❓ Mr. Cook raises concerns about mobile phone coverage at Fiona Stanley Hospital, potentially impacting emergency communication for clinical staff. The Minister acknowledges issues but defends the hospital's overall service and outlines steps taken to address the problem.
AnsweredQoN 80Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
FIONA
STANLEY HOSPITAL — MOBILE PHONE SERVICES
80. Mr R.H. COOK to the
Minister for Health:
I once again refer to the crisis at Fiona Stanley Hospital
and reports that doctors and other clinical staff are at risk of not receiving
emergency phone calls.
(1) What steps
were taken in the planning of services to ensure that all mobile phone
customers, not just the contracted supplier, would be able to receive coverage
at Fiona Stanley Hospital?
(2) Why was
this issue not rectified during the many months the hospital was run without
patients?
STANLEY HOSPITAL — MOBILE PHONE SERVICES
80. Mr R.H. COOK to the
Minister for Health:
I once again refer to the crisis at Fiona Stanley Hospital
and reports that doctors and other clinical staff are at risk of not receiving
emergency phone calls.
(1) What steps
were taken in the planning of services to ensure that all mobile phone
customers, not just the contracted supplier, would be able to receive coverage
at Fiona Stanley Hospital?
(2) Why was
this issue not rectified during the many months the hospital was run without
patients?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2)
What a load of nonsense calling this a situation in crisis. I do not know why the
member for Kwinana wants to come down on the hospital, including Serco and its
staff. They are all Western Australians working to provide a great service, and
they do exactly that. They create a great service for this state.
Mr R.H. Cook interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members! Member for Kwinana, wait to hear
from the minister.
Dr K.D. HAMES :
This is a $2 billion hospital; the largest in Western Australia—one of
the best hospitals in the whole Southern Hemisphere. It has only just opened,
so of course there will be some teething problems when opening a hospital like
that.
Mr
R.H. Cook interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Dr K.D. HAMES : The
contract for the provision of mobile phone services was put out last year and
was won by Optus. I think the contract was just over $1 million. Optus put in
all the base services required for the hospital service, and Telstra was to
then put in its component. There was a bit of an issue getting the contract
with Telstra over the line. It claimed that Optus did not put in the full range
of frequencies that it was supposed to, and Optus said that it did. That
problem has been sorted. The contract with Telstra has been signed. It has done
work today to address the worst of the black spots. It must be remembered that
it is not the only space in WA that has black spots.
Mr R.H. Cook : It's
a hospital.
Dr K.D. HAMES : The
black spots are in other hospitals, not just that hospital. Hospitals have
areas where it is difficult to get coverage for individual personal mobile
phones. All the phones that belong to the hospital work perfectly. The wi-fi
works perfectly, as do all the internal telephones. In some places, people have
a personal phone linked to Telstra. That is not their required method of
communication within the hospital. They have pagers, phones to the ward, iPads
and computers. An offer was made very early in the piece when this problem was
identified—that would be late last year when the hospital opened—that
any doctor who wanted a free-of-charge phone from Optus to cover the period
until this was sorted would be able to get that. They could have their phone
linked through to their staff, and their staff would be able to get them on a
different number or they could provide the alternative number. That problem
could have been rectified. Again, it was not ideal and, again, it has been a
difficulty, but, as I said, with a $2 billion hospital there will be issues
that cause problems. This issue involves only people's personal Telstra
phones that cannot get good coverage where there are black spots within the
hospital. We have addressed that problem.
What a load of nonsense calling this a situation in crisis. I do not know why the
member for Kwinana wants to come down on the hospital, including Serco and its
staff. They are all Western Australians working to provide a great service, and
they do exactly that. They create a great service for this state.
Mr R.H. Cook interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members! Member for Kwinana, wait to hear
from the minister.
Dr K.D. HAMES :
This is a $2 billion hospital; the largest in Western Australia—one of
the best hospitals in the whole Southern Hemisphere. It has only just opened,
so of course there will be some teething problems when opening a hospital like
that.
Mr
R.H. Cook interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Dr K.D. HAMES : The
contract for the provision of mobile phone services was put out last year and
was won by Optus. I think the contract was just over $1 million. Optus put in
all the base services required for the hospital service, and Telstra was to
then put in its component. There was a bit of an issue getting the contract
with Telstra over the line. It claimed that Optus did not put in the full range
of frequencies that it was supposed to, and Optus said that it did. That
problem has been sorted. The contract with Telstra has been signed. It has done
work today to address the worst of the black spots. It must be remembered that
it is not the only space in WA that has black spots.
Mr R.H. Cook : It's
a hospital.
Dr K.D. HAMES : The
black spots are in other hospitals, not just that hospital. Hospitals have
areas where it is difficult to get coverage for individual personal mobile
phones. All the phones that belong to the hospital work perfectly. The wi-fi
works perfectly, as do all the internal telephones. In some places, people have
a personal phone linked to Telstra. That is not their required method of
communication within the hospital. They have pagers, phones to the ward, iPads
and computers. An offer was made very early in the piece when this problem was
identified—that would be late last year when the hospital opened—that
any doctor who wanted a free-of-charge phone from Optus to cover the period
until this was sorted would be able to get that. They could have their phone
linked through to their staff, and their staff would be able to get them on a
different number or they could provide the alternative number. That problem
could have been rectified. Again, it was not ideal and, again, it has been a
difficulty, but, as I said, with a $2 billion hospital there will be issues
that cause problems. This issue involves only people's personal Telstra
phones that cannot get good coverage where there are black spots within the
hospital. We have addressed that problem.
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