❓ Mr. McGrath asks about the impact of a $58.5 million investment in early childhood care. The Minister for Health details how the funding will address deficiencies in child health services, reduce wait times, and improve access to assessments.
AnsweredQoN 243Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
EARLY
CHILDHOOD HEALTH CARE — GOVERNMENT INVESTMENT
243. Mr J.E. McGRATH to the Minister for Health:
I was delighted to see the minister in my electorate
yesterday; he found his way there very easily! He made an announcement of a
$58.5 million investment over four years in early childhood care. Can the
minister please explain to the house what this investment will mean to families
in Western Australia?
CHILDHOOD HEALTH CARE — GOVERNMENT INVESTMENT
243. Mr J.E. McGRATH to the Minister for Health:
I was delighted to see the minister in my electorate
yesterday; he found his way there very easily! He made an announcement of a
$58.5 million investment over four years in early childhood care. Can the
minister please explain to the house what this investment will mean to families
in Western Australia?
AnswerView source ↗
Yes, it was a fantastic opportunity to announce the actual
dollars that are being spent—$58.5 million will go into the second
phase of managing the deficiencies in child health services that we have
discussed in this house before. Members will recall that I have stood on quite
a few occasions to say, ''Watch this space'' and that it would be
a judgement of our side of the house as to whether we got this funding up
during our first term of government. The member for Bassendean will recall this
well, because it was actually his initiative for the Education and Health
Standing Committee to look into this matter when we recognised that the Labor
government of the day was not investing properly in child health in this state.
We started that review to look at what child health services were being
provided.
Mr P. Papalia interjected.
Dr K.D. HAMES : The
member was being smart, and I thought that was true, so I thought I would catch
him.
The member for Alfred Cove then took over as chair of that
committee and produced a report that recommended significant investment of
funds. We provided nearly $50 million in our budget two years ago, when we were
getting huge blowouts in the wait times for people seeking services for
children, particularly in the area of speech therapy. Those wait times have now
been reduced by half across the whole range of services being provided. The
second stage was to get money to provide for school health nurses and child
health clinics to make sure that we are properly looking after the children out
there who require assessment. Members may be aware that only 30 per cent of 18-month-old
children get a child health care assessment; by the age of three years, it is
down to just 10 per cent. A lot of that is taken up by doctors, and we have had
that debate in this house before. I made it clear that the government would
find the funds. I would say that it has not been without difficulty, during
this difficult budget, but it was something that we were determined to achieve.
It is a great pleasure to be able to do that, and to go to the member for South
Perth's electorate; it is a very nice place over there. I was lobbied
for other stuff while I was there, but one has to be careful going near the
member for South Perth! Hon Donna
Faragher was also present, with her child, which was really good.
This is a great step for government;
something that we committed to and something that we achieved. It was not an
election commitment, but it was a commitment that I have progressively made as
Minister for Health through the years. It is great to have been able to achieve
that. The job is not yet fully done; this funding allows for about 100 FTEs;
the committee's recommendation was for more than that, but this will
break the back of the problem. Once we get this in place, we will be able to
move forward and tidy up any areas that are left in the future. This is a
fantastic result for Western Australia.
dollars that are being spent—$58.5 million will go into the second
phase of managing the deficiencies in child health services that we have
discussed in this house before. Members will recall that I have stood on quite
a few occasions to say, ''Watch this space'' and that it would be
a judgement of our side of the house as to whether we got this funding up
during our first term of government. The member for Bassendean will recall this
well, because it was actually his initiative for the Education and Health
Standing Committee to look into this matter when we recognised that the Labor
government of the day was not investing properly in child health in this state.
We started that review to look at what child health services were being
provided.
Mr P. Papalia interjected.
Dr K.D. HAMES : The
member was being smart, and I thought that was true, so I thought I would catch
him.
The member for Alfred Cove then took over as chair of that
committee and produced a report that recommended significant investment of
funds. We provided nearly $50 million in our budget two years ago, when we were
getting huge blowouts in the wait times for people seeking services for
children, particularly in the area of speech therapy. Those wait times have now
been reduced by half across the whole range of services being provided. The
second stage was to get money to provide for school health nurses and child
health clinics to make sure that we are properly looking after the children out
there who require assessment. Members may be aware that only 30 per cent of 18-month-old
children get a child health care assessment; by the age of three years, it is
down to just 10 per cent. A lot of that is taken up by doctors, and we have had
that debate in this house before. I made it clear that the government would
find the funds. I would say that it has not been without difficulty, during
this difficult budget, but it was something that we were determined to achieve.
It is a great pleasure to be able to do that, and to go to the member for South
Perth's electorate; it is a very nice place over there. I was lobbied
for other stuff while I was there, but one has to be careful going near the
member for South Perth! Hon Donna
Faragher was also present, with her child, which was really good.
This is a great step for government;
something that we committed to and something that we achieved. It was not an
election commitment, but it was a commitment that I have progressively made as
Minister for Health through the years. It is great to have been able to achieve
that. The job is not yet fully done; this funding allows for about 100 FTEs;
the committee's recommendation was for more than that, but this will
break the back of the problem. Once we get this in place, we will be able to
move forward and tidy up any areas that are left in the future. This is a
fantastic result for Western Australia.
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