER : I call to order the members for Dawesville and Roe. Mr J.A. McGINTY : In other excellent results, WA ranked second in community health services and third in hospital services. This is a very big tick when we consider that last year there were 643 000 emergency department visits, 72 000 same-day surgery separations, 111 000 overnight surgery separations, 13 000 new patient separations for mental health disorders, more than 350 000 individual contacts for community public mental health services and 582 000 doctor-attended outpatient services in our public hospitals. In other words, in total, more than 1.5 million public hospital services were delivered to Western Australian citizens last year. The Evatt Foundation report follows a Department of Health report released last month that shows Western Australians are amongst the longest living and healthiest people in the world. Life expectancy for a Western Australian male is now 78.1 years and 83 years for women, higher than that in any other state or territory in the nation. In 2004, the proportion of Western Australians smoking on a daily basis fell to 15.5 per cent, the lowest in Australia. Cancer mortality rates fell by an average of 1.4 per cent a year among males and 1.3 per cent among females. Elective surgery waiting lists are at an all-time historic low. As at 13 November, there were 15 435 people waiting for treatment for just over four months on average. While this is very good news for our public health system, we still have a lot more to do. That is why we are investing a record $3.6 billion to rebuild and upgrade our hospitals in both metropolitan and country Western Australia over the next few years. Dr G.I. Gallop : Minister, would you take an interjection? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I would be delighted to. Dr G.I. Gallop : Perhaps you might like to inform the house that those statistics and those results are not just good in themselves but they are especially good given the level of Medicare expenditure in Western Australia due to the shortage of GPs. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Of course the Premier is perfectly correct. We do not receive the support via commonwealth funding that we should. A very great deal of this has been achieved by the state government going it alone and delivering those services. We all believe that with the health reform process that is now under way, the people of Western Australia will see our public health system improve from being the best in the nation to one of the best in the world.
I am sure members on both sides of the house will be delighted to hear that the Western Australian public health system has been recognised as the best in the nation by the Evatt Foundation’s The State of the States report. That report states - The state’s best performance was in health services, where it ranked a commendable first with a score of 22 percentage points above the CGC average and 17 points above the next ranked state of South Australia. Continuing the quote - Western Australia performed above average in all the health sub-categories. In particular, the state was a runaway winner in population and preventative health . . . The SPEAKER : I call to order the members for Dawesville and Roe. Mr J.A. McGINTY : In other excellent results, WA ranked second in community health services and third in hospital services. This is a very big tick when we consider that last year there were 643 000 emergency department visits, 72 000 same-day surgery separations, 111 000 overnight surgery separations, 13 000 new patient separations for mental health disorders, more than 350 000 individual contacts for community public mental health services and 582 000 doctor-attended outpatient services in our public hospitals. In other words, in total, more than 1.5 million public hospital services were delivered to Western Australian citizens last year. The Evatt Foundation report follows a Department of Health report released last month that shows Western Australians are amongst the longest living and healthiest people in the world. Life expectancy for a Western Australian male is now 78.1 years and 83 years for women, higher than that in any other state or territory in the nation. In 2004, the proportion of Western Australians smoking on a daily basis fell to 15.5 per cent, the lowest in Australia. Cancer mortality rates fell by an average of 1.4 per cent a year among males and 1.3 per cent among females. Elective surgery waiting lists are at an all-time historic low. As at 13 November, there were 15 435 people waiting for treatment for just over four months on average. While this is very good news for our public health system, we still have a lot more to do. That is why we are investing a record $3.6 billion to rebuild and upgrade our hospitals in both metropolitan and country Western Australia over the next few years. Dr G.I. Gallop : Minister, would you take an interjection? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I would be delighted to. Dr G.I. Gallop : Perhaps you might like to inform the house that those statistics and those results are not just good in themselves but they are especially good given the level of Medicare expenditure in Western Australia due to the shortage of GPs. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Of course the Premier is perfectly correct. We do not receive the support via commonwealth funding that we should. A very great deal of this has been achieved by the state government going it alone and delivering those services. We all believe that with the health reform process that is now under way, the people of Western Australia will see our public health system improve from being the best in the nation to one of the best in the world.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : In other excellent results, WA ranked second in community health services and third in hospital services. This is a very big tick when we consider that last year there were 643 000 emergency department visits, 72 000 same-day surgery separations, 111 000 overnight surgery separations, 13 000 new patient separations for mental health disorders, more than 350 000 individual contacts for community public mental health services and 582 000 doctor-attended outpatient services in our public hospitals. In other words, in total, more than 1.5 million public hospital services were delivered to Western Australian citizens last year. The Evatt Foundation report follows a Department of Health report released last month that shows Western Australians are amongst the longest living and healthiest people in the world. Life expectancy for a Western Australian male is now 78.1 years and 83 years for women, higher than that in any other state or territory in the nation. In 2004, the proportion of Western Australians smoking on a daily basis fell to 15.5 per cent, the lowest in Australia. Cancer mortality rates fell by an average of 1.4 per cent a year among males and 1.3 per cent among females. Elective surgery waiting lists are at an all-time historic low. As at 13 November, there were 15 435 people waiting for treatment for just over four months on average. While this is very good news for our public health system, we still have a lot more to do. That is why we are investing a record $3.6 billion to rebuild and upgrade our hospitals in both metropolitan and country Western Australia over the next few years. Dr G.I. Gallop : Minister, would you take an interjection? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I would be delighted to. Dr G.I. Gallop : Perhaps you might like to inform the house that those statistics and those results are not just good in themselves but they are especially good given the level of Medicare expenditure in Western Australia due to the shortage of GPs. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Of course the Premier is perfectly correct. We do not receive the support via commonwealth funding that we should. A very great deal of this has been achieved by the state government going it alone and delivering those services. We all believe that with the health reform process that is now under way, the people of Western Australia will see our public health system improve from being the best in the nation to one of the best in the world.
