❓ Mr Cook questions the Minister for Health regarding the privatisation of the Midland Health Campus, specifically concerning services not provided by the private operator and the cost of a co-located public health clinic. The Minister defends the decision, highlighting the quality of care and additional services.
AnsweredQoN 328Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Midland Health Campus — St John of
God Health Care
328. Mr R.H. COOK to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the privatisation of the new Midland hospital and
the government's decision to award the contract to the preferred
private operator.
(1) Can the
minister confirm the advice from his department that there are some 250
different health services, primarily relating to sexual and reproductive
health, that can never be provided by the private operator at Midland hospital
and will instead be delivered by a separately operated public health clinic
co-located on the hospital site?
(2) Can the
minister advise the Parliament how much the proposed public health clinic will
cost in addition to the hospital?
(3) Can the
minister explain why we have to go through this elaborate and clumsy arrangement
to implement the government's privatisation policies, when the people
of Midland and surrounding districts want, and deserve, a quality public health
facility?
God Health Care
328. Mr R.H. COOK to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the privatisation of the new Midland hospital and
the government's decision to award the contract to the preferred
private operator.
(1) Can the
minister confirm the advice from his department that there are some 250
different health services, primarily relating to sexual and reproductive
health, that can never be provided by the private operator at Midland hospital
and will instead be delivered by a separately operated public health clinic
co-located on the hospital site?
(2) Can the
minister advise the Parliament how much the proposed public health clinic will
cost in addition to the hospital?
(3) Can the
minister explain why we have to go through this elaborate and clumsy arrangement
to implement the government's privatisation policies, when the people
of Midland and surrounding districts want, and deserve, a quality public health
facility?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(3)
The people of Midland and the surrounding districts are getting a quality
public health system—in fact, a first-class public health system.
Mr R.H. Cook :
Which will not provide 250 services.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Kwinana!
Dr K.D. HAMES :
This is the answer. I cannot confirm the member's statement of 250 services,
because what the member means when he says 250—this is how I am
interpreting his question—is 250 types of services. When I answer the
member's question about how many services, what I mean is 250 people
being served—that is, people services. There are things like
vasectomies and terminations of pregnancy—those sorts of procedures—that
cannot be done at that hospital. Out of the thousands of services that are
provided when we go to a hospital, that is the number of people we expect will
not be able to have that service performed at the St John of God–controlled
part of the hospital. But at that hospital site, people will still be able to
have those services. Let us look at the types of services that we have. I do
not know how many members in this room have had a vasectomy, and I do not
expect any members to put up their hands, but I suspect that there are a few of
us here. That is not the sort of procedure that we would expect to have
provided at a hospital as a matter of course. Most of these procedures are done
in clinics under a local anaesthetic. Most of these services are provided in
clinics. When we come to things like pregnancy advice, if someone goes to Royal
Perth Hospital and seeks advice on contraception, for example, or even on the
morning-after pill, that advice would not be provided by the staff managing a
tertiary hospital or even a secondary hospital. That is not what they are there
for. The reason we put general practitioner clinics in or adjacent to hospitals
is that people go along to a GP for that sort of standard advice on
contraception. Directly opposite this hospital will be a health clinic where
people can seek the sort of urgent advice on contraception that they might
want. It is not the job of a tertiary hospital —
Mr R.H. Cook : It's
not a tertiary hospital.
Dr K.D. HAMES : —
or a secondary hospital.
We recognise that there are procedures currently done at Swan
District Hospital that will be provided on-site at Midland. With the contract
having gone to St John of God Health Care, we will be giving a first-class
service to the people of the region as public patients. They will be able to go
there free of charge and have their condition managed in the same way as others
who pay for private insurance, and get exactly the same high quality level of
care. Nobody that I know of complains saying, ''I went to the private
hospital St John's in Subi and the treatment was terrible''; nor
do we hear people complaining about the one in Murdoch, ''I went there
and they were terrible. The orderlies were all complaining because they weren't
being paid enough. The nurses were all complaining because they weren't
being paid enough and my care was awful.'' Does any member hear those
sorts of complaints?
Government members: No.
Dr K.D. HAMES : I
certainly do not. I hear people talking about the high-quality care they get
when they go to those hospitals. That is what we will be providing to the
people of Midland—first-class care at zero cost. They will go there and
get that same standard of care at zero cost.
We have hived off a small amount of land that will be used
for providing not just those services that we have described that St John's
cannot provide, but also a much bigger range of services. This is not a case of
glass half empty; this is a glass half full. The people of that region will get
additional services that they can access in a day-surgery setting, which will
be part of the whole structure of the health campus but provided by a separate
provider. We will go to the private sector, which I am sure will show a lot of
interest in providing those additional services, such as access for GPs to do
minor procedures on some of the skin cancers we heard about from the Minister
for Regional Development. GPs will be able to access the day-surgery centre and
undertake minor surgical work in a proper environment with far better
facilities than they would have in a GP surgery. A wedge resection of toenails,
for example, is a simple procedure for a GP but they need a proper environment
in which to do it. Those sorts of things can be done there. There will be not
only a saving to taxpayers of $1.3 billion over the 20-year life of the
contract, but also there will be $1.3 billion that we can spend on schools, on
other hospital services, on the police force and on all those things that we
can spend that money on. The saving is $1.3 billion, but we will get a
first-class standard of care for all public patients who attend that public
hospital run by the private sector. It is a fantastic outcome for the people of
Midland.
