WA ill urged to see GP amid emergency move

Sick people are being urged to reconsider whether they really need to go to Perth's emergency departments as services move to the new Fiona Stanley Hospital.

The emergency department at the $2 billion Murdoch hospital will open at 7am on February 3, the same day the emergency department at Fremantle Hospital will close permanently.

Services fully moving from Royal Perth Hospital to Fiona Stanley are cardiothoracic, medical oncology, burns, and heart, lung, renal and bone marrow transplants, but its emergency and trauma departments will remain.

Staff and services from Fremantle and Royal Perth will be moved across to the new hospital until February 9.

During that time, people should consider their need to visit an emergency department for minor conditions that could be better assessed by a GP, South Metropolitan Health Services chief executive Frank Daly said.

"We need to make sure all emergency departments are kept for the very sickest patients," Professor Daly said.