The Evatt Foundation report follows a Department of Health report released last month that shows Western Australians are amongst the longest living and healthiest people in the world. Life expectancy for a Western Australian male is now 78.1 years and 83 years for women, higher than that in any other state or territory in the nation. In 2004, the proportion of Western Australians smoking on a daily basis fell to 15.5 per cent, the lowest in Australia. Cancer mortality rates fell by an average of 1.4 per cent a year among males and 1.3 per cent among females. Elective surgery waiting lists are at an all-time historic low. As at 13 November, there were 15 435 people waiting for treatment for just over four months on average. While this is very good news for our public health system, we still have a lot more to do. That is why we are investing a record $3.6 billion to rebuild and upgrade our hospitals in both metropolitan and country Western Australia over the next few years. Dr G.I. Gallop : Minister, would you take an interjection? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I would be delighted to. Dr G.I. Gallop : Perhaps you might like to inform the house that those statistics and those results are not just good in themselves but they are especially good given the level of Medicare expenditure in Western Australia due to the shortage of GPs. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Of course the Premier is perfectly correct. We do not receive the support via commonwealth funding that we should. A very great deal of this has been achieved by the state government going it alone and delivering those services. We all believe that with the health reform process that is now under way, the people of Western Australia will see our public health system improve from being the best in the nation to one of the best in the world.
Dr G.I. Gallop : Minister, would you take an interjection? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I would be delighted to. Dr G.I. Gallop : Perhaps you might like to inform the house that those statistics and those results are not just good in themselves but they are especially good given the level of Medicare expenditure in Western Australia due to the shortage of GPs. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Of course the Premier is perfectly correct. We do not receive the support via commonwealth funding that we should. A very great deal of this has been achieved by the state government going it alone and delivering those services. We all believe that with the health reform process that is now under way, the people of Western Australia will see our public health system improve from being the best in the nation to one of the best in the world.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : I would be delighted to. Dr G.I. Gallop : Perhaps you might like to inform the house that those statistics and those results are not just good in themselves but they are especially good given the level of Medicare expenditure in Western Australia due to the shortage of GPs. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Of course the Premier is perfectly correct. We do not receive the support via commonwealth funding that we should. A very great deal of this has been achieved by the state government going it alone and delivering those services. We all believe that with the health reform process that is now under way, the people of Western Australia will see our public health system improve from being the best in the nation to one of the best in the world.
Dr G.I. Gallop : Perhaps you might like to inform the house that those statistics and those results are not just good in themselves but they are especially good given the level of Medicare expenditure in Western Australia due to the shortage of GPs. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Of course the Premier is perfectly correct. We do not receive the support via commonwealth funding that we should. A very great deal of this has been achieved by the state government going it alone and delivering those services. We all believe that with the health reform process that is now under way, the people of Western Australia will see our public health system improve from being the best in the nation to one of the best in the world.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : Of course the Premier is perfectly correct. We do not receive the support via commonwealth funding that we should. A very great deal of this has been achieved by the state government going it alone and delivering those services. We all believe that with the health reform process that is now under way, the people of Western Australia will see our public health system improve from being the best in the nation to one of the best in the world.
