Visionary plan for massive upgrade required

Then AMA (WA) President Dr Michael Page responding to the State Budget at Parliament House, with current president Dr Kyle Hoath by his side.

The State Budget handed down by WA Treasurer Rita Saffioti MLA on 19 June contained a $1.4 billion boost to health, including more than $800 million for hospital services and $200 million for infrastructure.

Health and Mental Health are the largest component of recurrent spending by the general government sector, with 31% of the total spend – amounting to $14.591 billion of the total $47.8 billion government spend. The next largest is Education at 17%. 

Speaking at Parliament House after the Treasurer formally handed down her Budget, then AMA (WA) President Dr Michael Page said much more needs to be done to turn around our ailing health system.

“It was disappointing, but not altogether surprising, to see no meaningful acknowledgment in the State Budget of the deep and worsening crisis of public hospital bed capacity in Western Australia,” Dr Page said.

“Every day we fall deeper into a health infrastructure debt – the gap between where we are, and where we need to be.

“The road out of the crisis, therefore, only gets longer, and we wonder whether we will ever get back to having a public hospital system that in its totality we can be proud of as a State.

“What is needed is a visionary plan for massive upgrading and expansion of our bed capacity.

“We will continue to wait to see such a plan, just as thousands of patients across WA wait for elective surgery, outpatient appointments, or to be seen by a doctor in our ramped emergency departments.”