❓ Mr L'Estrange questions the Minister for Health regarding budget management discrepancies between North and South Metropolitan Health Services, citing conflicting information from the South Metropolitan Health Service's annual report. The Minister defends the overall budget management of health services, attributing past financial issues to the previous government.
AnsweredQoN 739Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
NORTH METROPOLITAN HEALTH SERVICE BOARD —
BUDGET MANAGEMENT
739. Mr S.K. L'ESTRANGE to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the minister's comments in the house on 12
September that he is not happy with the performance of the North Metropolitan
Health Service board due to budget management, and his further justification
that the South Metropolitan Health Service, despite all the issues it had at
Fiona Stanley Hospital, has retrieved the situation. Why has the minister
misled the house, given the South Metropolitan Health Service annual report
tabled today highlights that it has blown its total cost of service budget by
$67 million and this follows a budget blowout by $174 million in the previous
financial year?
BUDGET MANAGEMENT
739. Mr S.K. L'ESTRANGE to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the minister's comments in the house on 12
September that he is not happy with the performance of the North Metropolitan
Health Service board due to budget management, and his further justification
that the South Metropolitan Health Service, despite all the issues it had at
Fiona Stanley Hospital, has retrieved the situation. Why has the minister
misled the house, given the South Metropolitan Health Service annual report
tabled today highlights that it has blown its total cost of service budget by
$67 million and this follows a budget blowout by $174 million in the previous
financial year?
AnswerView source ↗
When I refer to the budget situation of each of the health
service providers, ultimately they will land on a place in which they agree
with the director general as part of the overall management of the state health
system. The South Metropolitan Health Service, the East Metropolitan Health
Service and the Child and Adolescent Health Service have
all done an extremely good job in managing their budgets, but the director
general advised that the North Metropolitan Health Service remains a difficult
area of budget management. That remains the case. Those internal discussions
may not be highlighted in the public documents that have come forward, but I should
say that we are making sure that the health system is operating within the
means of the state's finances while delivering services to patients. We
are making sure we are doing more elective surgery than ever before and meeting
the growth in demand in emergency departments while being constrained by the
state's finances—a constraint that was put on us by virtue of
the complete mismanagement of the state's finances by the other side. I
do not want to trouble the member for Churchlands too much about these matters.
We know what his role was as a member of the previous cabinet in managing the
state's finances, but I can assure him that we have a health budget
that is the envy of many—that is, low growth rates in overall expense
and a reduction in overall budget overheads while, at the same time, we have
increased activity in emergency departments and elective surgery and increased
efficiency.
service providers, ultimately they will land on a place in which they agree
with the director general as part of the overall management of the state health
system. The South Metropolitan Health Service, the East Metropolitan Health
Service and the Child and Adolescent Health Service have
all done an extremely good job in managing their budgets, but the director
general advised that the North Metropolitan Health Service remains a difficult
area of budget management. That remains the case. Those internal discussions
may not be highlighted in the public documents that have come forward, but I should
say that we are making sure that the health system is operating within the
means of the state's finances while delivering services to patients. We
are making sure we are doing more elective surgery than ever before and meeting
the growth in demand in emergency departments while being constrained by the
state's finances—a constraint that was put on us by virtue of
the complete mismanagement of the state's finances by the other side. I
do not want to trouble the member for Churchlands too much about these matters.
We know what his role was as a member of the previous cabinet in managing the
state's finances, but I can assure him that we have a health budget
that is the envy of many—that is, low growth rates in overall expense
and a reduction in overall budget overheads while, at the same time, we have
increased activity in emergency departments and elective surgery and increased
efficiency.
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