Artificial intelligence is being enlisted to help streamline workflows and improve bed availability as the state government looks to avoid another tense winter in public hospitals.
The technology will be used to schedule key tasks such as medical imaging, laboratory tests, pharmacy medication packs, and preparing discharge summaries, as part of a $700,000 pilot.
The state government claimed this would help hospitals to coordinate care more efficiently.
As part of the pilot WA Health will also develop a new, system-wide data platform designed to strengthen how patients are supported from presentation through to discharge.
Data from the platform will feed into the State Health Operations Centre (SHOC) to give a clear view of demand, capacity and patient movement across the public health system.
It will launch at Royal Perth Hospital for the 2026 winter season. If it proves successful it will be scaled out across the system.
RELATED: Artificial intelligence – making healthcare smarter
Health Minister Meredith Hammat said the pilot represented an important step in improving timely access to care.
“By improving patient movement in the system, we can reduce delays, ease pressure on frontline staff and most importantly, improve health outcomes for the West Australian community,” she said.
“Teamed with the system-wide platform, this technology is about ensuring our health system is as efficient as possible, so our growing and ageing population continues to get access to the healthcare they need, when they need it.”
The state’s public hospital system endured one of its worst winters in 2025, with record ambulance ramping and some elective surgeries postponed as emergency departments struggled to keep pace with demand.
It prompted an unprecedented alliance of unions covering more than 90,000 health workers in WA who came together to demand action to ease pressure on the system.
At the peak of elective surgery delays and ambulance ramping the AMA (WA) warned the public health system was in a “full blown emergency”.
RELATED: WA’s health system facing a ‘full-blown public health emergency’
The AMA (WA) and other unions have warned the public health system cannot face a repeat of last winter.
Figures released in December revealed WA had the longest emergency department wait times nationally in the last year.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data show on average, 90% of patients who visited an ED in WA were seen within 229 minutes. In some other states the wait time was less than half of that.
Just 46% of patients were seen on time according to their triage category, with this number trending down over the past five years from 58% in 2020/2021.
Whereas nationally, 67% of patients were seen on time for their triage category, including 100% of those requiring immediate care (resuscitation).
The AI pilot is one of a number of steps the state government is taking to increase capacity ahead of next winter.
RELATED: State Government to buy St John of God Mt Lawley
In November it announced it would be purchasing St John of God Mt Lawley Hospital in an effort to add new beds to the public hospital system.
Want more news, clinicals, features and guest columns delivered straight to you? Subscribe for free to WA’s only independent magazine for medical practitioners.
Want to submit an article? Email editor@mforum.com.au