THE State Government has enlisted the support of Peel Health Campus in order to cope with the projected demand for beds in its new children’s hospital.
Health Minister Kim Hames and Premier Colin Barnett announced on Monday the newly-dubbed Perth Children’s Hospital would receive an extra 24 beds, increasing its total from 274 to 298.
The decision has been heavily criticised by healthcare professionals, including Shadow Health Minister Roger Cook and Australian Medical Association vice-president Michael Gannon, who argue the increase – which will provide the new hospital with just 48 more beds than Princess Margaret Hospital - will not be enough to cater for population growth.
But Dr Hames said six peripheral hospitals, including Peel Health Campus, would help relieve the pressure by providing secondary beds, with the Mandurah hospital expected to use its paediatric ward to full capacity.
“If you look at Peel Health Campus they’ve got a whole new children’s ward,” Dr Hames said.
“It’s only used to a small capacity because we don’t have the specialists there available to do the treatment.”
“What we need to do is not just worry about how many beds we’ve got here, it’s what we’ve got at the periphery.
“We’ve got an implementation plan about developing secondary beds […] we need to grow the capacity of those.
“It is important that there are paediatric beds in the suburbs close to where families live to provide convenient and high-quality health care for less complex medical cases.”
A spokesperson for Peel Health Campus operator Ramsay Health Care said the role of the Mandurah hospital was to provide hospital care to children living in the catchment area.
“The [paediatric] unit, which is open constantly, is staffed by paediatric trained nursing staff and is very well supported by specialist paediatricians and paediatric surgeons,” the spokesperson said.
Both Mr Barnett and Dr Hames have repeatedly refuted calls for another floor to be added to the $1.2billion hospital, a move the Health Minister said would cost a further $100million in taxpayer money.
Instead, a $35million commitment, which comes as a result of a revised demand forecast for 2021, will see a new 24-bed surgical ward included as part of a reconfiguration of floor space.
Dr Hames said the extra beds in Perth Children’s Hospital, which is billed for completion in 2015, would help facilitate the Government’s long-term vision of a 400-bed paediatric network across the metropolitan area.
