❓ Dr. Krishnan asks about the government's efforts to transition long-stay patients out of hospitals. The Minister for Health responds by outlining steps taken, highlighting data collection improvements and investments, and criticizes the opposition's understanding of the issue.
AnsweredQoN 716Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HOSPITALS — LONG-STAY PATIENTS
716. Dr J. KRISHNAN to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's significant efforts to transition long-stay patients out
of state hospitals and into more appropriate forms of care.
(1) Can the
minister outline to the house what steps the government has taken to address
the challenges of long-stay patients prior to the Auditor General's
report that was published yesterday.
(2) Can the
minister advise the house whether the member for Vasse has ever raised this
issue with her?
716. Dr J. KRISHNAN to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's significant efforts to transition long-stay patients out
of state hospitals and into more appropriate forms of care.
(1) Can the
minister outline to the house what steps the government has taken to address
the challenges of long-stay patients prior to the Auditor General's
report that was published yesterday.
(2) Can the
minister advise the house whether the member for Vasse has ever raised this
issue with her?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Riverton for
his question on this issue. The member has a deep understanding of the Western Australian
health system.
(1)–(2) The Auditor General's report that was
tabled yesterday made some important observations around the need for
better data and long-stay patients. I largely agree with those observations.
The government is already well underway in implementing a number of those
recommendations. Significant cross-jurisdictional work is already underway to
measure and report long-stay patients nationally. It is very important that we
have a consistent definition across every jurisdiction so that we are all
measuring against the same measurement
instead of measuring different things in different ways. In the meantime, while
we are waiting for that development of the national cross-jurisdictional
definition, we are introducing a data flag for medically ready for discharge patients and identification of why a patient
may not be able to be discharged . We have also invested $18.2 million
over four years in a new real-time data platform that will give us the real
visibility that we need across the whole health system, including those
medically fit for discharge long-stay patients.
The opposition trying to conflate
findings about data collection with not doing anything about long-stay patients
is a conflation of two different issues —
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please,
member for Vasse!
Ms A. SANDERSON : It is a conflation
of two completely different issues and demonstrates that the member for Vasse
has a total lack of understanding of the system.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Vasse, I have just called you to order. You have not asked the question, so
please do not continue to interject.
Ms A. SANDERSON : A press
release dated 16 November stated that we failed to make health a priority and
failed to properly address this issue. Let me outline again for the member for
Vasse what this government is doing. It is interesting that I have not had one
single question on this issue from that member. But I have been on my feet numerous times since I have been health minister
talking about medically fit for discharge patients and the challenges around that, as did my predecessor in this portfolio.
We spoke regularly about it and we have outlined our investment in that particular issue, at which point she was
probably having another snooze. It is as though the issue does not exist until
it is on 6PR; it does not exist until someone has written a question. Never has
this issue been raised with me.
In my keynote address to Business News in May, which
the member for Vasse attended, I outlined in some detail the challenges around
long-stay and medically fit for discharge patients and what the state
government is doing to address the barriers to aged care and the National
Disability Insurance Scheme. I went into that in quite a lot of detail. On 20 September,
the member for Churchlands asked me to update the house on measures to
transition long-stay patients out of hospital. Perhaps the member for Vasse was
not paying attention then. In fact, Western Australia is leading the way in
this area. We are leading the way, and the Aged and Community Care Providers Association made public comments yesterday
to that effect, saying that the work the WA government is doing in this
space is amazing. I think the member for Vasse might know the individual who
made those comments.
Minister Shorten visited our From
Hospital to Home transition, which was established under my predecessor, Roger Cook, the member for Kwinana, and he said
that this was nation leading. That transition alone has already freed up almost
4 000 bed days, and we have established a second pilot. An amount of $59.5 million
was allocated in the last budget alone for 120 aged-care places as part of the
Transition Care Program. That is a commonwealth space that the state is
funding. That is what we are doing to support these patients out of hospitals.
I acknowledge and agree with the
Auditor General that it is not good for them in hospitals. It is not
stimulating. It is not a good environment . They should be out. One of
the patients who came out of the From Hospital to Home program was in Graylands
Hospital for five years. It is a good
story that that person is now out of there and into a transition at home. The
government has invested $5.8 million over the next two years to support the
long-stay patient fund and enable purchases of $800 000 per person for bespoke
solutions to get those people home. We have a cross-agency focus with the
Department of Health and Department of Communities to essentially individually
case manage each of those patients. I urge the member for Vasse to stay
awake and pay attention because we are working through this issue. We are
funding in the areas that are outside the state's jurisdiction to give
those patients a better quality of life.