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: I am sure members on both sides of the house will be delighted to hear that the Western Australian public health system has been recognised as the best in the nation by the Evatt Foundation’s The State of the States report. That report states - The state’s best performance was in health services, where it ranked a commendable first with a score of 22 percentage points above the CGC average and 17 points above the next ranked state of South Australia. Continuing the quote - Western Australia performed above average in all the health sub-categories. In particular, the state was a runaway winner in population and preventative health . . . The SPEAKER : I call to order the members for Dawesville and Roe. Mr J.A. McGINTY : In other excellent results, WA ranked second in community health services and third in hospital services. This is a very big tick when we consider that last year there were 643 000 emergency department visits, 72 000 same-day surgery separations, 111 000 overnight surgery separations, 13 000 new patient separations for mental health disorders, more than 350 000 individual contacts for community public mental health services and 582 000 doctor-attended outpatient services in our public hospitals. In other words, in total, more than 1.5 million public hospital services were delivered to Western Australian citizens last year. The Evatt Foundation report follows a Department of Health report released last month that shows Western Australians are amongst the longest living and healthiest people in the world. Life expectancy for a Western Australian male is now 78.1 years and 83 years for women, higher than that in any other state or territory in the nation. In 2004, the proportion of Western Australians smoking on a daily basis fell to 15.5 per cent, the lowest in Australia. Cancer mortality rates fell by an average of 1.4 per cent a year among males and 1.3 per cent among females. Elective surgery waiting lists are at an all-time historic low. As at 13 November, there were 15 435 people waiting for treatment for just over four months on average. While this is very good news for our public health system, we still have a lot more to do. That is why we are investing a record $3.6 billion to rebuild and upgrade our hospitals in both metropolitan and country Western Australia over the next few years. Dr G.I. Gallop : Minister, would you take an interjection? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I would be delighted to. Dr G.I. Gallop : Perhaps you might like to inform the house that those statistics and those results are not just good in themselves but they are especially good given the level of Medicare expenditure in Western Australia due to the shortage of GPs. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Of course the Premier is perfectly correct. We do not receive the support via commonwealth funding that we should. A very great deal of this has been achieved by the state government going it alone and delivering those services. We all believe that with the health reform process that is now under way, the people of Western Australia will see our public health system improve from being the best in the nation to one of the best in the world.
I am sure members on both sides of the house will be delighted to hear that the Western Australian public health system has been recognised as the best in the nation by the Evatt Foundation’s The State of the States report. That report states - The state’s best performance was in health services, where it ranked a commendable first with a score of 22 percentage points above the CGC average and 17 points above the next ranked state of South Australia. Continuing the quote - Western Australia performed above average in all the health sub-categories. In particular, the state was a runaway winner in population and preventative health . . . The SPEAKER : I call to order the members for Dawesville and Roe. Mr J.A. McGINTY : In other excellent results, WA ranked second in community health services and third in hospital services. This is a very big tick when we consider that last year there were 643 000 emergency department visits, 72 000 same-day surgery separations, 111 000 overnight surgery separations, 13 000 new patient separations for mental health disorders, more than 350 000 individual contacts for community public mental health services and 582 000 doctor-attended outpatient services in our public hospitals. In other words, in total, more than 1.5 million public hospital services were delivered to Western Australian citizens last year. The Evatt Foundation report follows a Department of Health report released last month that shows Western Australians are amongst the longest living and healthiest people in the world. Life expectancy for a Western Australian male is now 78.1 years and 83 years for women, higher than that in any other state or territory in the nation. In 2004, the proportion of Western Australians smoking on a daily basis fell to 15.5 per cent, the lowest in Australia. Cancer mortality rates fell by an average of 1.4 per cent a year among males and 1.3 per cent among females. Elective surgery waiting lists are at an all-time historic low. As at 13 November, there were 15 435 people waiting for treatment for just over four months on average. While this is very good news for our public health system, we still have a lot more to do. That is why we are investing a record $3.6 billion to rebuild and upgrade our hospitals in both metropolitan and country Western Australia over the next few years. Dr G.I. Gallop : Minister, would you take an interjection? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I would be delighted to. Dr G.I. Gallop : Perhaps you might like to inform the house that those statistics and those results are not just good in themselves but they are especially good given the level of Medicare expenditure in Western Australia due to the shortage of GPs. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Of course the Premier is perfectly correct. We do not receive the support via commonwealth funding that we should. A very great deal of this has been achieved by the state government going it alone and delivering those services. We all believe that with the health reform process that is now under way, the people of Western Australia will see our public health system improve from being the best in the nation to one of the best in the world.