Thursday, 24 March 2022

Health services

Mr GUY (Bulleen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:09): My question is to the Minister for Health. Belinda from Bendigo recently had her teenage daughter taken to hospital with chest pains. Belinda and her daughter were left in a waiting room at 1.30 in the morning to have medical staff check in on them only once during that wait. After hearing the triage nurse telling them that sadly there was only one doctor on duty and no available beds, she made a difficult decision at 5.00 am to take her daughter, who was still having chest pains, home. Belinda has contacted me to ask the minister the question that she wants answered: Minister, why aren’t you doing better for our sick kids?

Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (14:10): Can I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question, and again, whilst I am not in a position to comment on particular cases, I am more than happy in the circumstances to just verify the material that the honourable Leader of the Opposition provides. But I can say when it comes to Bendigo Health just what an outstanding investment the people and the community of Bendigo and the Victorian people have made in that hospital and the outstanding work that it does every day, day in, day out.

In regard to the particular circumstances that the honourable Leader of the Opposition raises, I am in a position to say that what we do know is that Bendigo Health through their entire range of services provide a suite of opportunities for the particular specialist areas that the honourable Leader of the Opposition touches on, indeed right across the health, peri-health and other areas, to the point where that now acts as a beacon for support right across the goldfields and central Victoria region. That is as a result of the record investment that this government continues to put in.

Now, in regard to the particular circumstances and timing, I would reiterate that this global pandemic is not over as far as our health services are concerned. We know that there were some 1595 healthcare workers across our system out of action yesterday as a result of this global pandemic. We will work with those health services, with our frontline healthcare professionals, to make sure that they have the resources they need and the confidence that the Victorian people and our healthcare professionals have in place to make sure that we continue to build our responses and our opportunities to make sure that all Victorians get the world-class health and care in their community as they have come to expect and as we continue to deliver.

In regard to specific circumstances that the honourable member might bring in this or other circumstances, I am more than happy to follow up those individual cases and make sure that the particular circumstances are shared with him or indeed those family members.

Mr GUY (Bulleen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:12): Belinda’s daughter has complex pre-existing health conditions and was listed as a fast-track category 2 because her chest pain was viewed as serious. Category 2 patients are required to be seen within 15 minutes, yet due to resourcing issues she remained for 3½ hours without medical attention. As Belinda further asks, ‘How has the minister and the government allowed our health system to become as dangerous as this for Victoria’s sick children?’.

Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (14:13): Any suggestion that the Victorian public health sector, but particularly Bendigo Health, is a dangerous facility is one that I would take objection to. I would ask the Leader of the Opposition to carefully measure his language. What we have seen in the opposition increasingly is a Trumpian tendency towards extreme overstatement—

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Members on both sides! Before calling the Leader of the Opposition, members on both sides will be removed without further warning for shouting across the chamber.

Mr Guy: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, I have been quoting some comments from the mother of a sick child who was brought in seeking medical attention. If the minister wishes to cast aspersions on the mother of a teenage daughter, which he is, then that is a reflection on the minister and the government and the fact that they have left our health system in such an abysmal state.

The SPEAKER: Order! I do not uphold the point of order. The minister is being relevant to the question that was asked. I again warn members not to shout across the chamber.

Mr FOLEY: Can I thank the Chair for the ruling. Bendigo Health is one of the most outstanding regional and rural health services in our country, let alone in our state. The fact that it drives 5000 jobs in its own right, let alone the many that rely on it in that community, shows the growth that this government has placed in it, including in the emergency departments, including in the cardiac area, including in the paediatric areas, and I am more than happy to follow up the specifics— (Time expired)