Western Australia Government to buy a private in Perth’s inner suburb

The West Australian government will buy a private hospital in Perth’s inner-city suburbs to help ease the burden on the public health system.

Transcript

00:00Well, the state government made the announcement this morning, local time, that it would purchase

00:07the private hospital St John of God in Mount Lawley in Perth's inner city suburbs. Now,

00:13the 200-bed private hospital is expected to change into public hands about the middle of next year,

00:20but none of this has been confirmed yet. The negotiations are still in the process,

00:26but the state government says it is more than confident that they will follow through.

00:31Now, it's part of this $1.5 billion investment in the public health system in WA. The public health

00:40system, specifically in Perth, has been in turmoil for some time. We've seen ambulance ramping figures

00:46continue to rise. We've seen a lack of hospital beds in the public system. The AMAWA has been calling

00:54for more investment for some time. So, the announcement of this $1.5 billion fund was

01:01welcomed. We heard from the AMAWA president on local radio this morning, and he said this is exactly

01:08what they have been asking for, a sort of short-term solution of adding more beds into the system.

01:17Now, a part of that $1.5 billion, the state government will also add a new block to the

01:24Perth, Royal Perth Hospital, and it will also construct a new Peel Health Campus in Perth South.

01:31Now, this fund and these developments does come at the cost of another project. The government has

01:38decided to axe the redevelopment of the Perth Convention Centre. Now, that development was going

01:44to cost $1.6 billion. The government has already spent more than $35 million on investigations and

01:54planning, but the Premier, Roger Cook, insists that the money isn't wasted. Here's what he had to say.

02:01No, the money's not down the drain at all. That money has gone into significant investigations into

02:05the project. That work, that information that we now have, that knowledge base, will inform further

02:12works and inform further investigations into how we can continue to expand our hospitality and

02:18convention sector. Now, there's still some questions left unanswered. The government doesn't

02:23exactly know when St John of God will open as a public hospital. As I said earlier, it's hoping for

02:30the middle of next year. We also don't know the exact use of that hospital and how it fits into the

02:36existing public health system. But the government says it's hoping it will add about 100 beds to the

02:44public health system, which, as I said earlier, is much needed relief for the sector.