Print PageThe Health Minister is proposing to introduce changes to Northam hospital, similar to those made to Albany hospital, in a bid to restore public confidence in the Wheatbelt hospital.
The State Government this week appointed its Chief Medical Officer to review Northam hospital's procedures after the deaths of five people who had been sent home by medical staff.
The Health Minister Kim Hames says Albany introduced full-time salaried doctors in 2010 rather than relying on local GPs for after-hours services.
Dr Hames has told the ABC, change is the only way to restore confidence in Northam.
"The public will have lost confidence no matter what, and I think the only way I can restore that is by doing what we did in Albany, which has been enormously successful," he said.
"We now have full time residents and registrars down there and in fact, medical students having training there, so Albany is working exceptionally well since we made those changes."
Mr Hames says he wants to make changes to Northam Hospital before the Government goes into caretaker mode.
"We go into caretaker mode in just under two weeks time, and if I'm to make a decision on what needs to be done, particularly about the management of the hospital, I need to do that before we start," he said.
"After caretaker mode I only deal with seriously urgent problems, otherwise the Director General does. And I want to be the one to make this decision."
