Letter to the editor – Hands off our hospitals

Significant cuts will be made to Victoria’s health system in the upcoming State Budget, with regional healthcare providers being particularly vulnerable due to the Labor Government’s irresponsible spending.

For too long, this government has exploited our regional health services as a cash cow to bolster its financial mismanagement of Melbourne projects.

We’re already seeing hospitals merging, queues of ambulances ramping in our hospital carparks, and our emergency departments are bursting at the seams.

With hospitals continuing to amalgamate across the region, it will only be a matter of time before we start seeing service and staffing cuts.

Recent footage from the emergency departments at Albury Base Hospital, Goulburn Valley Health, and Bendigo Hospital have highlighted the severity of issues our regional ambulances and hospitals are facing.

This is a real-world consequence of Labor’s mismanagement of our health system.

Years of waste, mismanagement, and underinvestment in our health services under Labor have meant too many Victorians suffer tragic health outcomes.

Our hospitals need help now more than ever, yet instead we are seeing them put at risk of closure, cuts, and resources being removed.

Labor must keep their hands off our hospitals.

Annabelle Cleeland, Member for Euroa