❓ Mrs. Marshall asks about the impact of the Cook Labor government's health investment on elective surgeries. The Minister responds by highlighting record surgery completion rates, increased bed capacity, staffing, and funding, while criticising the Liberal Party's proposed solutions.
AnsweredQoN 711Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HEALTH — ELECTIVE SURGERIES
711. Mrs M.R. MARSHALL to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the Cook Labor
government's record investment in our world-class public healthcare
system.
(1) Can the
minister outline to the house how this government's strong investment
has supported a significant increase in the completion of elective surgeries?
(2) Can the
minister please advise the house whether she is aware of any alternative
approaches to deliver more elective surgeries?
711. Mrs M.R. MARSHALL to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the Cook Labor
government's record investment in our world-class public healthcare
system.
(1) Can the
minister outline to the house how this government's strong investment
has supported a significant increase in the completion of elective surgeries?
(2) Can the
minister please advise the house whether she is aware of any alternative
approaches to deliver more elective surgeries?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I
thank the member for Rockingham for her question. I know the member for
Rockingham is a strong supporter of her local public hospital, Rockingham
General Hospital, having received outstanding care when delivering her
beautiful girl there. I get great feedback, particularly about the maternity
unit at Rockingham General Hospital. Yes, it is true that this government has
been completing record amounts of elective surgery. We are smashing records in
the way we are delivering elective surgery outcomes for Western Australia. Over
the last year, we have peaked and are delivering record amounts of elective
surgery. We have significantly cut the over-boundary waitlist. This has been
made possible by a range of investments and changes to the way we manage
elective surgeries. Importantly, we have added 800 beds in the last three
years, which is bigger than Fiona Stanley Hospital. The number of beds that we
have delivered over the last three years is more than there are in Fiona
Stanley Hospital, which allows more people to come through to get that surgery.
There are 30 per cent more staff to staff those beds. It is the staff and the beds together. It is billions of
dollars of extra funding—not $100 million over here and there —being
pumped into our public health system that has made this possible.
In
the last midyear review, $40 million alone was delivered to continue the
momentum on elective surgeries . It was not just a one-off hit; we
maintained high levels of elective surgery for our community. We have also
leveraged private capacity. We have used all available levers. In fact, we
recently launched a private hospital panel to use private capacity within our
hospital services. We have already leased extra surgical beds across our
private facilities.
There
are a few questions to be asked about the Liberal Party's only solution
to elective surgery, which is to
privatise the list. This Sunday, we saw the current Liberal leader announce
another health thought bubble . It could not be called a policy; there
are no costings, and there is no actual description or transparency of how it
will deliver it. All it does is propose utilising private hospital capacity to
reduce elective surgery wait times, which the government is already doing. The
Liberal leader will take business as usual and put a Liberal Party badge on it.
That is ultimately it. My favourite part, members, because the Liberal leader
clearly lacks an understanding of what is happening in Western Australia, was
that she was at pains to congratulate the Queensland Labor government because
in 2023, it cut its over boundaries by 43 per cent. Guess what? In that same
period, Western Australia cut its over boundaries by 45 per cent. I did not
hear the Liberal leader acknowledge our great success.
Where the wheels really fall off this
policy is with the elective surgery guarantee. When the Leader of the Liberal
Party went on the ABC, she failed to articulate how to deliver it because she
fails to understand that sometimes surgery has to be prioritised for people
with life-threatening illnesses. She says that she will let those people with
life-threatening illnesses go to the back of the queue because it is all about
the amount of time that people wait and not about how sick a person is or about
how urgent it is.
The
private system does not cater for all patients. It is important that everyone
understands, and most people do, that the public health system is for
everyone no matter how ill a person is and no matter a person's
complexities. The reality is that because of the complexities, the private
system actually does not take many of the
patients who are on our lists. They might need an ICU available in case
something goes wrong in surgery. There is enormous complexity with many
of our public patients that the private sector will not do. It is just a fact.
It will not do it. It does not have the same risk mitigation and safety
procedures that the public system has in case those patients need extra care.
This concept of ''next
available'' is also fraught. There is one single line, or a single
queue, and it is really based on how long a person
waits. We know it is actually about the specialty that a person needs, the
acuity and how unwell a person is.
The Liberal leader did not answer a number of questions that were quite rightly posed by the Australian Medical Association. I would ask the same questions.
Does the private system have enough theatres? Does it have enough theatre
nurses? Does it have enough surgeons? Does it have enough anaesthetists?
Importantly, when there are longer waits, for example with ENT, it is a workforce
shortage; it is not a theatre shortage. It is a workforce shortage. The Liberal
leader failed to articulate how she would bring more ENT surgeons into the
country and how she would work with the colleges to expand training places.