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : In other excellent results, WA ranked second in community health services and third in hospital services. This is a very big tick when we consider that last year there were 643 000 emergency department visits, 72 000 same-day surgery separations, 111 000 overnight surgery separations, 13 000 new patient separations for mental health disorders, more than 350 000 individual contacts for community public mental health services and 582 000 doctor-attended outpatient services in our public hospitals. In other words, in total, more than 1.5 million public hospital services were delivered to Western Australian citizens last year. The Evatt Foundation report follows a Department of Health report released last month that shows Western Australians are amongst the longest living and healthiest people in the world. Life expectancy for a Western Australian male is now 78.1 years and 83 years for women, higher than that in any other state or territory in the nation. In 2004, the proportion of Western Australians smoking on a daily basis fell to 15.5 per cent, the lowest in Australia. Cancer mortality rates fell by an average of 1.4 per cent a year among males and 1.3 per cent among females. Elective surgery waiting lists are at an all-time historic low. As at 13 November, there were 15 435 people waiting for treatment for just over four months on average. While this is very good news for our public health system, we still have a lot more to do. That is why we are investing a record $3.6 billion to rebuild and upgrade our hospitals in both metropolitan and country Western Australia over the next few years. Dr G.I. Gallop : Minister, would you take an interjection? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I would be delighted to. Dr G.I. Gallop : Perhaps you might like to inform the house that those statistics and those results are not just good in themselves but they are especially good given the level of Medicare expenditure in Western Australia due to the shortage of GPs. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Of course the Premier is perfectly correct. We do not receive the support via commonwealth funding that we should. A very great deal of this has been achieved by the state government going it alone and delivering those services. We all believe that with the health reform process that is now under way, the people of Western Australia will see our public health system improve from being the best in the nation to one of the best in the world.
The Evatt Foundation report follows a Department of Health report released last month that shows Western Australians are amongst the longest living and healthiest people in the world. Life expectancy for a Western Australian male is now 78.1 years and 83 years for women, higher than that in any other state or territory in the nation. In 2004, the proportion of Western Australians smoking on a daily basis fell to 15.5 per cent, the lowest in Australia. Cancer mortality rates fell by an average of 1.4 per cent a year among males and 1.3 per cent among females. Elective surgery waiting lists are at an all-time historic low. As at 13 November, there were 15 435 people waiting for treatment for just over four months on average. While this is very good news for our public health system, we still have a lot more to do. That is why we are investing a record $3.6 billion to rebuild and upgrade our hospitals in both metropolitan and country Western Australia over the next few years. Dr G.I. Gallop : Minister, would you take an interjection? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I would be delighted to. Dr G.I. Gallop : Perhaps you might like to inform the house that those statistics and those results are not just good in themselves but they are especially good given the level of Medicare expenditure in Western Australia due to the shortage of GPs. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Of course the Premier is perfectly correct. We do not receive the support via commonwealth funding that we should. A very great deal of this has been achieved by the state government going it alone and delivering those services. We all believe that with the health reform process that is now under way, the people of Western Australia will see our public health system improve from being the best in the nation to one of the best in the world.
Dr G.I. Gallop : Minister, would you take an interjection? Mr J.A. McGINTY : I would be delighted to. Dr G.I. Gallop : Perhaps you might like to inform the house that those statistics and those results are not just good in themselves but they are especially good given the level of Medicare expenditure in Western Australia due to the shortage of GPs. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Of course the Premier is perfectly correct. We do not receive the support via commonwealth funding that we should. A very great deal of this has been achieved by the state government going it alone and delivering those services. We all believe that with the health reform process that is now under way, the people of Western Australia will see our public health system improve from being the best in the nation to one of the best in the world.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : I would be delighted to. Dr G.I. Gallop : Perhaps you might like to inform the house that those statistics and those results are not just good in themselves but they are especially good given the level of Medicare expenditure in Western Australia due to the shortage of GPs. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Of course the Premier is perfectly correct. We do not receive the support via commonwealth funding that we should. A very great deal of this has been achieved by the state government going it alone and delivering those services. We all believe that with the health reform process that is now under way, the people of Western Australia will see our public health system improve from being the best in the nation to one of the best in the world.
Dr G.I. Gallop : Perhaps you might like to inform the house that those statistics and those results are not just good in themselves but they are especially good given the level of Medicare expenditure in Western Australia due to the shortage of GPs. Mr J.A. McGINTY : Of course the Premier is perfectly correct. We do not receive the support via commonwealth funding that we should. A very great deal of this has been achieved by the state government going it alone and delivering those services. We all believe that with the health reform process that is now under way, the people of Western Australia will see our public health system improve from being the best in the nation to one of the best in the world.
Mr J.A. McGINTY : Of course the Premier is perfectly correct. We do not receive the support via commonwealth funding that we should. A very great deal of this has been achieved by the state government going it alone and delivering those services. We all believe that with the health reform process that is now under way, the people of Western Australia will see our public health system improve from being the best in the nation to one of the best in the world.
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