Statement from the WA Acting Minister for Health Rita Saffioti
“Like all Australian emergency departments, Western Australian public hospital EDs are experiencing
increased demand. Over the past year we recorded our highest ever number of emergency
department attendances – up 5 percent on the previous year.
However, WA continues to lead the nation in emergency department performance, with 74.9% of
patients seen within four hours in 2018-19*
(*NSW (71.7%) Queensland (70.2%) Victoria (67.5%), Tasmania (62.0%) and South Australia (59.4%).)
The McGowan Government has a number of strategies in place to address ED capacity issues. Last
year we introduced a network of over 150 GP Urgent Care Clinics to take the pressure off our busy
emergency departments. We know that more than 190,000 ED attendances (Triage 4 and 5) could
have been avoided in 2018 if patients sought treatment in primary care.
We continue to see increased numbers of mental health patients arrive at our emergency
departments and are working on a number of strategies to address this, including opening Mental
Health Emergency Centres at some of our larger hospitals. These provide a more appropriate place
to treat people with mental health problems, there are two open (Joondalup and Royal Perth
Hospital) and two more planned and funded. (Midland and Geraldton).
The McGowan Government has also committed to provide 50 new acute mental health beds and in
June 2019, a new state-wide Mental Health Bed Access, Capacity and Escalation State-wide Policy
was introduced, outlining procedures for coordinated responses across mental health services in
response to increased demand for mental health beds.
Later this year we will open two ‘Safe Haven Cafes’ for people who arrive at emergency departments
with mental health issues but who do not require medical treatment. They will receive peer support
and suitable referral in a supportive environment close to the hospital. This trial of Safe Haven Cafes
is a recommendation of the Sustainable Health Review.
Across the state the McGowan Government has opened, or is opening, six residential Step Up Step
Down Centres to help prevent the escalation of mental health issues. They reduce the need for
hospital admission and take pressure off our busy emergency departments.”
Ambulance Transfer of Care:
“The WA health system has also introduced an improved reporting measure, Ambulance Transfer of
Care. It is more accurate than ramping, will improve transparency and increase accountability. It
centres on patient care and is a better way to hold hospitals accountable for their performance.
St John Ambulance will continue to publicly report ramping, it is their data and has always been their
data. The Department of Health, who do not measure ambulance ramping, will provide a link to the
SJA ramping figures.
The Department of Health and St John Ambulance have worked collaboratively on the introduction
of the new measurement which brings Western Australia into line with other major Australian
jurisdictions and also aligns with the Australian College of Emergency Medicine.
The Department of Health has conducted a review of the system response to the influenza season to
inform planning for winter demand management strategies for 2020.”

 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Funding:
•

WA Health’s annual expenditure on public hospital services from 2016-17 to 2018-19 grew
by an average of 3.1%.

•

The 2019-20 health budget provided an additional $316.4 million from 2018-19 to 2022-23
for our core hospital and non-hospital services.

•

Current budget settings incorporate growth in expenditure on public hospital services of an
average 3.4% per annum from 2018-19 to 2023-24.

AMA Quote

The figures quoted are for a single month comparison only (December 2019 compared to December
2017) and the statement does not specify this. This approach is misleading, for example there are
two months (May and July 2019) with decreases that could also be used. July was minus 15%.
Comparing state-wide total for the full year 2017 to 2019 shows a 21.3% increase.