Health system
Mr WALSH (Murray Plains) (14:09): My question is to the Minister for Health. Earlier this year I met with 67-year-old now pensioner Phil Strickland from Mildura, who has required a knee replacement for three years. He requires walking sticks to get around and, fed up with waiting, with his greatly diminished living standard, he borrowed $28 000 to have the procedure completed in South Australia in May this year. I ask the minister: how has it come to this, that a Victorian like Phil is being failed by the state’s elective surgery delays and being forced to borrow money and get procedures done interstate because the Andrews government has failed patients so badly in Victoria?
Ms THOMAS (Macedon—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services) (14:10): I thank the member for Murray Plains for his question. I might make the point, while I am on my feet, that the member for Murray Plains raised an incident, or a patient, last time that Parliament sat, and I invited him to provide me with details. Those details are yet to be forthcoming. But let me say this: obviously waiting for category 2 or category 3 surgery can be uncomfortable—I am not going to shy away from that—but once again I will make the point that decisions around the planned surgery waitlist are taken on the acuity of the condition with which the patient presents, and these are decisions made by clinicians. Every person on a waitlist here in Victoria is being actively managed. But let me say this: we know that our state, like every state around the nation—indeed confirmed for us this morning by the Premier for New South Wales, who also made the point—has been impacted by COVID, and it has had a significant impact on planned surgeries. Here in Victoria we have a $1.5 billion COVID catch-up plan in place to tackle our planned surgery waitlist. I make this point: two of the most significant and exciting reforms and initiatives as a consequence of this investment—
Mr Andrews: ‘A socialist manoeuvre’.
Ms THOMAS: Yes, some might call it ‘a socialist manoeuvre’; I say it is about treating patients. We have purchased two private hospitals in order to deliver 15 000 additional surgeries every year—15 000.
Mr Walsh: On a point of order, Speaker, on the issue of relevance, I asked the minister: how has it come to this, that a Victorian has to go interstate to get a knee replacement that they have waited three years for? I ask you to bring the minister back to answering that question, please.
Members interjecting.
The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Frankston! A point of order is not an opportunity to repeat the question. The minister was being relevant.
Ms THOMAS: I will make one final point in relation to this. No-one is paying $28 000 in our public health system. Our public health system provides services free of charge to people based on their acuity. Some people might make choices around private health insurance, and they are decisions for them to make. Once again, the member can send me the details—and he can send me the details of the patient who he raised last time in this place.
Mr WALSH (Murray Plains) (14:13): While I can report that Phil’s physical health has improved from getting his surgery in South Australia, the financial strain of now owing $28 000 to get his surgery completed interstate has put an added burden on him and is affecting his mental health. How many of the 26 000 Victorians who were removed from the elective surgery waiting list over the last 12 months did that because they were forced to seek more reliable healthcare options overseas?
Ms THOMAS (Macedon—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services) (14:14): The question from the member for Murray Plains is based entirely on conjecture. Let me say this of the people removed from the waitlist: these are decisions that are made by clinicians, and they are made for a range of reasons, including that the patient and the clinician have sought or the patient is receiving alternative care, helping resolve the issue for which they first presented.