Thursday, 7 April 2022

Health services

Mr WALSH (Murray Plains) (14:11): My question is to the Minister for Health. Jade is a 20-year-old who has Crohn’s disease and history of bowel obstruction. Jade presented to the Sale emergency department a few days ago with severe abdominal pain. Overworked hospital staff advised that there were no beds and there was not anywhere she could sit, so she had to lie on the ground wrapped in a blanket given to her by a paramedic until she was able to be seen. Jade lay on the ground for an hour and a half in excruciating pain. Minister, how has Victoria’s health system deteriorated so badly under this government that a patient has to resort to lying on a concrete floor in excruciating pain because there are no beds, no chairs and no trolleys for them?

Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (14:12): Can I thank the Leader of The Nationals for his question. I am not familiar with the specifics of the patient that the honourable Leader of The Nationals references, but what I do know is that, particularly when it comes to the public health system in the valley more generally, this is a government that has invested in those services like no other, and it certainly has not privatised one of the key hospitals in that area. But what we do know—

Mr Walsh: On a point of order, Speaker, Sale is not in the Latrobe Valley. I would ask you to bring the minister back to answering the question.

The SPEAKER: Order! I do not uphold the point of order.

Mr FOLEY: I know where the hospital that those opposite privatised was—

Mr Andrews: When they chucked the keys back to us.

Mr FOLEY: and I know which government has supported it when the keys were thrown back. Whether it is in Mildura or whether it is in the Latrobe Valley or whether it is anywhere else, there is one side of this house that funds public health—

Members interjecting.

Mr FOLEY: There is one side of this house that—

The SPEAKER: Order! I ask the minister to pause. The member for Polwarth can leave the chamber for the period of 1 hour.

Member for Polwarth withdrew from chamber.

Mr FOLEY: But what we do know is that as a result of the global pandemic we have seen a partnership arrangement apply across particularly our regional hospitals, who have come together in ways like never before. So to assert that the people of East Gippsland have no relationship with Latrobe Regional Hospital is simply wrong and is not an accurate reflection of reality. In regard to a whole range of services, we know that this is a government that has funded those services like no other. At the same time we know that the last two years have seen levels of demand on those services like no other. We have seen—

Mr Walsh: On the issue of relevance, Speaker, the question was very clearly about how the health system has deteriorated so badly under this minister’s watch. I would ask you to actually bring the minister back to answering that question, particularly when it comes to the lack of support that Jade got when she attended the emergency department—in Sale.

The SPEAKER: Order! As the Leader of The Nationals has just highlighted, the question—

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Rowville can leave the chamber for 1 hour.

Member for Rowville withdrew from chamber.

The SPEAKER: I am not going to have members shouting over me when I am trying to rule. The minister is being relevant to the broad question that was asked.

Mr FOLEY: We all appreciate that the Sale emergency department is in Sale.

Mr Andrews: Yes. It is not for sale.

Mr FOLEY: And certainly it is not for sale under this government—I have got to acknowledge copyright. But what we do know is it is a very serious issue, that particularly people in our regions need access to emergency services and emergency department services when they need them. We also have to recognise that over the course of this period of time, particularly over the last few weeks and months, we have seen a combination of a roaring back of demand to unprecedented levels, and we have equally seen a roaring increase in the number of people furloughed. We are averaging around 2000 people being furloughed out of our healthcare system every day at the moment. That is 2000 people on top of an already overstretched and overdemanded workforce that has gone out of its way over the last two years to support its local communities getting through this crisis. But it is also why this government funded $1.4 billion in rolling out extra support for those very services right across the state in January, and that process is getting through our system. As we get on top of this variant, we will get on top of the very issues that the honourable member has brought to our attention.

Mr WALSH (Murray Plains) (14:17): Jade was not seen or offered any pain relief for an hour and a half because the emergency department was so busy. Victoria’s hardworking nurses and paramedics are doing all they can to support patients like Jade, yet they too feel helpless. Emergency departments across Victoria, particularly across country Victoria, are experiencing cases like this. Does the minister take responsibility for the crisis in the Victorian health system?

Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (14:17): Can I thank the Leader of The Nationals for his supplementary question. We recognise the extraordinarily fantastic, difficult job that our emergency department nurses, clinicians, support staff, allied health professionals do all the time, but particularly over the last two years. That is why we are investing record amounts of support to get them through this crisis. But it would be wrong to pretend that we are not seeing on average 2000 people out of that system day in, day out, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. They are under pressure like never before, and what this government will do is take responsibility for partnering with them, for funding them, for not flogging them off and for supporting them every step of the way. Just like we did in 2015 to 2019, when we rebuilt the system, we will in the face of this one-in-100-year global pandemic rebuild this system again.