❓ The Premier outlines the benefits of locating the new women's and babies' hospital at Fiona Stanley Hospital, citing faster construction, cost-effectiveness, and improved access for regional patients via the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
AnsweredQoN 254Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
WOMEN'S AND BABIES' HOSPITAL
254. Ms E.J. KELSBIE to the Premier:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to building a $1.8 billion new women's
and babies' hospital. Can the Premier outlined to the house how
locating the new hospital at the Fiona Stanley Hospital precinct instead of the
Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre will benefit all Western Australians?
254. Ms E.J. KELSBIE to the Premier:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to building a $1.8 billion new women's
and babies' hospital. Can the Premier outlined to the house how
locating the new hospital at the Fiona Stanley Hospital precinct instead of the
Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre will benefit all Western Australians?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Warren–Blackwood
for the question.
I am very pleased that we are
proceeding with the new women's and babies' hospital to replace
King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women.
Last month, with the Minister for Health, I announced that the hospital will be
built at Fiona Stanley Hospital in Murdoch. It is already fully funded
by the state government, due to our good financial management, with $1.8 billion
set aside. Although King Edward has been a stalwart of the health system for
more than 100 years, it is time for a new women's and babies'
hospital to be built.
By locating it at Fiona Stanley
Hospital, we will be building the new hospital on a greenfield site that is
connected to the largest tertiary hospital in Western Australia and adjacent to
the freeway. All the new roadworks that we have put in place will make it
easier to access the hospital without all the disruption that would have
occurred on the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital site. Anyone who has been to Sir
Charles Gairdner, as probably all members have, knows it is a very constrained
site. Through the business case process, we learnt that it would have been
incredibly difficult to have the hospital at Sir Charles Gairdner because
certain buildings would need to be taken down and walls would need to be taken
off existing wards and other buildings� that contained patients. We then would
have had to take a whole bunch, if not hundreds, of patients out of that
hospital and put them somewhere else, and where that would have been was
difficult to ascertain. It then would have taken another four years to complete
compared with building it at Fiona Stanley Hospital. All those issues were
identified through this process.
We made a decision and we dealt with
the issue. The cabinet made a decision based upon advice that it would be
faster, quicker and more cost effective and would create a better outcome to
build the new women's and babies' hospital alongside Fiona Stanley
Hospital, a hospital that already does significant work with babies.
I have one other point, and
considering the member is the member for Warren–Blackwood, this is
important to note. By building the new
hospital at the Fiona Stanley site, it will be closer to Jandakot Airport.
Where does the Royal Flying Doctor Service arrive? It arrives at
Jandakot Airport, so we will get women and babies from regional WA to hospital
quicker at the Fiona Stanley Hospital site than we would at the Sir Charles
Gairdner site. Almost by definition they will have been travelling for a longer
period of time than someone from any part of Perth. That is important, because
women and babies from regional WA are important, and that is one of the reasons
this decision will benefit regional WA.
There will be expansions at Osborne
Park Hospital and additional services there, including a family birthing
centre, and neonatal services at Perth
Children's Hospital will also be expanded. We will be able to have this
state-of-the-art new hospital built, debt-free, at the Fiona Stanley
Hospital site four or five years sooner than the alternative.
for the question.
I am very pleased that we are
proceeding with the new women's and babies' hospital to replace
King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women.
Last month, with the Minister for Health, I announced that the hospital will be
built at Fiona Stanley Hospital in Murdoch. It is already fully funded
by the state government, due to our good financial management, with $1.8 billion
set aside. Although King Edward has been a stalwart of the health system for
more than 100 years, it is time for a new women's and babies'
hospital to be built.
By locating it at Fiona Stanley
Hospital, we will be building the new hospital on a greenfield site that is
connected to the largest tertiary hospital in Western Australia and adjacent to
the freeway. All the new roadworks that we have put in place will make it
easier to access the hospital without all the disruption that would have
occurred on the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital site. Anyone who has been to Sir
Charles Gairdner, as probably all members have, knows it is a very constrained
site. Through the business case process, we learnt that it would have been
incredibly difficult to have the hospital at Sir Charles Gairdner because
certain buildings would need to be taken down and walls would need to be taken
off existing wards and other buildings� that contained patients. We then would
have had to take a whole bunch, if not hundreds, of patients out of that
hospital and put them somewhere else, and where that would have been was
difficult to ascertain. It then would have taken another four years to complete
compared with building it at Fiona Stanley Hospital. All those issues were
identified through this process.
We made a decision and we dealt with
the issue. The cabinet made a decision based upon advice that it would be
faster, quicker and more cost effective and would create a better outcome to
build the new women's and babies' hospital alongside Fiona Stanley
Hospital, a hospital that already does significant work with babies.
I have one other point, and
considering the member is the member for Warren–Blackwood, this is
important to note. By building the new
hospital at the Fiona Stanley site, it will be closer to Jandakot Airport.
Where does the Royal Flying Doctor Service arrive? It arrives at
Jandakot Airport, so we will get women and babies from regional WA to hospital
quicker at the Fiona Stanley Hospital site than we would at the Sir Charles
Gairdner site. Almost by definition they will have been travelling for a longer
period of time than someone from any part of Perth. That is important, because
women and babies from regional WA are important, and that is one of the reasons
this decision will benefit regional WA.
There will be expansions at Osborne
Park Hospital and additional services there, including a family birthing
centre, and neonatal services at Perth
Children's Hospital will also be expanded. We will be able to have this
state-of-the-art new hospital built, debt-free, at the Fiona Stanley
Hospital site four or five years sooner than the alternative.
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