❓ Ms Mettam questions the Minister for Health regarding staffing levels at Perth Children's Hospital following the death of Aishwarya Aswath, pressing for acknowledgement of chronic understaffing and a timeline for resource improvements. The Minister denies understaffing was a contributing factor but acknowledges ongoing staffing pressures.
AnsweredQoN 95Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
MINISTER
FOR HEALTH — AISHWARYA ASWATH
95. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I have a supplementary question.
Given the minister's response to the Australian Nursing Federation,
does he now admit that Perth Children's Hospital has been chronically
understaffed, and what is the time line to implement additional staffing and
much-needed resources?
FOR HEALTH — AISHWARYA ASWATH
95. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I have a supplementary question.
Given the minister's response to the Australian Nursing Federation,
does he now admit that Perth Children's Hospital has been chronically
understaffed, and what is the time line to implement additional staffing and
much-needed resources?
AnswerView source ↗
No, I do not. All our hospitals are
facing increased demand pressures at the moment. As I said before, this is
going on right across Australia, where there has been an increase in volume, an
increase in acuity, high mental health presentations
and a high number of patients requiring emergency surgery. At Perth Children's
Hospital, in particular , there has been an increase in demand around
eating disorders, which is putting the system under pressure. But, as I said in my earlier remarks, this work has been
ongoing for some time now—since late last year, once we saw that pattern of demand change. That is what we expect from our leadership—we
expect them to work with the doctors and
nurses on the front line to make the necessary resourcing decisions to make
sure that we can continue to support them. As I said in my earlier
remarks, the advice we have is that on that evening a staffing shortage was not
a contributing factor in that incident, but we acknowledge that there continues
to be staffing pressures. That is why we have been undertaking this work for
some time now and why we will continue to do that work.
facing increased demand pressures at the moment. As I said before, this is
going on right across Australia, where there has been an increase in volume, an
increase in acuity, high mental health presentations
and a high number of patients requiring emergency surgery. At Perth Children's
Hospital, in particular , there has been an increase in demand around
eating disorders, which is putting the system under pressure. But, as I said in my earlier remarks, this work has been
ongoing for some time now—since late last year, once we saw that pattern of demand change. That is what we expect from our leadership—we
expect them to work with the doctors and
nurses on the front line to make the necessary resourcing decisions to make
sure that we can continue to support them. As I said in my earlier
remarks, the advice we have is that on that evening a staffing shortage was not
a contributing factor in that incident, but we acknowledge that there continues
to be staffing pressures. That is why we have been undertaking this work for
some time now and why we will continue to do that work.
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