00:00The health of the state's health system is always a political problem.
00:07Fixing our state's public hospitals is a number one priority.
00:10What we're actually seeing is a hospital system under stress, a hospital system in crisis
00:14and the Barnett government simply doesn't care.
00:17A decade on the system's under even greater stress but Labor says this time it's got a
00:21plan to make a difference, including expanding the virtual emergency department service to
00:26babies and some people in regional WA.
00:29It tries to divert people who call 000 away from hospitals by connecting them with a doctor
00:34via telehealth.
00:35Around about 75% of people who have referred to the WA virtual ED do not need an ambulance
00:42to take them to the ED and that's obviously an incredibly important part of reducing the
00:47pressure on EDs.
00:50Labor also promising $105 million to redevelop Midland Hospital's emergency department and
00:56a hotline to connect GPs with specialists.
00:59It's doing things differently and avoiding actually turning up to an emergency department
01:04and it's supporting our primary care colleagues to see their patients.
01:07The Liberals stuck with the health theme, promising $34 million for a residential eating
01:12disorder facility at Fiona Stanley Hospital.
01:15Leader Libby Metham made the promise alongside Deanne DeMere-Brown, whose daughter is being
01:19treated for an eating disorder in Queensland.
01:22She's in Queensland because we don't have a dedicated eating disorder facility over here.
01:27In a state as rich as Western Australia we should be able to offer this care given we
01:32know eating disorders are the most preventable but can also be the most deadly of mental
01:37health disorders.
01:39The problem for all sides though is demand for health care is only ever increasing as
01:44is the cost of providing it, with no clear solution in sight.
01:48That doesn't mean that we shouldn't try harder and to get things right.
01:52We need to do better on preventive health.
01:55We need to do better on supporting general practice so they can keep patients out of hospital.
02:00An age-old issue unlikely to be solved any time soon.
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