❓ Question addresses the allocation of $150 million to improve ambulance services across WA, focusing on staffing, equipment, and call centre improvements, particularly in regional areas. The Minister highlights the cost-effectiveness of St John Ambulance WA compared to other states.
AnsweredQoN 244Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
STATE BUDGET 2010–11 — AMBULANCE SERVICES
In the budget brought down last week I was pleased to see that the Liberal–National government announced additional funding of $150 million over four years to improve ambulance services across the state. Can the minister please provide some detail on how that massive injection of funds for ambulance services will provide a better service for WA families? Dr K.D. HAMES
In the budget brought down last week I was pleased to see that the Liberal–National government announced additional funding of $150 million over four years to improve ambulance services across the state. Can the minister please provide some detail on how that massive injection of funds for ambulance services will provide a better service for WA families? Dr K.D. HAMES
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question. This additional funding was in response to a television report that highlighted the deteriorating standard of services at St John Ambulance. For a long time funding had not kept pace with staffing needs at St John Ambulance, so slowly but surely its standard of performance was deteriorating. The recommendation came from Greg Joyce, former chief executive of the Department of Housing, who recommended a significant injection of money to make up the shortfall in staff and equipment. I am very pleased to say that as part of this budget we have provided all the funding that was recommended over the three years of the contract, for not only the metropolitan area, but also country areas. An additional $150 million over the next four years will go to improve ambulance services across the state. Around $24 million of that amount will come from the royalties for regions program to cover all services in the country, partly provided by St John; in the northern part, in the Kimberley, they are provided by the WA Country Health Service. This will mean a significant increase in staffing across the system. It will particularly result in a large increase in the number of paramedics, as well as an additional 40 call centre staff—remembering that one of the criticisms of the ERA’s recommendations was the number of people in the call centre and their ability to deal with the large volume of calls coming in. We were at the call centre on Saturday talking to the staff there, who I can say were extremely happy with the additional funding the call centre is getting. They believe this funding will make an enormous difference, particularly with the big boost in the number of paramedics and the increase in the number of new ambulances—about 30 new ambulances across the state. I say to the member for Kimberley that there are seven additional ambulances in her electorate, which will mean that the equipment and staff are out there, as well as the change in the infrastructure system that was proposed. We have also put in place the change in governance that was recommended, particularly on issues such as sentinel reporting, which will mean that a far better service will be provided by St John Ambulance WA. Even with this huge surge in funding, the cost in Western Australia is about half what the cost is under the public system that operates in Queensland, and far less than the cost in any other state. St John Ambulance WA is providing a significant service at a significantly reduced cost, one of which all Western Australians can be proud of.
Dr K.D. HAMES replied: I thank the member for the question. This additional funding was in response to a television report that highlighted the deteriorating standard of services at St John Ambulance. For a long time funding had not kept pace with staffing needs at St John Ambulance, so slowly but surely its standard of performance was deteriorating. The recommendation came from Greg Joyce, former chief executive of the Department of Housing, who recommended a significant injection of money to make up the shortfall in staff and equipment. I am very pleased to say that as part of this budget we have provided all the funding that was recommended over the three years of the contract, for not only the metropolitan area, but also country areas. An additional $150 million over the next four years will go to improve ambulance services across the state. Around $24 million of that amount will come from the royalties for regions program to cover all services in the country, partly provided by St John; in the northern part, in the Kimberley, they are provided by the WA Country Health Service. This will mean a significant increase in staffing across the system. It will particularly result in a large increase in the number of paramedics, as well as an additional 40 call centre staff—remembering that one of the criticisms of the ERA’s recommendations was the number of people in the call centre and their ability to deal with the large volume of calls coming in. We were at the call centre on Saturday talking to the staff there, who I can say were extremely happy with the additional funding the call centre is getting. They believe this funding will make an enormous difference, particularly with the big boost in the number of paramedics and the increase in the number of new ambulances—about 30 new ambulances across the state. I say to the member for Kimberley that there are seven additional ambulances in her electorate, which will mean that the equipment and staff are out there, as well as the change in the infrastructure system that was proposed. We have also put in place the change in governance that was recommended, particularly on issues such as sentinel reporting, which will mean that a far better service will be provided by St John Ambulance WA. Even with this huge surge in funding, the cost in Western Australia is about half what the cost is under the public system that operates in Queensland, and far less than the cost in any other state. St John Ambulance WA is providing a significant service at a significantly reduced cost, one of which all Western Australians can be proud of.
I thank the member for the question. This additional funding was in response to a television report that highlighted the deteriorating standard of services at St John Ambulance. For a long time funding had not kept pace with staffing needs at St John Ambulance, so slowly but surely its standard of performance was deteriorating. The recommendation came from Greg Joyce, former chief executive of the Department of Housing, who recommended a significant injection of money to make up the shortfall in staff and equipment. I am very pleased to say that as part of this budget we have provided all the funding that was recommended over the three years of the contract, for not only the metropolitan area, but also country areas. An additional $150 million over the next four years will go to improve ambulance services across the state. Around $24 million of that amount will come from the royalties for regions program to cover all services in the country, partly provided by St John; in the northern part, in the Kimberley, they are provided by the WA Country Health Service. This will mean a significant increase in staffing across the system. It will particularly result in a large increase in the number of paramedics, as well as an additional 40 call centre staff—remembering that one of the criticisms of the ERA’s recommendations was the number of people in the call centre and their ability to deal with the large volume of calls coming in. We were at the call centre on Saturday talking to the staff there, who I can say were extremely happy with the additional funding the call centre is getting. They believe this funding will make an enormous difference, particularly with the big boost in the number of paramedics and the increase in the number of new ambulances—about 30 new ambulances across the state. I say to the member for Kimberley that there are seven additional ambulances in her electorate, which will mean that the equipment and staff are out there, as well as the change in the infrastructure system that was proposed. We have also put in place the change in governance that was recommended, particularly on issues such as sentinel reporting, which will mean that a far better service will be provided by St John Ambulance WA. Even with this huge surge in funding, the cost in Western Australia is about half what the cost is under the public system that operates in Queensland, and far less than the cost in any other state. St John Ambulance WA is providing a significant service at a significantly reduced cost, one of which all Western Australians can be proud of.
Even with this huge surge in funding, the cost in Western Australia is about half what the cost is under the public system that operates in Queensland, and far less than the cost in any other state. St John Ambulance WA is providing a significant service at a significantly reduced cost, one of which all Western Australians can be proud of.
Dr K.D. HAMES replied: I thank the member for the question. This additional funding was in response to a television report that highlighted the deteriorating standard of services at St John Ambulance. For a long time funding had not kept pace with staffing needs at St John Ambulance, so slowly but surely its standard of performance was deteriorating. The recommendation came from Greg Joyce, former chief executive of the Department of Housing, who recommended a significant injection of money to make up the shortfall in staff and equipment. I am very pleased to say that as part of this budget we have provided all the funding that was recommended over the three years of the contract, for not only the metropolitan area, but also country areas. An additional $150 million over the next four years will go to improve ambulance services across the state. Around $24 million of that amount will come from the royalties for regions program to cover all services in the country, partly provided by St John; in the northern part, in the Kimberley, they are provided by the WA Country Health Service. This will mean a significant increase in staffing across the system. It will particularly result in a large increase in the number of paramedics, as well as an additional 40 call centre staff—remembering that one of the criticisms of the ERA’s recommendations was the number of people in the call centre and their ability to deal with the large volume of calls coming in. We were at the call centre on Saturday talking to the staff there, who I can say were extremely happy with the additional funding the call centre is getting. They believe this funding will make an enormous difference, particularly with the big boost in the number of paramedics and the increase in the number of new ambulances—about 30 new ambulances across the state. I say to the member for Kimberley that there are seven additional ambulances in her electorate, which will mean that the equipment and staff are out there, as well as the change in the infrastructure system that was proposed. We have also put in place the change in governance that was recommended, particularly on issues such as sentinel reporting, which will mean that a far better service will be provided by St John Ambulance WA. Even with this huge surge in funding, the cost in Western Australia is about half what the cost is under the public system that operates in Queensland, and far less than the cost in any other state. St John Ambulance WA is providing a significant service at a significantly reduced cost, one of which all Western Australians can be proud of.
I thank the member for the question. This additional funding was in response to a television report that highlighted the deteriorating standard of services at St John Ambulance. For a long time funding had not kept pace with staffing needs at St John Ambulance, so slowly but surely its standard of performance was deteriorating. The recommendation came from Greg Joyce, former chief executive of the Department of Housing, who recommended a significant injection of money to make up the shortfall in staff and equipment. I am very pleased to say that as part of this budget we have provided all the funding that was recommended over the three years of the contract, for not only the metropolitan area, but also country areas. An additional $150 million over the next four years will go to improve ambulance services across the state. Around $24 million of that amount will come from the royalties for regions program to cover all services in the country, partly provided by St John; in the northern part, in the Kimberley, they are provided by the WA Country Health Service. This will mean a significant increase in staffing across the system. It will particularly result in a large increase in the number of paramedics, as well as an additional 40 call centre staff—remembering that one of the criticisms of the ERA’s recommendations was the number of people in the call centre and their ability to deal with the large volume of calls coming in. We were at the call centre on Saturday talking to the staff there, who I can say were extremely happy with the additional funding the call centre is getting. They believe this funding will make an enormous difference, particularly with the big boost in the number of paramedics and the increase in the number of new ambulances—about 30 new ambulances across the state. I say to the member for Kimberley that there are seven additional ambulances in her electorate, which will mean that the equipment and staff are out there, as well as the change in the infrastructure system that was proposed. We have also put in place the change in governance that was recommended, particularly on issues such as sentinel reporting, which will mean that a far better service will be provided by St John Ambulance WA. Even with this huge surge in funding, the cost in Western Australia is about half what the cost is under the public system that operates in Queensland, and far less than the cost in any other state. St John Ambulance WA is providing a significant service at a significantly reduced cost, one of which all Western Australians can be proud of.
Even with this huge surge in funding, the cost in Western Australia is about half what the cost is under the public system that operates in Queensland, and far less than the cost in any other state. St John Ambulance WA is providing a significant service at a significantly reduced cost, one of which all Western Australians can be proud of.
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