Priority Care Centres

The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS (15:07): Yes, sir. For priority care centres, which are meant to be addressing ramping, what is the daily average of patients in each centre? Is it correct that it is only two patients?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:07): That is certainly not correct. I will certainly provide the details that the honourable member asked for. She asked for it by centre, so I am happy to do that. But let us be clear. For the priority care centres, in this month my recollection is that there is about 300—in this first month. That is well more than two a day. This furphy that union hacks want to put in the public domain—it may have been two people on an early day in the early rollout. But these centres have ramped up over the pilot, which started last year, and they are operating very well. We are continuing to finetune them, particularly to make sure that we are getting appropriate clinical protocols to make sure that we are maximising the benefit. This is a pilot that we will continue to develop.

I think it is a reflection on the 16 years of the former Labor government. Because what people have said to me is that there have been suggestions for critical care centres, for urgent care centres, for years. Lots of people have talked about it, and Labor specialises in talking about things. This government is determined to try things, to pilot things: if they are working, to scale them up; if they are not working, to let them go. The priority care centres have developed since they were established. They will continue to develop them. You only need to go to a priority care centre to know they take a lot more people than two people a day.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Ms Pnevmatikos, you have another supplementary?