WA government celebrating moving more elderly people from hospitals into aged care

5 months ago

The state government is celebrating the success it's having moving some older West Australians out of hospitals and towards aged care. It wants more federal support, but the opposition says it has the funds to do more on its own.

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00:00After 82-year-old Margaret had a fall, she needed some extra help.

00:06While that's being organised, she's in one of the State Government's Time to Think aged care beds,

00:11meant to take pressure off struggling hospitals.

00:14One bed at a time.

00:17They can weigh up their options, speak to their family and friends,

00:20make informed decisions about their longer-term care.

00:23Aged care is primarily a federal responsibility, but...

00:27We're partnering with the aged care providers, stepping in,

00:30because we know there's a need for older West Australians like Margaret

00:34to have someone have their back.

00:37The Premier, Health Minister and Aged Care Minister travelled to Canberra on Tuesday

00:41to ask for more help, with the Federal Aged Care Minister promising to head west in coming weeks.

00:46The Premier should stop blaming Canberra, should stop pointing the finger at the Prime Minister

00:52and do the job himself.

00:54They've got the money, they just have to have the will to want to do it.

00:58He promised to fund 500 new concessional beds

01:03and put $100 million in a down payment for that.

01:06And my advice to the Ministers and Premier Cook,

01:08sorry, but you need to do that every year for the next 10 years.

01:11Great!

01:13There are 11 new beds in this facility, but each day in WA's hospitals there's around 300 people in need of aged care,

01:22making it just one part of solving a much bigger problem.

01:25Any relief is a long way off and the Health Minister says it could mean a small number of elective surgeries continue to be postponed.

01:32Albany resident Debbie Butler was preparing to fly to Perth for a double hip replacement on Tuesday.

01:37And I received a phone call from Royal Perth Hospital saying my surgery had been cancelled for the second time.

01:46She's yet to be rescheduled, left living in pain.

01:49I think they need to improve things a lot.

01:52They need, if a surgery is going to happen, it's going to happen.

01:58The government says any delays are in an effort to treat the most urgent patients first.

WA government celebrating moving more elderly people from hospitals into aged care

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