Cook’s ED Crisis Now ‘Business As Usual’ Under Labor

Media Release | 22 October 2026

Libby Mettam
Shadow Health Minister

Almost 600 West Australians endured stays of more than three days in hospital emergency departments in the first eight months of this year.

Shocking new figures released by the Opposition reveal 187 patients spent between four and six days in emergency departments in the first eight months of this year – up 108 per cent on the same period in 2025 – while another 21 patients stayed more than six days, a 75 per cent increase.

Shadow Health Minister Libby Mettam said it was an extraordinary admission of how far standards had fallen under Labor.

“Emergency departments are meant to provide emergency treatment, not become holding bays where patients are left for days on end because the hospital system is choked and cannot cope,” she said.

“Roger Cook promised to get on top of this problem in 2019. Seven years later, the figures show it’s getting dramatically worse.

“Under Labor, the unacceptable has become acceptable, and the extraordinary has become ordinary.”

In total, more than 16,500 West Australians stayed more than 24 hours in emergency departments, despite Premier Roger Cook promising seven years ago to personally oversee patients spending more than a day in emergency departments.

As Health Minister in February 2019, Roger Cook described prolonged emergency department stays as a “vexing issue” and told Parliament: “I have mandated this system and have said that if any patient spends longer than 24 hours in an emergency department bed, there will be a mandatory reporting regime to me, as Minister, to ensure we get on top of this vexing issue.”

Seven years later, the Government has confirmed that reporting has been absorbed into “business-as-usual operations and patient flow monitoring”.

“West Australians deserve better than a Premier who has turned a hospital horror story into business as usual,” Ms Mettam said.

Ms Mettam said the figures for mental health patients were particularly alarming.

Between January and August this year, 1,891 mental health emergency department attendances lasted longer than 24 hours before patients were admitted into appropriate care – an increase of 30 per cent on the corresponding period last year.

The number lasting between three and four days surged almost 144 per cent, while those lasting between four and six days more than tripled.

“These are some of the most vulnerable people in our community, often experiencing acute mental health crises, yet they are spending days in emergency departments instead of receiving timely care in an appropriate setting,” Ms Mettam said.

“How can the Premier possibly defend a situation where the number of mental health patients spending four to six days in an emergency department has more than tripled in just one year?

“Roger Cook and Labor like to boast about unprecedented investment in health infrastructure, but the reality is they’re desperately trying to catch up after years of inadequate investment and poor planning.

“After almost a decade in government, Labor cannot keep lowering the bar and pretending everything is under control.”

Link to Parliamentary Question on Notice and answer:
https://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/parliament/pquest.nsf/viewLAPQuestByDate/79B333882009848748258E6800211C63?opendocument

Media contact: Graham Mason 0419 194 792

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