❓ Mr Millman asks the Premier about efforts to reduce ambulance ramping hours and optimise emergency care. The Premier outlines investments and reforms, reporting a reduction in ramping hours despite increased demand.
AnsweredQoN 631Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HOSPITALS —
EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS
631. Mr S.A. MILLMAN to the Premier:
Before I ask my question, on behalf
of the diligent and hardworking member for Churchlands, can I please
acknowledge in the public gallery the year 11 students from Newman Senior High
School, and everyone else who is in the public gallery this afternoon for
question time.
I
refer to the Cook Labor government's investment and reforms to enhance Western
Australia's emergency departments.
(1) Can the Premier update the house
on this government's efforts to reduce ambulance ramping hours?
(2) Can the Premier outline how reforms will continue
to optimise emergency care across to Western Australia's public
hospitals?
EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS
631. Mr S.A. MILLMAN to the Premier:
Before I ask my question, on behalf
of the diligent and hardworking member for Churchlands, can I please
acknowledge in the public gallery the year 11 students from Newman Senior High
School, and everyone else who is in the public gallery this afternoon for
question time.
I
refer to the Cook Labor government's investment and reforms to enhance Western
Australia's emergency departments.
(1) Can the Premier update the house
on this government's efforts to reduce ambulance ramping hours?
(2) Can the Premier outline how reforms will continue
to optimise emergency care across to Western Australia's public
hospitals?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I
thank the member for the question. It is an important one. As we all know,
health systems worldwide in recent years have experienced the biggest pressure
test in more than a century. The after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
globally have put health systems around the world under unprecedented pressure and our health system is not immune to that
pressure. The pandemic was a major challenge in itself, but the after-shocks of COVID have been felt universally. Health service providers of
more than 50 000 people who work in our public health system have done an
incredible job throughout these difficulties, and we thank them for their
incredible efforts. As a government, we are backing up their hard work with
strong investment. We have dedicated significant funding to them, and the
Minister for Health is delivering important
reforms. We have committed more than $452 million of new and continuing
initiatives to improve emergency access to our hospitals. That
investment is in this term of government alone and is starting to make a difference.
Changes
are afoot in emergency care, and continuous improvement is the ongoing goal.
The government is currently
implementing major reforms, and I will go through a few of those. The
government is establishing a virtual
emergency department with new community-based services; implementing the first
phase of the state health operations centre; introducing new dedicated
teams in hospitals to address discharge delays and barriers to timely care; and
reducing the number of long-stay patients awaiting aged-care or National
Disability Insurance Scheme support. It is a broad approach because there is no
simple fix for the wide range of issues impacting our health system, and all
other health systems at the same time. It is about the patient journey as a whole,
from the start to the finish.
The progress is incremental, but
we believe that it is making inroads, particularly in the area of ambulance
ramping. I will take the chamber through some of those details. At our
metropolitan hospitals, we saw an 18 per cent reduction in ambulance ramping
hours between February and July compared with the same period last year. This
is particularly notable given an increase of nearly 150 per cent in flu
hospitalisations in January to June compared
with the same period in 2022. Even though we have had a nine per cent increase in the number of ambulances presenting to our EDs, the ramping times have
reduced significantly. This was coupled with a significant surge in RSV cases
and COVID-19 complications this winter season. In July alone, the number of
hours that ambulances spent ramped outside hospitals dropped by 30 per cent—almost
one-third. At the same time, Western Australia recorded the strongest
population growth in the country. Even though
we could anticipate, throughout the flu season and given we had population
growth, that we would see an increase in emergency department
presentations, ramping actually dropped by 30 per cent, and that is a great
outcome for the health system.
I want to thank all those who have
been involved as parts of this journey and the important work that is being done at all levels of our health system to
continue to make sure that we improve the patient experience and
journey. I commend the Minister for Health for the work that she and her team
have been doing. This work is not going to change results overnight, but we can
now see it starting to have an impact. Our health system has confronted these challenges and dealt with them better than
most others, so we are really pleased to now see them taking effect.
