Tuesday, 18 June 2024

Regional health services

Wayne FARNHAM (Narracan) (15:41): I rise today to talk about my community’s concern about the amalgamations of rural and regional health services. I think what the government is missing here is that when you take away our local boards, which we rely on and which the hospitals rely on for community input, my community becomes very worried that they will not have that opportunity again if it gets decentralised to another area, whether that be in Latrobe or whether that be down at Monash. It is very important that the community has that connection to the hospital and the board, and I would encourage the government to rethink these amalgamations, because they will not be the best thing for rural or regional hospitals.