Editorial: Riches worthless if we can’t care for the sick
![Because all the iron ore in the Pilbara won’t stop you from being very ill and having to spend a night in a hospital corridor.](https://images.thewest.com.au/publication/C-15465393/dc9009b6433fb1ee917ae91cda7808ee38c7a770-16x9-x0y134w800h450.jpg?imwidth=810&impolicy=wan_v3)
We hear all the time about just how lucky we are to live in this State.
And it’s absolutely true. WA is the land of opportunities within the land of opportunity.
There are riches for those who are willing to go after them, and a lifestyle that makes us the envy of the world.
Our politicians love to crow about just how well our economy is doing in comparison to the rest of the country. We are truly the lucky ones.
Just don’t get sick.
Because all the iron ore in the Pilbara won’t stop you from being very ill and having to spend a night in a hospital corridor.
Eighty-three-year-old retired farmer Ian Hay is the latest to suffer this appalling indignity.
Mr Hay, who has mesothelioma, had no choice but to spend Tuesday night parked on a portable bed in a hallway at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, with a makeshift screen the only thing keeping him from full view of the goings-on of the hospital.
The reason: there were simply not enough beds available to accommodate an elderly cancer patient.
What good are all of WA’s Budget riches if we can’t provide dignified care to a vulnerable and elderly man in his time of need?
Mr Hay’s family has nothing but praise for the health professionals who treated him during his hospital stay. But it’s clear that these dedicated staff members can only do so much if they’re working without the tools they need.
Something has gone badly wrong with our health system.
This is not the first time this year The West Australian has had to report on patients left in hospital corridors.
Last month, 65-year-old prostate cancer sufferer Gary Helms was left for a number of hours on a hospital trolley in a hallway at Sir Charles Gairdner. Who knows how many more there have been?
And it goes deeper than a lack of beds.
In June, ambulances spent 5700 hours ramped at WA hospitals.
There are 31,000 West Australians currently waiting for surgery.
Procedures are cancelled every day because of a lack of beds.
Waiting lists to see specialists within the public system can be years long.
None of these are new problems. In fact, The West Australian reported back in 2013 that hospital corridors were being fitted out with extra power points specifically to better accommodate the patients receiving “corridor care”.
At the time, the then-shadow health minister described the practice of keeping unwell people in hallways as unacceptable.
That was Roger Cook, now Premier.
If keeping patients waiting in hallways was unacceptable in 2013, it is even more so in 2024, after our State has had the advantage of consecutive monster surpluses.
It’s past time to sort this mess out.
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