Busy year for Pilbara emergency departments

Hospitals and medical centres across the Pilbara were put to the test in 2018 with more than 56,000 emergency presentations.

The WA Country Health Service has been applauded for the role it played in saving the thousands of lives across the 500,000sqkm that make up the Pilbara.

WACHS regional director Margi Faulkner said it had been a particularly busy year for the region’s health services, with a total of 56,401 emergency admissions across Hedland, Karratha, Marble Bar, Newman, Nullagine, Onslow, Paraburdoo, Roebourne and Tom Price.

She said those admissions did not include the thousands of other patients who received scheduled treatment during the year.

“Of course I have to acknowledge our incredible doctors and nurses on the frontline but, as we know behind the scenes, it takes a team to save a life,” she said.

Ms Faulkner also recognised a year of achievement in the Pilbara, with the completion of two new hospitals in Karratha and Onslow.

“2018 saw the opening of the $207 million Karratha Health Campus which marked the largest ever investment in a regional hospital here in Western Australia,” she said.

“A project of that size and scale results in more than a few grey hairs but seeing a world-class facility up, operating and benefiting residents of the Pilbara makes it all worth it.”

However she also acknowledged the region had seen its fair share of preventable admissions.

“We’re treating someone injured at Karijini almost weekly, we see far too many victims of motor vehicle accidents and I can’t shy away from the impacts of drug and alcohol abuse,” she said.