Opposition claims budget cuts at Royal Perth Hospital are putting patients at risk Royal Perth Hospital, where aging infrastructure is becoming an issue. HEALTH Minister Kim Hames has denied budget cuts are responsible for lift malfunctions at Royal Perth Hospital. The Opposition today claimed at least seven out of the hospital's ten lifts were currently out of order because Barnett Government budget cuts had prevented staff from carrying out proper maintenance. This "chronic and dangerous" situation had caused some patients to miss vital appointments and forced staff to carry intensive care patients out of lifts, Opposition Health Spokesman Roger Cook said. Health Minister Kim Hames. Speaking on radio station 6PR this morning, Dr Hames confirmed some of the hospital's lifts were not currently operational, but refuted claims budget cuts were responsible. "There have been no cuts that have affected the maintenance schedule of that hospital," he said. Indeed $750,000 has just been spent on North Block in two of the lift's there and there is a sequence of further lift upgrades that have to be done costing $2 million each. One is starting now and the other will start later in the year. He said the Government was doing its best to maintain the lifts, but the problem would not be fixed until a major refurbishment worth "multiples of millions of dollar" could be done. Funding for the refurbishment of Royal Perth Hospital was reallocated to the new Perth's Children's Hospital by the Barnett Government during its mid-year budget review last month. Mr Cook said he's been told by hospital staff that budget cuts were directly responsible for the lift malfunctions. Opposition health Spokesman Roger Cook. "The Minister can't be believed on this point," he said. I'm believing the staff and what they're telling me. They're saying that hospital cuts have directly impacted on their ability to maintain lifts in this hospital. That's risking patients' lives. It's putting families under a lot of pressure as they try to move around the hospital. He said it was creating a "very dangerous situation" for patients. "What we hear is that patients are struggling to get to their hospital appointments," he said. One guy dialysis patient actually missed out on the full length of their daily treatment because they couldn't get to the office on time. Other hospital patients are missing out on procedures because they're just stuck in the traffic. We've heard stories about visitors to the hospital having to be kicked out of hospital to bring patients in. we've heard stories about lift doors closing on patients and on visitors because what's happening is all the traffic is being directed to the existing lifts that actually do work and as a result were actually seeing those lifts starting to fall apart as well.