Wednesday, 14 August 2024

Production of documents

Health services

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (10:01): I move:

That this house:

(1) notes that in a secretly recorded meeting of executives from some of Victoria’s largest public hospital networks the following measures were considered to meet the Victorian government’s demand to cut costs:

(a) bed closures;

(b) shutting entire hospital wards;

(c) reducing elective surgery;

(d) cancelling breast screening;

(e) cutting staff responsible for outpatients;

(f) closing special care cots used to treat critically sick babies;

(2) requires the Leader of the Government, pursuant to standing order 10.01, to table in the Council, within two weeks of the house agreeing to this resolution:

(a) a copy of all prebudget submissions, briefing notes or proposals provided by every Victorian public health service, to the Department of Health, between 1 May 2024 and 24 July 2024; and

(b) a copy of the latest 2024–25 model budget sent to every Victorian public health service by the Department of Health.

I move this motion because this has been a very significant issue that has caused so much angst within communities around hospital and health service funding. What we have seen is letters from the Minister for Health and the Secretary of the Department of Health a few months ago given to health services saying that they have to find saving cuts within their budgets. Of course that lead to a huge amount of angst in relation to how services were going to be able to provide health care to those patients, what jobs would be lost and the issues surrounding support in local communities.

There was a leaked tape that highlighted exactly what the government was asking health services to do that would have that direct impact. That leaked tape was really quite significant. It talked about bed closures, shutting entire hospital wards, reducing elective surgery, cancelling breast screening, cutting staff responsible for outpatients, closing special care cots for babies, shutting down dialysis beds – a whole range of services that these health executives were talking about in relation to the demands that the government had put onto health services.

That anxiety around the issue then, despite the government’s recent announcement – although I know the Treasurer has come out today and has not ruled anything out, including increasing taxes to fund the funding required for health services – just shows where we are at. I think it is in the best interests of Victorians that we have those submissions that hospitals provided to the government so we understand exactly what they were asked to do, because I have no faith in the government sticking to their plan. They are going to amalgamate health services across the state – that is clear. We have seen what happened at the Royal Children’s Hospital, with senior clinicians standing up for their right to be a standalone paediatric service in the state, the CEO siding with the clinicians and then the targeting by the department.

It has been absolutely disgraceful, and we have had no transparency. There remains anxiety amongst health services around how much funding we are getting. The announcement of last week – how much of that are we getting? There is no clarity. I have had messages this morning from concerned executives around the state saying, ‘We haven’t heard anything.’ This is why this documents motion is incredibly important. The government need to do this in the interest of transparency so that we can understand exactly what health services were asked to do and the extraordinary issue around the health minister and department secretary saying under no circumstances will these funding cuts be reversed. We know that they were so significant, they were having an impact and there has been provided some top-up funding, but we do not know where it is going to. That, I think, is an enormous concern. I would urge the government to provide these documents in the interests of transparency and to understand exactly what the government was asking health services to actually do.

Jacinta ERMACORA (Western Victoria) (10:06): The Allan Labor government continues to put patients over politics. The basis of this motion is scaremongering, which the Liberals have been doing for several months about the future of our hospitals – scaremongering about the kinds of things that they themselves did to our health system when in government. The cuts and closures are a Liberal–‍National reality. In my own community the Mortlake hospital was closed and the Koroit hospital was closed under a Liberal government. We will always support our hospitals. That is what Labor does. This government is continuing to govern for the future. Despite the opposition seeking to sow division and fear in our communities with motions such as this, our government will continue to deliver.

The Allan Labor government will invest a further $1.5 billion to support our hospitals to deliver world-class care, building on more than $8.8 billion we invested in the most recent budget. We are very proud of our hospital system in Victoria. This additional funding is in recognition of additional demand and will support additional planned surgeries, further grant funding and the implementation of electronic medical records for those services who do not have them. We are not closing and cutting. We are protecting the local services we know Victorians trust and rely on. We are not going to forcibly amalgamate hospitals, because we do not believe taking this decision out of the hands of health services and their communities is in the best interest of patients. Portland District Health, South West Healthcare, Terang & Mortlake Health Service, Timboon and District Healthcare Service and Western District Health Service all provide professional patient care across the south-west.