When we went to the last federal election, Hon Sharryn
Jackson campaigned strongly against what we were going to do at Midland
hospital. She campaigned to such an extent that she ran advertisements on TV.
God knows how much she spent on those ads on TV! I got onto the internet
afterwards just to see if it had cost our member any votes. Members opposite
are campaigning thinking they are on a winner. If they get on the net and look
at the polling booths around where that hospital is going, they will see that
it is where our member had the biggest swing towards him—not away from
him! People in that area love the concept of a new hospital; they love the
concept that we are getting on and building it, unlike members opposite who
promised it forever; and they like the concept that it will be a first-class,
privately run hospital that will provide a first-class level of care.
The people of Midland and the surrounding districts are getting a quality
public health system—in fact, a first-class public health system.
Mr R.H. Cook :
Which will not provide 250 services.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Kwinana!
Dr K.D. HAMES :
This is the answer. I cannot confirm the member's statement of 250 services,
because what the member means when he says 250—this is how I am
interpreting his question—is 250 types of services. When I answer the
member's question about how many services, what I mean is 250 people
being served—that is, people services. There are things like
vasectomies and terminations of pregnancy—those sorts of procedures—that
cannot be done at that hospital. Out of the thousands of services that are
provided when we go to a hospital, that is the number of people we expect will
not be able to have that service performed at the St John of God–controlled
part of the hospital. But at that hospital site, people will still be able to
have those services. Let us look at the types of services that we have. I do
not know how many members in this room have had a vasectomy, and I do not
expect any members to put up their hands, but I suspect that there are a few of
us here. That is not the sort of procedure that we would expect to have
provided at a hospital as a matter of course. Most of these procedures are done
in clinics under a local anaesthetic. Most of these services are provided in
clinics. When we come to things like pregnancy advice, if someone goes to Royal
Perth Hospital and seeks advice on contraception, for example, or even on the
morning-after pill, that advice would not be provided by the staff managing a
tertiary hospital or even a secondary hospital. That is not what they are there
for. The reason we put general practitioner clinics in or adjacent to hospitals
is that people go along to a GP for that sort of standard advice on
contraception. Directly opposite this hospital will be a health clinic where
people can seek the sort of urgent advice on contraception that they might
want. It is not the job of a tertiary hospital —
Mr R.H. Cook : It's
not a tertiary hospital.
Dr K.D. HAMES : —
or a secondary hospital.
We recognise that there are procedures currently done at Swan
District Hospital that will be provided on-site at Midland. With the contract
having gone to St John of God Health Care, we will be giving a first-class
service to the people of the region as public patients. They will be able to go
there free of charge and have their condition managed in the same way as others
who pay for private insurance, and get exactly the same high quality level of
care. Nobody that I know of complains saying, ''I went to the private
hospital St John's in Subi and the treatment was terrible''; nor
do we hear people complaining about the one in Murdoch, ''I went there
and they were terrible. The orderlies were all complaining because they weren't
being paid enough. The nurses were all complaining because they weren't
being paid enough and my care was awful.'' Does any member hear those
sorts of complaints?
Government members: No.
Dr K.D. HAMES : I
certainly do not. I hear people talking about the high-quality care they get
when they go to those hospitals. That is what we will be providing to the
people of Midland—first-class care at zero cost. They will go there and
get that same standard of care at zero cost.
We have hived off a small amount of land that will be used
for providing not just those services that we have described that St John's
cannot provide, but also a much bigger range of services. This is not a case of
glass half empty; this is a glass half full. The people of that region will get
additional services that they can access in a day-surgery setting, which will
be part of the whole structure of the health campus but provided by a separate
provider. We will go to the private sector, which I am sure will show a lot of
interest in providing those additional services, such as access for GPs to do
minor procedures on some of the skin cancers we heard about from the Minister
for Regional Development. GPs will be able to access the day-surgery centre and
undertake minor surgical work in a proper environment with far better
facilities than they would have in a GP surgery. A wedge resection of toenails,
for example, is a simple procedure for a GP but they need a proper environment
in which to do it. Those sorts of things can be done there. There will be not
only a saving to taxpayers of $1.3 billion over the 20-year life of the
contract, but also there will be $1.3 billion that we can spend on schools, on
other hospital services, on the police force and on all those things that we
can spend that money on. The saving is $1.3 billion, but we will get a
first-class standard of care for all public patients who attend that public
hospital run by the private sector. It is a fantastic outcome for the people of
Midland.
When we went to the last federal election, Hon Sharryn
Jackson campaigned strongly against what we were going to do at Midland
hospital. She campaigned to such an extent that she ran advertisements on TV.
God knows how much she spent on those ads on TV! I got onto the internet
afterwards just to see if it had cost our member any votes. Members opposite
are campaigning thinking they are on a winner. If they get on the net and look
at the polling booths around where that hospital is going, they will see that
it is where our member had the biggest swing towards him—not away from
him! People in that area love the concept of a new hospital; they love the
concept that we are getting on and building it, unlike members opposite who
promised it forever; and they like the concept that it will be a first-class,
privately run hospital that will provide a first-class level of care.
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