Hansard debates

Annabelle CLEELAND (Euroa) (17:28): (669) My adjournment tonight is for the Minister for Health, and the action I seek is that the government abandon its attempts to force the amalgamation of regional hospitals. Labor is starving health services of funding, resulting in cuts to services, job losses and forced mergers across the state. This government has made it clear there will be no further funding provided to our hospitals beyond what was committed in the budget. This budget cut $207 million from public health on top of millions cut from dental services, aged care, ambulance services, health workforce training and maternal and child health. While these cuts are set to impact all 76 of Victoria’s health services, the impact will be most acutely felt in regional and rural communities.

Cuts are coming at a time when our healthcare providers can least afford it, with significant delay to ambulance response times, out-of-control GP and surgery waitlists, exorbitant health taxes and a general lack of resourcing. Health services have indicated their current funding level is just enough to cover wages and basic expenses such as food and medicines, but they are unable to plan to replace equipment that has reached the end of its life or to recruit more staff. One senior health official recently said on the record that it felt like the health services were being suffocated until amalgamation is the only option. A local hospital executive told me that it might not technically be forced amalgamations, but it is certainly death by 1000 cuts to regional health services due to inadequate government enterprise bargaining agreement funding.

These mergers are deeply concerning for rural and regional health services and for our communities. We have hospitals like Benalla, which is currently operating at a minor operating loss of under $2 million, while a larger hospital like Goulburn Valley is operating at more than 10 times higher losses. These mergers are punishing local health services that by all accounts are running better than the state’s major health providers. With these mergers comes the threat of regional patients being forced to travel long distances for basic services and the loss of local jobs from our communities.

Keeping regional health services in our communities should be the priority, not cutting them. These hospitals are a sense of pride for our communities and a major employer, and they ensure that locals can get quality treatment close to home. The minister herself said this week she wants to ensure regional Victorians are receiving the care they need as close to home as possible, and she acknowledged that regional communities are less well off than their metro Melbourne counterparts when it comes to their health care. Unfortunately all we are seeing is more cuts and mergers that prove this is all talk and the minister does not have regional Victoria’s health at heart. Labor cannot manage money, and our patients are paying the ultimate price.