COVID-19: Greater Perth appears to have a better distribution of hospital beds than Greater Melbourne

Last week our Geospatial Analyst, Alex Wycherley, mapped the location of vulnerable elderly residents of Greater Melbourne with the location of public hospitals (using the measure of bed count for hospital capacity). We wanted to show the spatial pattern of at-risk residents during this difficult time. Alex found a few concerning hotspots, particularly a corridor out towards Ringwood; and the Mornington Peninsula (see Figure 1). These are places with the greatest difference between the number of local hospital beds and the number of elderly residents in need of assistance.

Figure 1: Greater Melbourne Vulnerable Residents (Source: Geografia, 2020)

Now we’re looking at the rest of the metropolitan areas in Australia, starting with Perth.

I know Perth well, having grown up there. It was always understood that is was a monocentric city. A lot of the important facilities and services were centrally located and, unlike Sydney and Melbourne, there were no significant employment hubs (like Dandenong in Melbourne or Parramatta in Sydney) to complete with central Perth. Over time, though, this has changed and in recent years significant public investment has gone into some of Greater Perth’s development corridors.

And the map below reflects this. As with the map in Alex’s story on Melbourne, this shows where 70+ year olds in need of assistance have poorer access (per capita) to hospital beds. And it does show that access to beds declines considerably the further out you go. But there aren’t large populations of at-risk communities closer in to the city centre like we found in Melbourne.

Figure 2: Greater Perth Vulnerable Residents (Source: Geografia, 2020)

There are a few places, like Wellard to the east of Rockingham, that are not well covered. But these are also not particularly heavily developed areas. So, overall, its fair to say Greater Perth appears to be doing a good job so far, of distributing health services. Now whether you have a means of getting from home to the hospital, is another matter.

Thanks Alex, for making the map. And thanks Shannon for compiling and cleaning the data.