❓ Ms. Davies questions the Minister for Health about the need for a full-time paediatrician in Albany, given the large catchment area. The Minister agrees with the need but acknowledges difficulties in attracting specialists to regional areas and promises to provide cost and timeline details for the review.
AnsweredQoN 938Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
PAEDIATRICIAN — ALBANY
938. Ms M.J. DAVIES to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the government's
decision to hold a review next year about the need for a full-time
paediatrician in Albany.
(1) Does the
minister believe that a hospital servicing a catchment of more than 60 000
people in the great southern and parts of the south west warrants a full-time
paediatrician?
(2) How much
would the review cost and when will it be complete?
938. Ms M.J. DAVIES to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the government's
decision to hold a review next year about the need for a full-time
paediatrician in Albany.
(1) Does the
minister believe that a hospital servicing a catchment of more than 60 000
people in the great southern and parts of the south west warrants a full-time
paediatrician?
(2) How much
would the review cost and when will it be complete?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question.
(1) Yes, I do.
I think it is important that we have a good base of workforce in all these
smaller regional settings. That would be the
ultimate, but, unfortunately, one of the issues that we confront in the WA
Country Health Service is attracting staff, particularly specialists, to
practise in regional settings. The member will be familiar with the situation
at Katanning, where, quite frankly, for all our efforts, we have not been able
to maintain the services of obstetricians and, as a result, we rely upon the
great work of the GP obstetricians. Nevertheless, we continue to struggle to
attract staff to that area. Indeed, one of the situations in Albany is that
because it is a big population centre, we have the justification for these
higher levels of specialisation. Paediatrics is a good example of that. But the
same scenario goes. Even though we have the need for the specialist services,
we will continue to struggle to attract members of the medical workforce to
practise there. My preference is that we have staff who are able to live and
work in the community. The City of Albany is a fantastic place to live, I understand,
Mr Speaker, and I cannot understand why people would not want to practise
there. But we have to live with realities, and one of the realities is that
sometimes we have to rely on a fly in, fly out workforce; and, if that is the
case, I prefer that to not offering the service at all and requiring members of
the public to have to travel to Perth to the receive those services.
(2) In
relation to the other aspects, how long and how much, I do not have that
information to hand, but I am happy to provide that as soon as I can.
(1) Yes, I do.
I think it is important that we have a good base of workforce in all these
smaller regional settings. That would be the
ultimate, but, unfortunately, one of the issues that we confront in the WA
Country Health Service is attracting staff, particularly specialists, to
practise in regional settings. The member will be familiar with the situation
at Katanning, where, quite frankly, for all our efforts, we have not been able
to maintain the services of obstetricians and, as a result, we rely upon the
great work of the GP obstetricians. Nevertheless, we continue to struggle to
attract staff to that area. Indeed, one of the situations in Albany is that
because it is a big population centre, we have the justification for these
higher levels of specialisation. Paediatrics is a good example of that. But the
same scenario goes. Even though we have the need for the specialist services,
we will continue to struggle to attract members of the medical workforce to
practise there. My preference is that we have staff who are able to live and
work in the community. The City of Albany is a fantastic place to live, I understand,
Mr Speaker, and I cannot understand why people would not want to practise
there. But we have to live with realities, and one of the realities is that
sometimes we have to rely on a fly in, fly out workforce; and, if that is the
case, I prefer that to not offering the service at all and requiring members of
the public to have to travel to Perth to the receive those services.
(2) In
relation to the other aspects, how long and how much, I do not have that
information to hand, but I am happy to provide that as soon as I can.
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