Reflecting personally on Timboon, that is where part of my family is based. I had a baby at Timboon hospital, my mother had a baby at Timboon hospital, my grandfather died at Timboon hospital, my family members are variously employed at Timboon hospital and my first experience of fundraising as a tiny child was for Timboon hospital, so I can guarantee you I understand the importance and the Allan Labor government understands the importance of small community hospitals and the service they provide to those communities. I give a big shout-out to the work they do, being there at critical times of need, keeping clinical patient care as their key focus and helping our communities stay healthy.

I am proud of the truly significant stage 2, $384 million investment being made by this government to expand South West Healthcare. The Allan Labor government has accepted in full 26 of the 27 recommendations proposed by the expert advisory committee as part of the health services plan. I go back to the redevelopment of South West Healthcare. That project is well and truly underway, with the completion of the laundry and supply department, which is automated in a way that is very, very similar to an Amazon warehouse, where products are picked and supplied to hospitals across the whole region. It is a fantastic example of how the Allan Labor government is supporting regionalisation and coordination whilst allowing hospitals to maintain their own governance and make sure that the services, and in this case laundry and supplies needed by hospitals in the south-west, are reliably delivered.

Under the current reforms, the government will establish Hospitals Victoria, a new agency in the Department of Health with a CEO that reports directly to the Minister for Health and that is fully focused on supporting hospitals to deliver frontline care. For instance, currently hospitals have different payroll and IT systems, and it will be the remit of Hospitals Victoria to ensure that those things are supported and modernised so that patient care can be focused upon.

Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (10:11): I am very pleased to rise and make a contribution this morning on the short-form documents motion Ms Crozier has moved in relation to funding for our health system. We absolutely on this side of the chamber welcome the opportunity to talk about health and hospitals and to talk about the absolutely outstanding record that this Labor government has in investing in our healthcare system, which obviously you need to look at in the context of what the alternatives are for our healthcare system and what our opponents’ track record and policy settings would mean for our healthcare system. If we are in a debate which is seeking to get some documents about healthcare budgets, what the state budget shows, what Labor’s track record shows, is that we invest in health care.

Labor invests in health care; Labor in invests in hospitals. We invest in our workforce, we support our nurses and our doctors, we are building more hospitals and we are expanding existing hospitals, and what is that leading to? It is not just about supporting the workforce, it is not just about building the buildings, it is about improving patient care, because that is what our hospitals are about – improving patient care. That is why I am so excited to have a debate about health funding in this place, because our track record is so good compared to the record of those opposite, who have a significant record of cutting. When it comes to health, the Liberals cut and Labor invests. The Liberals shut hospitals, the Liberals privatise hospitals, and Labor buys them back. Labor builds new hospitals and Labor opens new hospitals. So if you want to get into a debate about what our healthcare funding does, that is what it does.

Not only are we funding more infrastructure, we are also supporting the workforce, backing our nurses, with record investment in our healthcare workforce – the latest on top of the work that we have done in prior budgets by doing things like legislating nurse-to-patient ratios, something that not everyone in this Parliament supports. In fact the Liberal Party opposed nurse-to-patient ratios. We continue to back our nurses, with a 28 per cent pay increase over the next four years. We are offering free nursing and midwifery scholarships. We are offering grants to GPs to help to cover the cost of their study, and we are offering free TAFE. And we have recruited more than 3000 doctors, nurses, midwives and other health professionals from overseas to work in our health system since April 2022. We are supporting our health workforce through the investments we are making in our budget, which this motion is seeking further detail on.

I think when people actually have a chance to have a look at the facts rather than the misinformation, they will see exactly what is happening in terms of the Labor government’s investment in our healthcare system. I mentioned briefly earlier what that investment is achieving, because we do know that there is considerable demand and there is considerable pressure on our healthcare system. In the last quarter alone we saw record demand in emergency departments: over half a million presentations, 6 per cent more than in the same period last year. That is why there is additional funding of $1.5 billion to support our hospitals, which has been put on the table in terms of the current budget negotiations, on top of the $11 billion that was in the budget, of which about $8.8 billion is being used to fund our hospitals to meet that demand. That is in recognition of the increased demand to support additional planned surgeries, further funding to support grants and obviously, as Ms Ermacora mentioned, the implementation of electronic medical records for those services which do not have them.

