About WA Health
WA Health is Western Australia’s public health system. Our purpose is to ensure healthier, longer and better lives for all Western Australians by:
- providing the health care services that people need
- delivering a safe, high quality, accountable and sustainable health system
Our services include:
- public hospitals and community health services
- health protection through public health services and disaster preparedness management
- mental health services including in-patient services, crisis management and community treatment and support services
- drug and alcohol information, prevention and treatment services
- dental health services including school dental health and public community dental services
- Aboriginal health services
Also see our A to Z index of health topics and services
Facts and figures
We employ 37,000 staff and provide health services across the state of Western Australia to around 2.3 million people in metropolitan, rural and remote areas. In 2009, we:
- handled more than 837,000 emergency department visits
- completed more than 75,000 elective surgery cases
- delivered 22,330 babies
- performed more than 91,000 breast cancer screens
We provide up-to-date statistics on WA public hospital activity
Our Operational Plan (PDF 417KB) details the key targets and initiatives we aim to deliver.
We report on our performance each year in our Annual Report
The Director General of Health is Mr Kim Snowball. The Department of Health reports to two Ministers: