❓ The Minister for Health updates the house on WA's COVID-19 health system response, highlighting low case numbers, private hospital partnerships, PPE procurement, regional healthcare focus, and increased ICU bed capacity to prepare for a potential surge.
AnsweredQoN 237Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CORONAVIRUS —
HEALTH SYSTEM RESPONSE
237. Ms A. SANDERSON to the Minister for Health:
Can the minister update the house
on the response to COVID-19 by WA's health
services and the action that continues to be taken to manage the impacts of
this virus?
HEALTH SYSTEM RESPONSE
237. Ms A. SANDERSON to the Minister for Health:
Can the minister update the house
on the response to COVID-19 by WA's health
services and the action that continues to be taken to manage the impacts of
this virus?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the
question. We are working assiduously to make sure we get the system ready for
the outbreak of COVID-19 . I give thanks to the
Commissioner of Police for his enthusiasm in this morning's interview
on radio 6PR when he gave away some of the numbers for today, so I might as
well just release them now to Parliament! We have had three cases today—incredibly
low numbers—and two of those are from cruise ships. That brings the
state's total to 535. Of those, 214 are from cruise ships—that
is 40 per cent of the total cases. That does not take into account those who
have actually flown in to bring the COVID-19 virus to the
state. They are very encouraging numbers indeed.
Although we have seen a continued
decline in these numbers and greater control of any outbreaks, we have bought
ourselves precious time; time that we will be using to continue to prepare the
health system for the COVID-19 epidemic. We continue to work with our private
hospitals and providers across the sector to ensure that we can quickly utilise
all the resources available as required. This includes additional bed capacity as
well as potential usage of the private sector workforce and equipment. The
McGowan government, along with other jurisdictions, recently signed a national
partnership agreement with the commonwealth regarding private hospital
providers to support a whole-of-health-system response to the COVID-19
pandemic. We have the might of the public hospital system now combined with the
capacity of our private hospitals. In addition to that, it has allowed us to
continue to work on the procurement of critical supplies, in particular
personal protective equipment. That procurement work continues within the
department, with the health support services, to secure additional medical
equipment, including ancillaries and consumables in addition to supporting an
additional 200 intensive care bed units.
These numbers give us an opportunity
to have an extra focus with regard to regional health care. For instance, we have not had any new cases in the Kimberley since 9
April—again, precious time that we can use to make sure we have
enough capacity for ventilated beds and transport in the regions, including the
Kimberley, to meet the needs as they arise. The State Health Incident
Coordination Centre is responsible for distributing all the equipment that we
are acquiring, including over 300 new ventilators for the state, to ensure our
total ventilator capacity across the state is
over 550. That enables us to deploy that equipment on an as-needs basis. That
will be done as part of a whole-of-WA response, which works on a WA
patient flow command centre model. We know, for instance, that we have enough
capacity across all our regional settings, but what it does mean is that we can
deploy extra equipment, be it ventilators,
healthcare workers or ICU equipment, out to our regional populations when the
need arises.
As I said, we are currently in the
process of acquiring an additional 200 intensive care unit beds. These beds
will enable us to significantly muscle up
for the surge. We anticipate that at some point we will continue to be challenged not only as a community, but also as a hospital system in terms of our
capacity. The work we are doing now will prepare
us to make sure we are ready for that surge. The numbers we are getting at the
moment are buying us precious time so that we can make sure that work
takes place.
question. We are working assiduously to make sure we get the system ready for
the outbreak of COVID-19 . I give thanks to the
Commissioner of Police for his enthusiasm in this morning's interview
on radio 6PR when he gave away some of the numbers for today, so I might as
well just release them now to Parliament! We have had three cases today—incredibly
low numbers—and two of those are from cruise ships. That brings the
state's total to 535. Of those, 214 are from cruise ships—that
is 40 per cent of the total cases. That does not take into account those who
have actually flown in to bring the COVID-19 virus to the
state. They are very encouraging numbers indeed.
Although we have seen a continued
decline in these numbers and greater control of any outbreaks, we have bought
ourselves precious time; time that we will be using to continue to prepare the
health system for the COVID-19 epidemic. We continue to work with our private
hospitals and providers across the sector to ensure that we can quickly utilise
all the resources available as required. This includes additional bed capacity as
well as potential usage of the private sector workforce and equipment. The
McGowan government, along with other jurisdictions, recently signed a national
partnership agreement with the commonwealth regarding private hospital
providers to support a whole-of-health-system response to the COVID-19
pandemic. We have the might of the public hospital system now combined with the
capacity of our private hospitals. In addition to that, it has allowed us to
continue to work on the procurement of critical supplies, in particular
personal protective equipment. That procurement work continues within the
department, with the health support services, to secure additional medical
equipment, including ancillaries and consumables in addition to supporting an
additional 200 intensive care bed units.
These numbers give us an opportunity
to have an extra focus with regard to regional health care. For instance, we have not had any new cases in the Kimberley since 9
April—again, precious time that we can use to make sure we have
enough capacity for ventilated beds and transport in the regions, including the
Kimberley, to meet the needs as they arise. The State Health Incident
Coordination Centre is responsible for distributing all the equipment that we
are acquiring, including over 300 new ventilators for the state, to ensure our
total ventilator capacity across the state is
over 550. That enables us to deploy that equipment on an as-needs basis. That
will be done as part of a whole-of-WA response, which works on a WA
patient flow command centre model. We know, for instance, that we have enough
capacity across all our regional settings, but what it does mean is that we can
deploy extra equipment, be it ventilators,
healthcare workers or ICU equipment, out to our regional populations when the
need arises.
As I said, we are currently in the
process of acquiring an additional 200 intensive care unit beds. These beds
will enable us to significantly muscle up
for the surge. We anticipate that at some point we will continue to be challenged not only as a community, but also as a hospital system in terms of our
capacity. The work we are doing now will prepare
us to make sure we are ready for that surge. The numbers we are getting at the
moment are buying us precious time so that we can make sure that work
takes place.
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