Health and hospital infrastructure
258. Ms Libby Mettam to the Minister for Health:
I refer to the claim by the minister's government that it has added an additional 800 hospital beds over the past four years.
(1) Is the minister including virtual beds or beds in people's homes in the additional 800 hospital beds?
(2) If not, where are these 800 additional hospital beds located?
Ms Meredith Hammat replied:
(1)–(2) I thank the member for the question. Beds under the Hospital in the Home initiative are not included in the count; in fact, they are additional beds in our system, creating, as I said earlier, additional capacity across our system. A number of projects have been rolled out by this government to increase bed capacity. We put in a number of modular units during the COVID pandemic in a whole range of hospitals to increase capacity. We have been, as I said, rolling out infrastructure projects, which I outlined in answer to an earlier question, and we have more to come. We are really proud of the work that we are doing to increase capacity.
259. Ms Libby Mettam to the Minister for Health:
I have a supplementary question. If the minister is so proud, how can she not provide a breakdown of where those 800 hospital beds actually are?
Ms Meredith Hammat replied:
Member, we will. The member has put in a question about this and we will.
Several members interjected.
The Speaker: Members!
Ms Meredith Hammat: The member is also forgetting about the services that we have brought in-house, like the Cockburn clinic. It is a very good initiative.
Ms Libby Mettam: So provide an answer.
Ms Meredith Hammat: I have given the member an undertaking that she will get one that provides the detailed information she has requested. We are pulling that together. She will get one.
Ms Libby Mettam: Everyone would like to know.
Ms Meredith Hammat: I look forward to sharing it with the member.
