TRANSCRIPT:
My adjournment today is for the Minister for Health, and the action I seek is that regional health services and staff are not cut to make up for the record $1.5 billion deficit that Victoria’s public hospitals have amassed in the first six months of this financial year. Health services within my electorate of Euroa already continue to lag behind those found in the rest of the state, with significant delays to ambulance response times, out of control GP wait lists and a general lack of funding from this government. The last thing they need is further cuts.
When it comes to ambulance response times the figures in my region are alarming. For life-threatening cases the statewide median response time is just under 9 minutes. Meanwhile, Benalla’s median time is 42 per cent longer at nearly 14 minutes. The Mitchell shire, which includes several towns in my electorate, also has a median time close to 14 minutes, while the Strathbogie shire is nearly 11. For the Strathbogie shire it gets even worse for high-priority, time-critical ambulance responses, with locals waiting nearly twice as long as the rest of the state, with a 22-minute wait. These extra minutes of waiting for urgent support feel like an eternity during an emergency and they can be the difference between life and death.
It is not just ambulances that members of our local communities need to worry about. Troubles within the health sector continue to impact GPs and all those who need to use their services. After listening to the concerns of GPs in my region I know many believe they will have to close as a result of the Labor government’s payroll tax. GP clinics in both Kilmore and Broadford have said that this health tax will force them to shut their doors. With these facilities offering free appointments to war veterans and the elderly, as well as servicing an ageing community, their value to our region is obvious to see, despite how this government treats them. Kilmore Medical Centre’s practice manager Ram said:
We’re struggling to keep our head above water and the only hand this government has given us is one that will drown us …
Broadford Medical Clinic owner Dr Geetha has said:
If you’re going to change things and make it difficult for us, we might have to one day close and I don’t want to see that day.
GPs are already suffering with significant waitlists or are just flat out, unable to accept new patients. These changes will have an enormous impact on their ability to care for those in our communities who need it most. The lack of resources being provided to our regional health providers is making it increasingly difficult for people to access reliable health services in their own community.
In Benalla we are without a dialysis facility, despite frequent appeals; Nexus in Kilmore is dependent on community funding; maternity facilities in Heathcote are non-existent; urgent care beds in Seymour are under threat; and the closest PET scan machine is in the next electorate. But I want to finish by congratulating the Euroa community for their tireless campaigning and advocacy that has now ensured their health services can stay local.