Warren-Blackwood MLA Jane Kelsbie speaks for Margaret River Hospital but declines to join budget call

The Labor member for Warren-Blackwood has declined to join a call for an urgent funding item in this year’s State Budget to start a long-awaited expansion plan for Margaret River’s under pressure hospital. Amid claims, reported last week from Opposition leader Mia Davies, that Jane Kelsbie was failing to be the voice of the electorate after ousting Nationals veteran Terry Redman, the new Labor MP confirmed she had raised the issue with Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson. “I will continue to advocate strongly for important projects and initiatives to benefit the Margaret River region,” Ms Kelsbie said. Ms Kelsbie visited the site last year after Times reports that doctors had flagged a host of issues at the local campus, which was under intense pressure from population growth and increased tourism, while basic upkeep like a broken air-conditioning system had limited a range of surgical options. Instead, residents were increasingly ferried by volunteer ambulance officers to hospitals in Busselton, Bunbury and Perth. A mammoth spend on health announced by the State Government in December did not target Margaret River, and the minister’s office declined to detail any items of specific local relevance. While not committing to join Ms Davies and shadow health minister Libby Mettam in calling for a firm funding commitment this year, Ms Kelsbie said she had “spoken to the minister about Margaret River Hospital and will continue to advocate for the best health outcomes for my community”. But Opposition criticism that Ms Kelsbie and other new backbench Labor MPs too often toed the party line were echoed in the Member for Warren-Blackwood repeating Government publicity about increased health spending and $868,000 invested in the Margaret River campus “in recent years”. None of that investment fixed the hospital’s air-conditioning and pressure was mounting on local GPs who work under contract at the hospital under an agreement which lapsed in June last year and remains unresolved. “Our Government is currently delivering the highest-ever increase to health spending in WA history,” Ms Kelsbie said. “This financial year, the State Government has increased spending on health and mental health around the State by $3.2 billion. “This is delivering more beds, doctors, nurses and services for the health system around the State. “On the question of a future redevelopment, the WA Country Health Service regularly reviews its operations, including population planning and emergency department presentations.” The stalled master plan included expansion of the Margaret River Hospital emergency department, but doctors want more beds, a mental health support unit, the capacity for more surgeries including caesareans for the maternity ward, and a solution to elderly patients housed at the hospital due to a lack of aged-care beds. “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 last week. “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.”