- The 2024-25 State Budget will include $154.6 million of new and continuing initiatives to improve emergency access and reduce ambulance ramping
- $47 million funding package to expand WA Virtual ED (WAVED) to include new mental health co-response model to provide support to people in crisis in their homes
- Part of a suite of measures in the 2024-25 Budget to continue the ambulance ramping strategy and reform of the health system
- Ambulance ramping in the six months to March 2024 has reduced 27% compared with the same period last year
- Part of the Cook Government’s $827.1 million investment to improve access to emergency care for West Australians
In a Western Australian first, the Cook Government will establish a new mental health co-response model as part of the WA Virtual Emergency Department (WAVED) located within the State Health Operations Centre.
The model, which is based on successful trials in the eastern states, will provide support to a person in crisis in their home through a combination of virtual care and a mobile crisis response team consisting of a paramedic and a mental health practitioner.
It will reduce avoidable emergency department attendances and hospital admissions and improve the experience and outcomes for mental health patients.
This model is part of the Cook Government’s historic emergency department reforms to address the underlying causes of ambulance ramping, building on the $672.5 million of reforms already underway.
The reforms already delivered have seen ambulance ramping in the six months to March 2024 reduce by 27 per cent compared with the same period last year.
The 2024-25 State Budget will include $154.6 million of new and continuing initiatives to improve emergency access and reduce ambulance ramping.
This comes on top of recent measures included as part of the Mid-Year Review last year, including $122.4 million for a program to provide step down aged care beds for people who are discharged from hospital and $60.1 million for community mental health treatment.
In addition to allocating $7.9 million for the Mental Health Co-Response model, the $47 million WAVED expansion package also includes:
- $28 million over four years for additional clinical full-time equivalent within WAVED, enabling it to significantly expand its staffing and patient numbers;
- $8.6 million over two years to expand geriatric-led virtual care services through the Community Health in a Virtual Environment (CoHIVE) initiative;
- $1.4 million to co-fund a 24-month pilot of Extended Care Paramedics with St John WA, with highly trained paramedics to assess and treat suitable patients at the scene; and
- $1.1 million to extend nurse practitioner in-reach care through the Residential Care Line.
Other new and continuing initiatives funded in the 2024-25 State Budget to improve emergency access include:
- $6.2 million for the Patient Transport Coordination Hub (PaTCH);
- $10.2 million to expand nation-leading pilots that give hospital patients access to respite care and flexible packages to support their discharge into the community;
- $22.2 million to continue the From Hospital to Home Disability Transition Care Program; and
- $1.1 million to extend geriatric outreach services at North Metropolitan Health Service.
As stated by Premier Roger Cook:
“My Government is committed to introducing systemic reform to the health system and improving access to emergency care for all Western Australians.
“These reforms have already contributed to a significant reduction in ambulance ramping, with ramping in the six months to March 2024 reducing 27 per cent compared with the same period last year.
“This year’s Budget is building on the work we have already started, including the expansion of WA Virtual ED to support more patients to receive the care they need in the community.”
As stated by Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson:
“We are working hard to reduce ambulance ramping hours and this year’s Budget delivers more than $154 million in reforms to help continue the hard work we have started.
“This is on top of the suite of measures already working to improve access to emergency care and reform the health system.
“The new mental health co-response model will reduce avoidable emergency department attendances, hospital admissions and improve the experience for mental health patients in our health system.”
