Tuesday, 22 February 2022

Elective surgery

Mr GUY (Bulleen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:16): My question is again to the Minister for Health. Leslie urgently needs spinal surgery. She is losing strength from the waist down, and her neurosurgeon commenced preparation for surgery only to have to tell her it had been cancelled not once but twice. She lives with severe pain, is now incontinent and her quality of life is deteriorating every day. Her surgery is deemed to be elective. It is not elective; it is vital and critical for her to be pain free, to be mobile and to have dignity in her life. Leslie still does not have a date for her surgery. Minister, there were over 80 000 Victorians like Leslie on the waiting list at the end of December. How many are on the public waiting list today?

Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (14:17): Can I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I will refer the Leader of the Opposition to a number of statements I have made in this house and indeed since this house was last here, most recently including today, that we will see the level of elective surgery and category 1 and category 2 surgeries in both our public and private systems return to 100 per cent capacity as of next week. We indicated that that would not be in place for a moment longer than was absolutely necessary, and it was absolutely necessary, as indeed it was right across the country, to deal with the omicron variant’s huge impact on our hospital system, whereby we needed that space created by the pause and the deferral of category 2 and category 3 surgery to deal with those unprecedented levels of demand in our public system, transferring some of that demand to the private system.

In regard to the issues that the honourable member raises, the position is pretty clear: that this government over the course of the global pandemic on a number of occasions now has invested substantially, indeed many tens of millions of dollars, in how we address that issue of deferred care. We did it in the 2021–22 budget—

Mr Guy: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, I have waited for more than half of the minister’s time to expire, and I understand he is putting some context around his answer, but we did ask a specific question: how many people—how many Victorians—are on the public surgery waitlist today? It is a very straightforward question seeking a number from the minister. Half of his time has expired, and I ask you to draw him back to that question, please.

The SPEAKER: I understand the question that was asked, but the minister is being relevant to the question that was put.

Mr FOLEY: In terms of the whole issue of deferred care, these reports are done periodically; they do not report every day. The most recent public reports are those that the honourable member refers to, and when the subsequent reports are made available to the government they will be released in due course for wider community and sector consideration.

Back to the issue of how we deal with deferred care: this is a government that has invested more in how it deals with issues of deferred care through the course of the pandemic time and time again. We will again, and I want to thank the private sector operators for the constructive way in which they have partnered with the government over the course of both the delta and the omicron variants which has allowed us to get through those—

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Euroa can leave the chamber for the period of 1 hour.

Member for Euroa withdrew from chamber.

Mr FOLEY: whilst allowing us to deal with the challenges that the global pandemic has provided. We are not out of this global pandemic. Yes, we are looking forward to a period, according to the chief medical officer of the commonwealth, between now and the winter of continued declining cases, but we need to be vigilant, and we will use the period between now and the end of this current period to drive down those waiting lists.

Mr GUY (Bulleen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:21): While I was seeking an answer on a specific number, I ask: Minister, in March 2020 the public hospital surgery waitlist was just over 50 000. In December last year it was over 80 000. When will the public hospital waitlist be back to pre-COVID levels?

Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (14:21): There are many factors that go to how waiting lists in our public and private hospital systems are dealt with. One key element is government resources, and governments at both state and federal levels need to step up to the plate here. This government and indeed most state governments have invested more in this area than their federal counterparts.

I do actually want to take the opportunity to thank the Leader of the Opposition for raising a matter that all states raised with the commonwealth as recently as last Friday, when we took great issue that there was an opportunity here for the federal government to assist us all in dealing with precisely the issue that the honourable Leader of the Opposition raises—that since the Abbott government’s cut to public health funding, which was reduced from 50 to 45 per cent some years ago, it is time for the Liberal Party to put up or shut up.

Mr Guy: On a point of order, Speaker, I asked for a number in the first substantive question and a date in the second. Neither has been answered. I seek that you direct the minister to provide a written response to the chamber for both of those, given neither has even been remotely answered.

The SPEAKER: Order! It is not within my purview under the standing orders of this place to do that, but the minister will have 3 seconds to continue his answer.

Mr FOLEY: This government is committed to reducing the waiting list. It is about time the federal government assisted all states in that regard.