Question On Notice No. 1495 asked in the Legislative Council on 20 August 2014 by Hon Lynn Maclaren
Question Directed to the: Parliamentary Secretary representing the Minister for Health
Parliament: 39 Session: 1
Question
(1) Which Commonwealth-State agreements would have to be amended in order to administer a co-payment for emergency department care at hospitals?
(2) What guidelines would be provided to triage doctors and nurses to determine who pays in emergency departments?
(3) Did the Minister state on 12 May 2014 that "we have a lot of patients who come to our emergency departments who use it as a GP clinic, and they shouldn't be."?
(4) If yes to (3), what evidence does the Minister have for that statement?
(5) If patients are deterred from seeking assistance at emergency departments, will the Government provide additional funding to Health Department partnership organisations that provide patient transport, home hospital care and injury prevention?
Answered on 16 September 2014
(1) The relevant agreements are the National Health Reform Agreement 2011 and the National Healthcare Agreement 2012.
(2) The Commonwealth Government's plan, as announced in the 2014‑15 Federal Budget, to allow States and Territories to charge a patient co‑payment for less urgent emergency department presentations needs to be carefully considered by all State and Territory Governments. The WA Government is currently not in a position to provide details on the potential impact on public hospitals in Western Australia.
(3) Yes.
(4) A measure currently used nationally for "GP-type patients" is that of patients presenting to emergency departments who are assessed as Triage Category 4 or 5 patients.
A patient may be considered "GP-type" if they were allocated a Triage Category of 4 or 5, did not arrive by ambulance or correctional vehicle, were not admitted to hospital and were not referred to another hospital.
(5) See response to (2).