Amber-Jade Sanderson says she is ‘ready for anything’ as she prepares to be WA’s new health minister

Health Minister-elect Amber-Jade Sanderson says she is “ready for anything” as she prepares for the greatest challenge of her political career — preparing WA against the arrival of the super-infectious COVID-19 Omicron variant and fixing WA’s troubled health system. “One thing I have learnt over time is that you have to be ready for anything and be prepared to move quickly,” Ms Sanderson said on Saturday. “I have never stepped back from a challenge and no job worth doing isn’t hard.” The former Environment Minister declined to be interviewed on Saturday, but answered a series of questions put to her by email. She said hospital preparedness was her No. 1 priority as WA readied for a new era of no international and interstate border restrictions from February 5. “Hospital preparedness is my top priority — it has to be,” she said. “We are about to make a huge shift in the way we manage COVID-19. “We will see cases here and the experience of other States suggests we will see a lot of them.” Ms Sanderson takes over what some believe is a poisoned chalice in the health portfolio. Her predecessor, Roger Cook, has been applauded for his role in keeping the virus out of WA over the past two years but has been heavily criticised by doctors and nurses for a lack of hospital resourcing, and ambulance ramping, which reached 6500 hours in a single month. Ms Sanderson revealed Premier Mark McGowan only told her about her shift to health on Thursday night, giving her just six weeks to prepare for the February 5 border reopening and familiarising herself with the detail of vital issues. “The Premier called me on Thursday night, as he did other members of Cabinet, to advise me of the reshuffle,” she said. “The announcement of the portfolio changes only happened on Friday, so understandably I haven’t yet been fully briefed on all the specific issues.” Ms Sanderson said overseeing the delivery of 530 additional beds, promised in the Mid-Year Review, was also a priority. “Through the Mid-year Review and Budget, we have injected a recorded $3.2 billion into the health system and it is expected an additional 530 beds will come online over the next 12 months,” Ms Sanderson said. “I intend to oversee the delivery of these beds as a priority to ensure we are ready.” The death of seven-year-old Aishwarya Aswath while in the care of the Perth Children’s Hospital emergency department in April brought intense scrutiny to the lack of resourcing and other issues which needed to be addressed within the health system. The tragedy was on Ms Sanderson’s mind yesterday as she prepared to be sworn in as Health Minister this week. “The death of Aishwarya Aswath was an unthinkable tragedy,” she said. “I have previously met with her parents as they are constituents. “The Government has committed to improving the health system to honour Aishwarya’s memory and I am fully supportive of that. “I understand work has already begun to implement all 30 recommendations made by the independent inquiry report into Perth Children’s Hospital and I will be keeping a close eye on this process. “I will also be watching the coronial inquest closely.”