This is in sharp contrast to observations of our health system and these
measures that other people have said are bandaid measures that achieve less
than nothing.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please!
Several members interjected.
Mr R.H. COOK : As we have shown time and again —
The SPEAKER : Order, members! I want to call the Leader
of the Liberal Party to order. You did not ask this question. Your
interjections are incessant. You are just provoking other people to respond to
them. That is not acceptable. Please discontinue.
Mr R.H. COOK : I did not even refer to the member for
Vasse, but I was going to observe that, once again, we have demonstrated that
the member for Vasse is wrong.
thank the member for the question. It is an important one. As we all know,
health systems worldwide in recent years have experienced the biggest pressure
test in more than a century. The after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
globally have put health systems around the world under unprecedented pressure and our health system is not immune to that
pressure. The pandemic was a major challenge in itself, but the after-shocks of COVID have been felt universally. Health service providers of
more than 50 000 people who work in our public health system have done an
incredible job throughout these difficulties, and we thank them for their
incredible efforts. As a government, we are backing up their hard work with
strong investment. We have dedicated significant funding to them, and the
Minister for Health is delivering important
reforms. We have committed more than $452 million of new and continuing
initiatives to improve emergency access to our hospitals. That
investment is in this term of government alone and is starting to make a difference.
Changes
are afoot in emergency care, and continuous improvement is the ongoing goal.
The government is currently
implementing major reforms, and I will go through a few of those. The
government is establishing a virtual
emergency department with new community-based services; implementing the first
phase of the state health operations centre; introducing new dedicated
teams in hospitals to address discharge delays and barriers to timely care; and
reducing the number of long-stay patients awaiting aged-care or National
Disability Insurance Scheme support. It is a broad approach because there is no
simple fix for the wide range of issues impacting our health system, and all
other health systems at the same time. It is about the patient journey as a whole,
from the start to the finish.
The progress is incremental, but
we believe that it is making inroads, particularly in the area of ambulance
ramping. I will take the chamber through some of those details. At our
metropolitan hospitals, we saw an 18 per cent reduction in ambulance ramping
hours between February and July compared with the same period last year. This
is particularly notable given an increase of nearly 150 per cent in flu
hospitalisations in January to June compared
with the same period in 2022. Even though we have had a nine per cent increase in the number of ambulances presenting to our EDs, the ramping times have
reduced significantly. This was coupled with a significant surge in RSV cases
and COVID-19 complications this winter season. In July alone, the number of
hours that ambulances spent ramped outside hospitals dropped by 30 per cent—almost
one-third. At the same time, Western Australia recorded the strongest
population growth in the country. Even though
we could anticipate, throughout the flu season and given we had population
growth, that we would see an increase in emergency department
presentations, ramping actually dropped by 30 per cent, and that is a great
outcome for the health system.
I want to thank all those who have
been involved as parts of this journey and the important work that is being done at all levels of our health system to
continue to make sure that we improve the patient experience and
journey. I commend the Minister for Health for the work that she and her team
have been doing. This work is not going to change results overnight, but we can
now see it starting to have an impact. Our health system has confronted these challenges and dealt with them better than
most others, so we are really pleased to now see them taking effect.
This is in sharp contrast to observations of our health system and these
measures that other people have said are bandaid measures that achieve less
than nothing.
Ms L. Mettam interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please!
Several members interjected.
Mr R.H. COOK : As we have shown time and again —
The SPEAKER : Order, members! I want to call the Leader
of the Liberal Party to order. You did not ask this question. Your
interjections are incessant. You are just provoking other people to respond to
them. That is not acceptable. Please discontinue.
Mr R.H. COOK : I did not even refer to the member for
Vasse, but I was going to observe that, once again, we have demonstrated that
the member for Vasse is wrong.
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