These are all questions that the medical fraternity wants to know the answers
to. They deserve answers. How will they do that?
This second attempt at a so-called
policy is absolutely pathetic and would do what we are already doing. We know
that the Liberal leader will also tear up a multimillion-dollar contract. No
solutions are delivered here—only more problems. The whole document is
littered with ideas that the opposition likes, but no actual costings, no
rigour and no transparency about how it will deliver it.
thank the member for Rockingham for her question. I know the member for
Rockingham is a strong supporter of her local public hospital, Rockingham
General Hospital, having received outstanding care when delivering her
beautiful girl there. I get great feedback, particularly about the maternity
unit at Rockingham General Hospital. Yes, it is true that this government has
been completing record amounts of elective surgery. We are smashing records in
the way we are delivering elective surgery outcomes for Western Australia. Over
the last year, we have peaked and are delivering record amounts of elective
surgery. We have significantly cut the over-boundary waitlist. This has been
made possible by a range of investments and changes to the way we manage
elective surgeries. Importantly, we have added 800 beds in the last three
years, which is bigger than Fiona Stanley Hospital. The number of beds that we
have delivered over the last three years is more than there are in Fiona
Stanley Hospital, which allows more people to come through to get that surgery.
There are 30 per cent more staff to staff those beds. It is the staff and the beds together. It is billions of
dollars of extra funding—not $100 million over here and there —being
pumped into our public health system that has made this possible.
In
the last midyear review, $40 million alone was delivered to continue the
momentum on elective surgeries . It was not just a one-off hit; we
maintained high levels of elective surgery for our community. We have also
leveraged private capacity. We have used all available levers. In fact, we
recently launched a private hospital panel to use private capacity within our
hospital services. We have already leased extra surgical beds across our
private facilities.
There
are a few questions to be asked about the Liberal Party's only solution
to elective surgery, which is to
privatise the list. This Sunday, we saw the current Liberal leader announce
another health thought bubble . It could not be called a policy; there
are no costings, and there is no actual description or transparency of how it
will deliver it. All it does is propose utilising private hospital capacity to
reduce elective surgery wait times, which the government is already doing. The
Liberal leader will take business as usual and put a Liberal Party badge on it.
That is ultimately it. My favourite part, members, because the Liberal leader
clearly lacks an understanding of what is happening in Western Australia, was
that she was at pains to congratulate the Queensland Labor government because
in 2023, it cut its over boundaries by 43 per cent. Guess what? In that same
period, Western Australia cut its over boundaries by 45 per cent. I did not
hear the Liberal leader acknowledge our great success.
Where the wheels really fall off this
policy is with the elective surgery guarantee. When the Leader of the Liberal
Party went on the ABC, she failed to articulate how to deliver it because she
fails to understand that sometimes surgery has to be prioritised for people
with life-threatening illnesses. She says that she will let those people with
life-threatening illnesses go to the back of the queue because it is all about
the amount of time that people wait and not about how sick a person is or about
how urgent it is.
The
private system does not cater for all patients. It is important that everyone
understands, and most people do, that the public health system is for
everyone no matter how ill a person is and no matter a person's
complexities. The reality is that because of the complexities, the private
system actually does not take many of the
patients who are on our lists. They might need an ICU available in case
something goes wrong in surgery. There is enormous complexity with many
of our public patients that the private sector will not do. It is just a fact.
It will not do it. It does not have the same risk mitigation and safety
procedures that the public system has in case those patients need extra care.
This concept of ''next
available'' is also fraught. There is one single line, or a single
queue, and it is really based on how long a person
waits. We know it is actually about the specialty that a person needs, the
acuity and how unwell a person is.
The Liberal leader did not answer a number of questions that were quite rightly posed by the Australian Medical Association. I would ask the same questions.
Does the private system have enough theatres? Does it have enough theatre
nurses? Does it have enough surgeons? Does it have enough anaesthetists?
Importantly, when there are longer waits, for example with ENT, it is a workforce
shortage; it is not a theatre shortage. It is a workforce shortage. The Liberal
leader failed to articulate how she would bring more ENT surgeons into the
country and how she would work with the colleges to expand training places.
These are all questions that the medical fraternity wants to know the answers
to. They deserve answers. How will they do that?
This second attempt at a so-called
policy is absolutely pathetic and would do what we are already doing. We know
that the Liberal leader will also tear up a multimillion-dollar contract. No
solutions are delivered here—only more problems. The whole document is
littered with ideas that the opposition likes, but no actual costings, no
rigour and no transparency about how it will deliver it.
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