Page 2556 - Week 08 - Thursday, 14 August 2014
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that has very negative health consequences. I have talked about timeliness as an important factor, and I have said so repeatedly. The Medical Journal of Australia had a paper that made it very clear that the four-hour rule in WA was saving lives. In, I think, February 2011 the Medical Journal of Australia review said that the four-hour rule in WA had probably saved 80 lives.
So on that, let us have a look at how we are performing. Today, the MyHospitals website has been updated. It is the National Health Performance Authority MyHospitals website, which was instigated by the previous Labor government federally. On that website you can look at each hospital compared by peer group. You will hear the government often make the excuse: “You cannot compare apples and oranges; you must compare by peer group.” Well, on that website the analysis is broken down by peer group. So there is a page—I can point members to it if they are interested—that shows each of the major metropolitan hospitals across Australia, and it breaks down by peer group how they are performing when it comes to the percentage of all patients departing the emergency department within four hours of arrival. That information is broken down by quarter from July 2011 to March 2013.
What you see when you look at that data by peer group, Madam Speaker, is that the ACT is flatlining—that across those peer hospitals across Australia, there has been a 10 per cent improvement. So some are better than others, but there has been an improvement. In Queensland, where we have seen significant advances, where we have seen a determination to see improvements—for example, in the Princess Alexandra Hospital—where only 27 per cent were seen within four hours back in 2011, that figure is now over 60 per cent. That is saving lives. That is very good for health outcomes. The Gold Coast Hospital, Madam Speaker, again has gone from 50 per cent to 72 per cent.
In Perth, where they have been doing this, where the Liberal government in Perth led the way and said, “We are going to do this,” and they were pooh-poohed by everyone else, by every Labor state, saying, “It is not possible; you cannot do it,” 74 per cent at the Royal Perth Hospital are seen, treated, and admitted within four hours. And if you look at the WA hospitals, they are way up there—about 70 per cent. That is for peer group hospitals, compared with our hospitals. Who else is flatlining across the country? What you see are great improvements in Queensland—(Second speaking period taken.)
There are great improvements in many of the states, but in South Australia, where there is a long-term Labor government, the Lyell McEwin is flatlining. Flinders in South Australia is flatlining—no improvement. So the improvements are occurring where governments have got in and made a commitment to improve their systems and say, “We can get this done.” They did it in WA; they are making extraordinary improvements. Queensland hospitals which were performing at 27 per cent under the long-term Labor government there, have now, under the Premier of Queensland, taken the figure to over 60 per cent, way above the ACT. But what we see in the ACT with our two hospitals, compared with peer groups, is that the ACT is flatlining on 52 per cent, one of the lowest in the nation, and Calvary has gone from 64 per cent down to 63 per cent in that period.
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