Independent Member for Alfred Cove Dr Janet Woollard today raised concerns regarding the shortage of tertiary beds for patients living south-of-the-river after the WA Health Clinical Services Framework 2010-2020 revealed that Fiona Stanley Hospital (FSH) will have lesser beds than originally planned.

"The Reid Report recommended 1,000 tertiary beds were at FSH by 2015 because of the expected population growth in the South Metropolitan area," said Dr Woollard.

"However, the Government has made provisions for only 838 beds at FSH."

Dr Woollard made these comments after the unveiling of new prototype rooms for FSH earlier this morning.

"While I am very pleased to see that the building of FSH is progressing well, the Government needs to proceed with their original plan of building 1,000 tertiary beds at the hospital to prevent problems of shortages in the future," said Dr Woollard.

"We are already experiencing capacity problems at our hospitals. Hospitals are already functioning at 95-100% bed capacity; there is still a long waiting list for elective surgeries and there is an ambulance build-up at emergency departments."

Dr Woollard said FSH is being built as a tertiary hospital which will provide services requiring highly specialised skills, technology and support.

"FSH will be the only tertiary hospital for the South Metropolitan area, therefore a reduction in beds mean patients would need to travel further to seek tertiary medical services should capacity run out.

"The situation is worrying when population growth in the South Metropolitan region is growing rapidly, and that an ageing population may mean a need for more specialised hospital services," said Dr Woollard.

Note to journalist/editors:

The WA Clinical Services Framework 2010-2020 is available at http://www.health.wa.gov.au/publications/documents/  CLINICAL_SERVICES_FRAMEWORK_WEB.pdf.  As defined in the framework, tertiary hospitals provide services requiring highly specialised skills, technology and support and may include centres of excellence, research and development and will provide a leadership role for integrated clinical services. Secondary or general hospitals provide services that focus on the broader health needs of the community and do not concentrate on the purely clinical aspects of health care.

 The Reid Report is the Report of the Health Reform Committee, chaired by Professor Michael Reid, entitled "A healthy future for Western Australians" and released in March 2004.