Northern Victoria Region health services
Rikkie-Lee TYRRELL (Northern Victoria) (18:10): (619) My adjournment matter tonight is in regard to the appalling lack of dialysis places available in hospitals in the Northern Victoria Region. One constituent reached out to me after being sent to St Vincent’s in Melbourne for dialysis treatment. He was refused dialysis at his local hospital in Echuca due to it being fully booked. This brand new dialysis treatment facility is already full. On their website it says that dialysis is only offered twice a day, three days a week. For a hospital that covers such a large area and whose demographic is increasingly elderly, this is unacceptable. His doctor then tried to refer him to other hospitals offering the required treatment within a 2-hour radius and was told the same thing – they were all full and unable to add additional patients for either regular or emergency treatment. An elderly gentleman who just wants to see his grandchildren grow up cannot gain access to the life-saving treatment he requires without leaving the district. Given the choice, some of our elderly community members would rather risk their lives by staying in their respective regional communities without the treatment than commute to Melbourne for life-saving procedures. This further exacerbates Victoria’s emergency services when they inevitably deteriorate unnecessarily. As a matter of urgency I ask the minister to immediately take action in securing more places for renal dialysis in regional Victoria.