Visitors — Mullaloo
Heights Primary School
The
SPEAKER : Before I give the next call, on behalf of the member for
Hillarys I would very much like to acknowledge the year 6 councillors from
Mullaloo Heights Primary School and their teacher to the Speaker's
gallery this afternoon. Welcome to you all.
his question on this issue. The member has a deep understanding of the Western Australian
health system.
(1)–(2) The Auditor General's report that was
tabled yesterday made some important observations around the need for
better data and long-stay patients. I largely agree with those observations.
The government is already well underway in implementing a number of those
recommendations. Significant cross-jurisdictional work is already underway to
measure and report long-stay patients nationally. It is very important that we
have a consistent definition across every jurisdiction so that we are all
measuring against the same measurement
instead of measuring different things in different ways. In the meantime, while
we are waiting for that development of the national cross-jurisdictional
definition, we are introducing a data flag for medically ready for discharge patients and identification of why a patient
may not be able to be discharged . We have also invested $18.2 million
over four years in a new real-time data platform that will give us the real
visibility that we need across the whole health system, including those
medically fit for discharge long-stay patients.
The opposition trying to conflate
findings about data collection with not doing anything about long-stay patients
is a conflation of two different issues —
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please,
member for Vasse!
Ms A. SANDERSON : It is a conflation
of two completely different issues and demonstrates that the member for Vasse
has a total lack of understanding of the system.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Vasse, I have just called you to order. You have not asked the question, so
please do not continue to interject.
Ms A. SANDERSON : A press
release dated 16 November stated that we failed to make health a priority and
failed to properly address this issue. Let me outline again for the member for
Vasse what this government is doing. It is interesting that I have not had one
single question on this issue from that member. But I have been on my feet numerous times since I have been health minister
talking about medically fit for discharge patients and the challenges around that, as did my predecessor in this portfolio.
We spoke regularly about it and we have outlined our investment in that particular issue, at which point she was
probably having another snooze. It is as though the issue does not exist until
it is on 6PR; it does not exist until someone has written a question. Never has
this issue been raised with me.
In my keynote address to Business News in May, which
the member for Vasse attended, I outlined in some detail the challenges around
long-stay and medically fit for discharge patients and what the state
government is doing to address the barriers to aged care and the National
Disability Insurance Scheme. I went into that in quite a lot of detail. On 20 September,
the member for Churchlands asked me to update the house on measures to
transition long-stay patients out of hospital. Perhaps the member for Vasse was
not paying attention then. In fact, Western Australia is leading the way in
this area. We are leading the way, and the Aged and Community Care Providers Association made public comments yesterday
to that effect, saying that the work the WA government is doing in this
space is amazing. I think the member for Vasse might know the individual who
made those comments.
Minister Shorten visited our From
Hospital to Home transition, which was established under my predecessor, Roger Cook, the member for Kwinana, and he said
that this was nation leading. That transition alone has already freed up almost
4 000 bed days, and we have established a second pilot. An amount of $59.5 million
was allocated in the last budget alone for 120 aged-care places as part of the
Transition Care Program. That is a commonwealth space that the state is
funding. That is what we are doing to support these patients out of hospitals.
I acknowledge and agree with the
Auditor General that it is not good for them in hospitals. It is not
stimulating. It is not a good environment . They should be out. One of
the patients who came out of the From Hospital to Home program was in Graylands
Hospital for five years. It is a good
story that that person is now out of there and into a transition at home. The
government has invested $5.8 million over the next two years to support the
long-stay patient fund and enable purchases of $800 000 per person for bespoke
solutions to get those people home. We have a cross-agency focus with the
Department of Health and Department of Communities to essentially individually
case manage each of those patients. I urge the member for Vasse to stay
awake and pay attention because we are working through this issue. We are
funding in the areas that are outside the state's jurisdiction to give
those patients a better quality of life.
Visitors — Mullaloo
Heights Primary School
The
SPEAKER : Before I give the next call, on behalf of the member for
Hillarys I would very much like to acknowledge the year 6 councillors from
Mullaloo Heights Primary School and their teacher to the Speaker's
gallery this afternoon. Welcome to you all.
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