Opposition calls for funding lifeline for Margaret River’s beleaguered hospital campus

Opposition Leader Mia Davies and shadow health minister Libby Mettam have used a visit to Margaret River Hospital to call for an immediate budget commitment to enact long-awaited expansion plans for the campus. While Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson remained unmoved on the urgent need to expand the site’s emergency department and add more beds, as well as a mental health support unit, a three-year contract for local GPs to staff the site was still unsigned despite expiring midway through last year. Ms Davies said the hospital project had “fallen off the radar” for the State Government. “It’s labelled as a priority by WA Country Health Service and we’ve asked questions only to find that priority has meant there’s been no action for six months, and that’s not good enough for the people of Margaret River,” she said. “They deserve better. We’re calling for a specific line item in the State Budget coming up. “We are the wealthiest State in the nation, repeatedly told by the Premier we have significant surplus. Funds on healthcare and critical services like the Margaret River Hospital absolutely should be a priority for this State Government.” Ms Davies and Ms Mettam said it was “totally inappropriate” repairs to air-conditioning should languish for more than four years, undermining surgical options for residents to avoid travelling to Busselton, Bunbury and Perth — often at the expense of unpaid volunteer ambulance drivers toiling under a vastly increased workload. “It is completely unacceptable and unfair to health workers and regional patients that in a State as prosperous as ours, this critical project has been pushed aside,” Ms Mettam said. “West Australians deserve better instead of consistently hearing vague excuses, in this case ‘commencement is subject to a range of factors and is impacted by current market conditions’. “It is time the McGowan government stop using vague excuses for the delay and commit to a business case and allocate funds in the 2022-23 State Budget.” Inquiries to Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson’s office noted only “any consideration of funding will go through proper budget process”. In Parliament last month, Labor MLC Sue Ellery, representing the minister, confirmed redevelopment of the hospital’s emergency department was flagged in the project. But she declined to offer any solid timetable on funding. Ms Mettam said Geraldton’s expansion was “delayed indefinitely” and she didn’t want Margaret River to face the same fate. One of the concerns of local medicos was the default position of Margaret River as a feeder hospital for other sites, meaning it has no isolation or intensive-care capacity in the face of COVID-19. WACHS principal health officer Helen Van Gessel said Bunbury was the only regional hospital with an ICU and no ventilators were available in Margaret River. “In most cases, people who contract COVID will be able to care for themselves at home and with the support of the State’s COVID Care at Home program, if required,” Dr Van Gessel said. “We routinely care for, and stabilise, critically unwell patients across all of our sites and before transfer to an ICU if that’s what is clinically required. “How we care for patients with COVID will be based on the same clinical principles — that is, their condition, disease severity, existing comorbidities, expected illness trajectory and the patient’s goals of care.”