Hon. Alison Xamon questions the Minister for Health regarding the lack of free ambulance services for concession card holders in the new St John Ambulance service agreement. The Minister cites COVID-19 related time constraints as the reason and promises a future review of equity and access.

AnsweredQoN 1089Legislative Council
Asked
14 October 2020
Portfolio
Health

QuestionView source ↗

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH —
ST JOHN AMBULANCE CONTRACT
1089. Hon ALISON XAMON to the parliamentary secretary
representing the Minister for Health:
I refer to the new service agreement
for the delivery of ambulance services in WA.
(1) Does the new agreement include funding to provide
free ambulance services for people on concession cards , consistent with
other Australian jurisdictions?
(2) If no, why not?

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1) No. The St John Ambulance service agreement does
not include funding to provide free ambulance services for people on concession cards; however, the
Department of Health covers 50 per cent of the cost of eligible ambulance services for Western Australian residents over the age of 65 and
provides a discount of up to 50 per cent of the cost of eligible ambulance
services for pensioner concession card holders.
(2) Given the short time frames associated with the
recent contract negotiations due to COVID-19, the Department of Health was unable to undertake the work
associated with concessions. The Department of Health intends to
undertake a detailed review of equity and access issues to inform the future
SJA services agreement.

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