Labor is proud of our record of investing in our healthcare system. We are proud of our record of investing in our healthcare workforce, and what that is doing is delivering better and world-class health care to more Victorians.

Sheena WATT (Northern Metropolitan) (10:16): Thank you for the chance to rise and make a contribution on the motion before us. I am not here to really oppose the motion, more to question its premise. The government does not cut corners when it comes to health, and it absolutely does not cut corners when it comes to health spending. Our world-class health system is built on a decade of consistent investment in hospitals. We know that Victorians deserve nothing less than right now in the right place at the right time a world-class health system.

Providing this standard of health care has become more challenging since the pandemic. But unlike those opposite, we do not shrink from the challenge. We know that every cent invested in health is absolutely justified. That is why in this year’s budget we made a multiyear investment of $11 billion in our healthcare system, including $8.8 billion in hospital funding. But we wanted to go further, so we have listened to healthcare workers, other stakeholders and community groups. We know the challenges they face. Our population over the last 10 years has astonishingly grown 15 per cent, and as our population lives longer, they present with more complex and more chronic conditions. Additionally, in the last quarter alone it is worth noting that emergency presentations rose by 6 per cent, to 503,000 presentations. Some services are really facing an incredibly challenging time with these increased services without electronic medical record systems. In recognition of that, we are now investing a further $1.5 billion to support our hospitals to meet the challenges of post-pandemic health care.

The one that I am particularly excited about, and I recall having spoken about it more than once, is the priority primary care centres. They have been expanded to 29 centres right across the state and have reached a record 475,000 visits. That is five MCGs in Melbourne measurement. More than 338 000 patients passed through Victoria’s innovative virtual emergency department between September 2022 and June 2024. Knowing some young families, can I just point out how much that service has been appreciated when you have got the young ones at home. That virtual emergency department is helping prevent unnecessary trips to the hospital, with 86 per cent of those going through the virtual ED avoiding unnecessary trips to the hospital. This really does take a weight off our hospitals and our emergency departments. It frees up our doctors and nurses to treat more patients.

This government’s $1.5 billion COVID catch-up plan has worked wonders for Victoria’s healthcare system. There has been a drop in the waitlist of more than 33 per cent since it launched in April 2022, the lowest it has been since prepandemic 2020, with almost 210,000 planned surgeries performed in 2023–24, the highest financial year figure on record. Between February 2023 and March 2024 the average emergency department length of stay for admitted patients reduced by 55 minutes, and for those that were not admitted it reduced by 14 minutes. We do not cut corners, we do not cut costs and we do not cut services. We invest and we expand to give all Victorians the care that they need at a time when they need it most. I could go on and list the 12 hospitals that were shut down, but I am not going to do that. I am instead going to talk about making record investments in the state’s healthcare workforce, including our valued and most beloved nurses and midwives, through our scholarships and our GP grants to cover the cost of studies and the recruitment of more than 3000 overseas doctors, nurses, midwives and other health professionals, some that I have met in the Parkville precinct who are absolutely loving life in Melbourne. This is preparing Victoria for any healthcare challenge and the challenges of a really complex system that have been thrown our way, and that is why we have one of the best healthcare systems not just in Victoria but in the world, attracting world-class talent each and every day.

I will just say that we will be supporting this motion, but let me be clear that this government is doing the vital work that needs to be done to keep Victoria’s healthcare system running at full steam and continuing for many, many years to come.

Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) (10:21): Following on the short-form documents motion – I have limited time, 1 minute – as has been said before, you have shut and you have cut health services; there has been no shortage of privatisations and closures of hospitals on your side. We open hospitals. We bring them back into public hands. I was just at Orbost, where they are getting a new endoscopy facility and a $45 million brand new aged care wing. For Maffra hospital there is $70 million for a new aged care wing; for Wonthaggi Hospital, $115 million; and for Frankston Hospital, a billion-dollar new hospital – and this is just in the eastern region alone. What about up in Goongerah, right up in the bush? HoloLens is ensuring our nurses and our locals have the best, latest, cutting-edge technology to ensure they can be seen by specialists without having to leave their own communities. We are out of time, but we will happily debate on health any single day of the week.

Motion agreed to.