Macavity McGinty's not there! - Again

Overcrowded ED's - Walk-out threatened unless more hospital Emergency Department doctors are employed

When the Hospital emergency department doctors warned the Carpenter (McGinty) Government last week, that there would be mass resignations unless more doctors were employed to to tackle the spiralling patient numbers, Health Minister Jim "Macavity" McGinty was not there! He did not respond to The West Australian's calls - like Macavity the Mystery Cat, McGinty was nowhere to be seen.

As usual when bad news or a crisis requires a comment, McGinty is busy up some back alley and unavailable for media comment or explanation!

"You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air -
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity's not there!"

Shortly after in the absence of comment by McGinty, aroused from his usual torpor and barely awake, a furiously back-peddling Alan Carpenter blurted to the media - that It was the first he had heard about the shortage of emergency department doctors.

Jim McGinty's last effort to take the pressure off overcrowded Emergency Departments was ambulance ramping, getting ambulances to wait in queues outside the ED - where triage nurses assess patients in the street.

Thirteen ambulances have been queued at times outside Royal Perth and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospitals ED's. The practice of ambulance ramping outside these hospitals is escalating, impeding the St John of God's Ambulance Service's ability to respond to emergencies. Paramedics aren't nurses, can't get vital breaks, are fed up and leaving the service.

One may ask the question, who is running the health system in this State and does anyone in cabinet care? While the overpaid Neil Fong was there, the public had some confidence he knew what he was doing.

The State Government has six weeks to act on the doctor shortage, according to the AMA's Gary Geelboed. The Government (presumably McGinty as Health Minister) now belatedly concedes it recognises there is a problem, but claims there is no funding!

It is not all that surprising when McGinty's Fiona Stanley is $1 billion over budget!