Patients in rural Western Australia to benefit from upgrades for KEMH

23/11/00
State Government plans to build residential-style lodge accommodation at King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEMH) in Perth will mean that rural and regional patients will be able to stay in first-class facilities.
Health Minister John Day said KEMH was a centre of excellence and the Coalition Government was committed to fostering and nurturing that reputation.
The modern-style facilities, to be built at a cost of $1.75 million, will provide a city accommodation link for country patients at KEMH.
The works, which are part of a $7 million injection of funds for upgrades at KEMH and Princess Margaret Hospital, will be funded from a $40 million allocation for health from the sale of AlintaGas.
Mr Day said looking after people, their partners and their families from rural and remote areas of our State, especially when they needed to travel to Perth for treatment and hospitalisation, was an important part of health service delivery to those communities.
The lodge at KEMH is next to the hospital and is easily accessible to all transport and other facilities.
"Premature births, high risk pregnancies and critically ill babies are some of the high care cases which see country patients sent to King Edward," the Minister said.
"Importantly, the new accommodation will bring peace of mind to the patients of our specialist women's hospital and to relatives who will be only a few minutes from their bedside, rather than hours and many kilometres away."
Mr Day said there would be considerable consultation with clinicians and other relevant parties to produce an attractive development. This was expected to include single and double accommodation and family and shared community areas.
Other works to be carried out at KEMH include:
? ensuites in delivery rooms;
? emergency department upgrade;
? west wing and entrance upgrade; and -
? the provision of four sound-proof ultrasound imaging rooms with counselling facilities.
At Princess Margaret Hospital, the funding allocation will include the conversion of the existing theatre suite to provide a new $700,000 paedodontic theatre (for child oral surgery.)
"There will also be new and improved accommodation for regional health workers as a result of the State-wide funding boost for health services throughout Western Australia," Mr Day said.
"Another $2.5 million will go towards medical equipment, enhancing the Rural Theatre Upgrade Program, upgrading equipment in rural emergency centres and providing $500,000 for the purchase of endoscopes for hospitals."
The Minister said rural health patients would also benefit from the new PET clinical imaging technology proposed for Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth, as the closest similar service was currently in Adelaide.
Media contact: Carole Cowling 9231 6600