Premier of Western Australia Mark McGowan talks to child and mother at Ronald McDonald House Charities Western Australia

WA Government Funding Comes at Crucial Time for RMHC WA

No family expects their child will be diagnosed with a serious illness or injury – it can turn their lives and future plans upside down emotionally and financially.

“Each year more families from across the state reach out to RMHC WA for our supported accommodation and services. This continued increase in demand for our support has grown beyond our capacity.” RMHC WA CEO Peter King says.

In 2022, an average of 38 families registered on RMHC WA’s supported accommodation waitlist per month. Resulting in a total of 458 families that could not access supported accommodation at RMHC WA Nedlands and PCH Houses due to limited capacity. 

Over the next four years, the State Government will contribute $9.6M to help RMHC WA accommodate the increasing number of WA patients and families in need of it’s family-centred care services.

RMHC WA CEO Peter King said “The funding from the State Government has come at a critical time. It means we can move the growing number of families off our waitlist and provide them with a home-away-from-home and 24/7 care for as long or as often as they need us.

We are working on extending RMHC WA supported accommodation, with the vision to double our current capacity by 2024; providing care for an additional 26 families per day by the end of this year.

It’s a temporary solution for the near future as we progress development plans to double capacity at our Nedlands House.”

WA is one of the most isolated health jurisdictions in the world and for over 30 years RMHC WA have been keeping families from every corner of the state together throughout the medical journey of their child.

RMHC WA’s priority is to ensure no family with a sick or injured child is turned away. It’s only through the vital support of the State Government and WA community that this can one day be achieved.

For any media enquiries contact: Tamma Kirkby, Public Relations and Content Executive, RMHC WA [email protected]