❓ Opposition MP Cook questions the Minister for Health about long waiting times for initial surgery appointments, citing specific cases and comparing current wait times to past commitments. The Minister defends the government's record, highlighting WA's relative performance compared to other states.
AnsweredQoN 60Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
INITIAL
SURGERY APPOINTMENT — WAITING TIMES
60. Mr R.H. COOK to the Minister for
Health:
I refer to Mr John Davies and Mrs
Heather McCulloch, patients who have waited almost three years for initial
surgery appointments, and the minister's waiting-to-wait election
commitment in 2008 that no patient will wait longer than six months for an
initial surgery appointment.
(1) How does the
minister explain the fact that the median waiting time for waiting-to-wait
patients has blown out from 3.95 months in December 2008 to over six months in
December 2015?
(2) Additionally,
is it not true that the median waiting time for elective surgery has blown out
from 1.8 months when the government was elected to 2.4 months in January 2016,
including a blowout in waiting times for category 1 and 2 patients?
(3) Does this
blowout in waiting times suggest that the minister has failed patients such as
Mr Davies and Mrs McCulloch?
SURGERY APPOINTMENT — WAITING TIMES
60. Mr R.H. COOK to the Minister for
Health:
I refer to Mr John Davies and Mrs
Heather McCulloch, patients who have waited almost three years for initial
surgery appointments, and the minister's waiting-to-wait election
commitment in 2008 that no patient will wait longer than six months for an
initial surgery appointment.
(1) How does the
minister explain the fact that the median waiting time for waiting-to-wait
patients has blown out from 3.95 months in December 2008 to over six months in
December 2015?
(2) Additionally,
is it not true that the median waiting time for elective surgery has blown out
from 1.8 months when the government was elected to 2.4 months in January 2016,
including a blowout in waiting times for category 1 and 2 patients?
(3) Does this
blowout in waiting times suggest that the minister has failed patients such as
Mr Davies and Mrs McCulloch?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(3) The
member would have seen the article in The
West Australian today about waiting times, the number of people on the
waiting list, the times they waited and all those things. The critical sentence
he needed to read was the last sentence. What did the last sentence say? It
said that Western Australia is the second-best state in Australia. We have been
working very hard on those waiting lists. I made it clear 12 months ago that as
we phased into Fiona Stanley Hospital, that would put a lot of pressure on the
number of people on our waiting list. As I said it would, those numbers
increased. It does not matter how many people we have on the waiting list, as
long as they are seen in the appropriate time. The time taken to see them is
the second-best in Australia. The average wait time is about 23 days. The
median wait time for surgery is about 23 days. I think we are one day behind
Queensland. People in other states have a median wait time of up to 35 days.
It is true that we have been under
enormous pressure. We have had huge demand, with the growth in the number of
people coming to our hospitals, and it is very difficult to be able to maintain
the waitlist times when there is so much demand coming through hospitals. We
have done it, and I am very proud that our staff have been able to manage to do
it. Occasionally, in some area, there will be a patient—I have had raised
with me lots of times people saying that they have waited long times. It is not
always true, but, occasionally, it is. Normally some complicating factor will
lead to that delay, either to do with the surgeon or the condition the patient
has, particularly in some areas where patients are waiting for spinal surgery,
for example. There is a dearth of specialists doing those procedures, so
sometimes people have to wait long times for those operations. It is no good
for the member to be coming in here with individual names and saying that is a reflection
of waitlist surgery in this state. We are the second best in Australia, better
than members opposite were in government, and it is a great record to have.
member would have seen the article in The
West Australian today about waiting times, the number of people on the
waiting list, the times they waited and all those things. The critical sentence
he needed to read was the last sentence. What did the last sentence say? It
said that Western Australia is the second-best state in Australia. We have been
working very hard on those waiting lists. I made it clear 12 months ago that as
we phased into Fiona Stanley Hospital, that would put a lot of pressure on the
number of people on our waiting list. As I said it would, those numbers
increased. It does not matter how many people we have on the waiting list, as
long as they are seen in the appropriate time. The time taken to see them is
the second-best in Australia. The average wait time is about 23 days. The
median wait time for surgery is about 23 days. I think we are one day behind
Queensland. People in other states have a median wait time of up to 35 days.
It is true that we have been under
enormous pressure. We have had huge demand, with the growth in the number of
people coming to our hospitals, and it is very difficult to be able to maintain
the waitlist times when there is so much demand coming through hospitals. We
have done it, and I am very proud that our staff have been able to manage to do
it. Occasionally, in some area, there will be a patient—I have had raised
with me lots of times people saying that they have waited long times. It is not
always true, but, occasionally, it is. Normally some complicating factor will
lead to that delay, either to do with the surgeon or the condition the patient
has, particularly in some areas where patients are waiting for spinal surgery,
for example. There is a dearth of specialists doing those procedures, so
sometimes people have to wait long times for those operations. It is no good
for the member to be coming in here with individual names and saying that is a reflection
of waitlist surgery in this state. We are the second best in Australia, better
than members opposite were in government, and it is a great record to have.
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