Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Population growth in Perth's northern coastal suburbs is occurring at the rate of 10,000 new residents each year. The Albanese government's first budget has failed to deliver the necessary funding that our community requires to address unmet needs. Patient waiting times at our local Joondalup Hospital have continued to escalate, with ambulances containing patients ramped outside the emergency department for 677 hours during October. Ambulance ramping peaked in May this year, with over 1,022 hours of ramping at our hospital. In 2022, ambulances have spent over 54,000 hours ramped outside WA hospitals, 1,600 more hours than in 2021 and over 28,000 more hours than in 2020. Yet no provision has been made in the current budget for future health facilities to meet anticipated population growth. This is short-sighted when we know that the population in the region is growing at the rate of 10,000 residents per year, will only mean greater pressure on the already overstretched Joondalup Hospital with longer waiting times for patients.

Labor needs to commit funding to a new health facility in our northern suburbs to alleviate the demand on our Joondalup Hospital of the rapidly growing outer metropolitan communities.