By Cason Ho

Copyright abc

Half a billion dollars will be poured into bolstering the state’s health infrastructure as the WA government attempts to fix the besieged hospital system amid cost blowouts.

Announced today, a $500 million health infrastructure fund will go towards hospitals in both major regional hubs and metropolitan areas.

Health infrastructure minister John Carey denied the extra money was a concession the health system was initially underfunded.

“We are already undertaking systematic transformation across our public hospitals, but what we do know is in this current construction market, you do face cost escalations,” he said.

“We are looking at our projects and how we can get them out the door faster.”

Oncology cost blowout

Mr Carey said the first cash injection from the fund would go to the Geraldton Health Campus, which is already undergoing a $188 million redevelopment.

He said the new money would go towards the oncology unit, which was announced in June at a cost to WA taxpayers of $21 million, plus $9 million from the Commonwealth.

However, it was revealed today the total cost had blown out to $38.5 million, meaning WA taxpayers will pay an extra $8.5 million.

Mr Carey batted off questions about whether the state government had deliberately underestimated health infrastructure costs.

“No — because we do business cases, we take the advice at the time … and then the market can say something different,” he said

Ambulance ramping record

The funding boost will bring WA’s total spend on hospital infrastructure to $3.7 billion over the next four years..

It comes after a tumultuous winter season which saw another record-high in ambulance ramping.

Ambulances spent 7,074 hours waiting with patients on board outside hospitals due to a lack of beds in August.

The record came despite the Health Department rescheduling elective surgeries that month to alleviate pressure on public hospitals.

Mr Carey said the state’s health system was undergoing “major transformation”, including projects in Laverton, Mullewa, Bunbury, Geraldton, mental health services in WA’s north, and a new women and babies hospital in Perth at the Fiona Stanley Hospital precinct.

Treasurer and acting Premier Rita Saffioti said the health infrastructure fund came as a result of “better than expected” state finances.

“We are anticipating significant, better position in relation to both the operating surplus and our net debt position,” she said.

“We are in a position now to allocate $500 million to a fund, that fund will support the rollout of our existing commitments and also make sure we can move quickly to support new projects.”