New health services for Wooroloo community

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Health Minister John Day today announced that State Cabinet had agreed to a change in the provision of health services for the Wooroloo community, including the development of alternative community-based health services.
Mr Day said the focus would be on prevention and health promotion, aged care services and access to improved primary care.
"The State Government will fund the establishment of a General Practitioner Clinic at Chidlow," he said.
"The Health Department will consult with the Shire of Mundaring to determine the best way of doing this."
Mr Day said the change had been considered because the majority of services currently provided at the Wooroloo Hospital were for prisoners.
"There have been decreasing numbers of community clients requiring inpatient services at the hospital since 1997-98," he said.
"Over the 1998-99 period, on average only one patient from the community was admitted to the hospital each fortnight.
"In addition, most patients were not from the Wooroloo district.
"There were only 421 general public attendances at the outpatient GP clinics in the year 1998-99 compared with nearly 30,000 prisoner attendances."
Mr Day said funds previously allocated to the hospital would be re-invested to provide community based services across the Wooroloo, Wundowie and Chidlow areas.
"Residents will also continue to access in-patient services at Swan and Northam Hospitals and other metropolitan hospitals as required," he said.
The Minister said these initiatives were in accord with Government policy to ensure that people received quality services closer to where they lived.
"The overall plan will enable more people living in the Swan Health Service area to have improved access to more high quality services," he said.
"The local residents will be able to access the GP clinics at the existing Wooroloo hospital until the new Chidlow General Practitioner Clinic is developed to ensure they receive appropriate care."
Mr Day said the hospital would continue to operate between the hours of 8 am and 8 pm, seven days a week.
"Once the new clinic at Chidlow is operating, health services for the prisoner population at Wooroloo will be transferred to the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice as it provides health services in all other Western Australian prisons," the Minister said.
Media contact: Carole Cowling (08) 9213 6600