❓ Mr. L'Estrange inquires about the state government's support for children at Princess Margaret Hospital in anticipation of the move to the new Perth Children's Hospital. The Minister details increased funding and staffing across various departments to address service pressures.
AnsweredQoN 29Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
PERTH
CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
29. Mr S.K. L'ESTRANGE to the Minister for Health:
On behalf of the member for Swan Hills, I welcome students
from Helena College who are up in the public gallery today.
I have seen the rapid construction of the Perth Children's
Hospital and understand it is on budget and on time to open next year. Can the
minister update the house on how the state government is supporting children at
the ageing Princess Margaret Hospital for Children that is due to move into the
new facility next year?
CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
29. Mr S.K. L'ESTRANGE to the Minister for Health:
On behalf of the member for Swan Hills, I welcome students
from Helena College who are up in the public gallery today.
I have seen the rapid construction of the Perth Children's
Hospital and understand it is on budget and on time to open next year. Can the
minister update the house on how the state government is supporting children at
the ageing Princess Margaret Hospital for Children that is due to move into the
new facility next year?
AnswerView source ↗
Members will recall that there were
issues at Princess Margaret Hospital around the provision of some services,
particularly in the area of oncology services. Firstly, as a result of that,
particularly as a result of concerns raised by parents, I formed a committee of
parents who are involved with the hospital and attended a number of those
committee meetings to discuss issues to do with the hospital. Secondly, I asked
the department to come back to me with other areas of concern—areas
where it felt pressure had slowly been building with increased numbers of
patients requesting services—and what the government needed to do to
address those concerns. As a result, during the last budget, we announced a
range of measures to increase support in certain areas and $3.7 million was provided
particularly to boost the cancer and specialist services across a range of
areas at Princess Margaret Hospital. Some of those, of course, were related to
oncology services. The Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation was fantastic in
supporting funds for things like chairs and couches for parents to sit with
their children. The foundation provided a large amount of money to support
that, and the Department of Health added funds for other areas. One of those
was to support children waiting for an anaphylaxis area, for which the clinic
wait time had blown out to eight months. With the increase in funds, the wait
time is now back to a four-month wait. An increase was made in doctors, nursing
staff and dieticians available to support people in that area. The government
has added two new paediatric anaesthetists to increase the capacity for
surgery, and we are looking at the availability of theatres as well. In the
paediatric gastroenterology area, in which there had been long waits for
children, we have increased the number of gastroenterologists as well as other
support staff, including nurses, dieticians and a psychologist.
A significant increase in staff has
occurred at the pain clinic, which is a critical area in the management of
children suffering chronic pain from a variety of causes, some of them genetic
abnormalities. There has been increased recruitment of nursing staff at the
paediatric intensive-care unit, which has caused a major reduction in
cancellations for surgery. The last area is ear, nose and throat care, for
which there has been a significant increase in staff to look after patients
waiting in that area—as well as areas like ophthalmology, audiology
and, as I said before, oncology.
This additional funding has been put
to enormously good use. More still needs to be done and some of the funds are
yet to be expended, but there is a major improvement in the quality of services
provided to children at Princess Margaret Hospital.
issues at Princess Margaret Hospital around the provision of some services,
particularly in the area of oncology services. Firstly, as a result of that,
particularly as a result of concerns raised by parents, I formed a committee of
parents who are involved with the hospital and attended a number of those
committee meetings to discuss issues to do with the hospital. Secondly, I asked
the department to come back to me with other areas of concern—areas
where it felt pressure had slowly been building with increased numbers of
patients requesting services—and what the government needed to do to
address those concerns. As a result, during the last budget, we announced a
range of measures to increase support in certain areas and $3.7 million was provided
particularly to boost the cancer and specialist services across a range of
areas at Princess Margaret Hospital. Some of those, of course, were related to
oncology services. The Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation was fantastic in
supporting funds for things like chairs and couches for parents to sit with
their children. The foundation provided a large amount of money to support
that, and the Department of Health added funds for other areas. One of those
was to support children waiting for an anaphylaxis area, for which the clinic
wait time had blown out to eight months. With the increase in funds, the wait
time is now back to a four-month wait. An increase was made in doctors, nursing
staff and dieticians available to support people in that area. The government
has added two new paediatric anaesthetists to increase the capacity for
surgery, and we are looking at the availability of theatres as well. In the
paediatric gastroenterology area, in which there had been long waits for
children, we have increased the number of gastroenterologists as well as other
support staff, including nurses, dieticians and a psychologist.
A significant increase in staff has
occurred at the pain clinic, which is a critical area in the management of
children suffering chronic pain from a variety of causes, some of them genetic
abnormalities. There has been increased recruitment of nursing staff at the
paediatric intensive-care unit, which has caused a major reduction in
cancellations for surgery. The last area is ear, nose and throat care, for
which there has been a significant increase in staff to look after patients
waiting in that area—as well as areas like ophthalmology, audiology
and, as I said before, oncology.
This additional funding has been put
to enormously good use. More still needs to be done and some of the funds are
yet to be expended, but there is a major improvement in the quality of services
provided to children at Princess Margaret Hospital.
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