Health services
Ms McLEISH (Eildon) (12:11): I have a question for the Minister for Health. Sharelle presented to the Alexandra hospital on 22 April at 7.00 pm with complications related to her advanced ovarian cancer. An ambulance was called, and Sharelle’s husband, Wes, left her at the hospital at 10.00 pm. At 1.30 am Sharelle rang Wes to come and get her because no ambulances were available and the Alexandra hospital needed Wes to drive his wife to the Maroondah Hospital. They arrived at 3.00 am and were seen 6 hours later. Can the minister explain to Sharelle why under his watch the health system has deteriorated to a situation as unacceptable as this?
Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (12:12): Can I thank the member for Eildon for her question. Whilst I am not familiar with the specifics of the set of circumstances of the patient that the honourable member refers to, I can nonetheless, should she choose to provide those to me, undertake to get the specifics in terms of the circumstances that have been presented here in this place. But more broadly what we do know is that this is a regional hospital that this government has invested in, as opposed to some regional hospitals. When others had the opportunity they sat around the cabinet table and extended the privatisation of some of those hospitals, or they cut the services around how regional and other hospitals were delivering services—
Ms McLeish: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, the minister is absolutely waffling and not addressing the situation.
The SPEAKER: Order! The question that the member asked at the end of giving a specific example was a broad question. The minister is being relevant to it.
Mr FOLEY: Thank you, honourable Speaker. But what we do know is that, coming off a high in 2019 when our entire health system was reporting performance measures of the highest possible standard—in many cases the highest on record as a result of record investment support from this government—what we have then had is a global pandemic that has seen awful sets of circumstances in Victoria, in Australia and globally. Over 6 million people officially have lost their lives to this global pandemic and we have seen, tragically, deaths right across comparable regimes, including our own here in Victoria and in Australia. At the same time we have also seen infection prevention and control measures, and on the back of the omicron peak that has swept through Australia we have seen thousands of people furloughed. You add all of that together and this has presented unprecedented challenges for our healthcare workers right across the system.
You can make a choice in these things: you can choose to work cooperatively and invest in the recovery and the rebuilding of that system from the global pandemic, or you can take the alternative path, such as we have seen from the federal government at the moment—a $1.5 billion forecast cut to this state alone when it comes to our healthcare services from the commonwealth, arguing that somehow or another it is all over and that it is all fixed. Or you can, as this government is choosing to do, put in place a plan that puts patients first and that puts the rebuilding of the workforce, the infrastructure and the systems that govern and make our healthcare system one of the most high class in the world first—and we choose the latter.
Ms McLEISH (Eildon) (12:15): Sadly for Sharelle, situations like this are not unfamiliar. On the evening of 20 February she was in excruciating pain. Her husband called an ambulance, which took an hour to arrive. Whilst being transferred to Monash hospital, Sharelle vomited in the ambulance. On arrival she spent 12 hours on a gurney in a holding corridor in emergency. Unable to get any of the overworked staff’s attention, covered in dried vomit and with her blood sugar levels plummeting, Sharelle was forced to ring her husband for help. She had not been put first there, that is for sure. How has the minister allowed our hospital system to fall to a state where situations like this are a regular occurrence?
Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (12:16): Can I thank the member for Eildon for her supplementary question. Again, I am not familiar with the specifics or the circumstances of the patient that she highlights, but should she choose to do so I am more than happy to—whether it is through ESTA, the ambulance service or Monash Health—follow up those particular circumstances for her constituent. But I do know that Monash Health as our largest health service has had tremendous pressure put on it through the global pandemic and that it has seen hundreds and hundreds of workers furloughed as it has dealt with unprecedented levels of demand across its system and unprecedented challenges. I do know from constant engagement with Monash Health that they have put in place systems where the investment in extra doctors, extra nurses and extra systems put patients first, and that is what this government is all about.