UPDATE: The Liberal Party WA and WA Labor have slammed each other’s election promises over upgrading Royal Perth Hospital.
UPDATE: The Liberal Party WA and WA Labor have slammed each other’s election promises over upgrading Royal Perth Hospital.
Liberal Party WA leader Libby Mettam today announced, if elected to government, the party will allocate $80 million for the planning of a complete rebuild of the hospital in its fourth year of government.
It comes almost a week after WA Labor pledged a $104 million upgrade to Royal Perth Hospital’s emergency department, if the party is re-elected on March 8.
The Liberals’ $80 million pledge would fund planning and initial site works for a staged rebuild of the hospital, Ms Mettam said.
“It is understood that works can happen on this site, alongside the existing aging infrastructure,” she said.
“Royal Perth Hospital stands as our state's major trauma centre.
“There is also opportunity to expand its capacity, to ensure that it is future-proof for generations to come, that could and would include expanding the ICU [and] oncology, but importantly, it will be informed through our consultation process, through the Royal Commission, which will also be undertaken under a government I lead.”
“It is a once in a lifetime opportunity, given that this health infrastructure has already served the people of Western Australia for almost two centuries, we are looking beyond an ad hoc approach to this infrastructure, which is Labor's approach.”
Last week, WA Labor promised to invest $97.3 million to expand Royal Perth Hospital’s ED with 50 new treatment bays, a CT scanner area, and additional ambulance triage bays.
The party proposed to allocate $7 million for planning other works on the wider hospital site, taking the total pledge for the hospital to $104 million.
Ms Mettam said Labor’s plan was a “sugar hit” and an ad hoc approach to health infrastructure in the state.
Ms Mettam announced the RPH commitment alongside WA Liberal candidate for Morley Aswath Chavittupara, who will go up against incumbent Morley MP and current Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson.
After the Liberal Party’s announcement this morning, Ms Sanderson has hit back at Ms Mettam’s Royal Perth Hospital pre-election commitment, calling it “risky”.
Ms Sanderson said the Liberal Party had no costings or timeframe, claiming it was just "a plan for a plan".
"Their plan [is they] won't even start planning until 2029 ...That means there will be no works done on the site for at least 10 years," she said.
"It is a complex site, and it does need redevelopment, but it has to be done carefully, and it needs to be calibrated carefully so that we not disrupting services.
"But the first point of [Labor's] plan, and the priority will be to upgrade those emergency department bays, and that will immediately ease ramping and ease waiting times at Royal Perth Hospital, whilst continuing the important work of the state trauma centre."
Health has been a recent focus for Labor and Liberals’ pre-election commitments.
The Liberal Party pitched a $140 million plan for training incentives, retaining high-demand specialists, and free post-hospital discharge GP visits to reduce readmissions.
The party also announced a $73.2 million commitment into expanding the St John WA urgent care model through three new units last week.
WA Labor committed $50 million to Ronald McDonald House and $25 million to Cancer Council WA to address accommodation issues for people needing treatment in Perth.
