Thursday, 6 February 2025

Patient transport

Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (17:53): (1395) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Health, and the action that I seek is for the minister to order that all overdue reimbursements through the Victorian patient transport assistance scheme be promptly paid. The Victorian patient transport assistance scheme is a vital subsidy scheme that helps rural and regional patients who travel long distances for medical treatment. Many regional Victorians who are receiving specialist medical treatment, like cancer treatments, must travel to Melbourne because it is the only place that they can get their treatment. The travel can often be expensive, especially for those who are elderly or out of work. The subsidy scheme offers enormous help to those people. Patients pay for their own travel, whether by car, by taxi or flying, and then eligible patients can get a reimbursement from the government. A small amount can also be claimed for accommodation for those who want to arrive the night before a morning appointment.

The government’s website says that payment of claims can take up to six to eight weeks from receipt, but in reality many patients are waiting much longer than that, and many of these patients are among those who can least afford to wait, who need their reimbursements issued promptly, because that money has to go towards living expenses. There are also volunteer organisations who help eligible medical patients, and they are also waiting for reimbursements. There have been recent reports that health services in my electorate of Northern Victoria have been waiting several months for their reimbursements to come through, and some are owed hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is completely unacceptable. For a small volunteer-run organisation, payment delays of this length cause serious problems. Delays affect cash flow and even threaten the ongoing viability of the service these organisations offer.

In the midst of this payment crisis the Minister for Health Mary-Anne Thomas is missing in action. This is another symptom of the dysfunction in the Victorian health services caused by the Allan Labor government. Labor are not resourcing the health services properly because they are spending all their time and all our money on their massive metro projects like the Suburban Rail Loop and neglecting crucial services that support access to medical treatment for regional and rural Victorians. The minister must investigate and audit this failure in the reimbursement scheme and act immediately to order prompt payment of all money owed to individuals and services who are long overdue to receive their reimbursements.