00:02Katrina Carnicelli says she was shocked by how her mother was treated at Royal Perth Hospital after she says the
00:0874-year-old was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
00:11It was just limbo. They were giving her Panadol for her headaches, for the brain tumour. There wasn't much they
00:17could do there.
00:19That's because her mother needed to see specialists at Sir Charles Gardner Hospital, but she says that meant waiting five
00:25days for a bed to be available.
00:26The staff are amazing, but obviously we just need more finances put into it and just more beds.
00:33The opposition seizing on the case.
00:35Our hospital system is already on its knees and it's the end of February.
00:41So is it going to be worse in winter? Of course it's going to be worse in winter.
00:44To help manage growing pressures over the months ahead, the government's announced a $140 million winter plan.
00:50And the bulk of that money will be spent contracting private hospital beds for elective surgery to create more room
00:56in public hospitals for emergency cases.
00:59It's about increasing capacity. It's about supporting people to stay well and to recover at home.
01:07And it's about keeping patients moving through our hospital system.
01:10There's also $14 million for vaccination programs and $20 million for a program to provide 24-7 remote monitoring of
01:18some patients after they've been discharged.
01:21But the Minister can't guarantee the situation will be better than last year.
01:25We can't predict what the winter flu season will look like, but we've worked very hard to ensure that we've
01:32got important investments and initiatives that work.
01:36We know the Northern Hemisphere has had a pretty brutal winter, so we are in for a bit of a
01:41shock there.
01:42The AMA says this year's flu vaccine should cover those strains, potentially giving some reprieve.
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