Ministers statements: Better at Home program
Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (12:17): I had great pleasure in joining the Premier this morning at the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation headquarters to kick to a whole new level the Better at Home care system that the Victorian government has pioneered. I was very pleased that as part of that we were able to announce today a $698 million investment to expand the successful Better at Home care program. As a result of the global pandemic we have seen new models of care arise, partly as a result of necessity and having to be piloted, but strangely enough through that the system has been delivering better models of care that deliver better outcomes for patients and better outcomes for the health system by keeping people closer to their support networks at home and the pressure off the tertiary and other hospital systems. It has been a remarkable success, and that is why I was only too pleased to see the commitment that we made today that will see 15 000 Victorians access home-based care each year going forward from here on in.
I was also pleased that we were able to announce a $3.6 million investment in the transitional care program for people who are stuck in our public health system because the federal government will not stand up and fund the national disability insurance scheme properly. Last night we had 208 Victorians who were clinically cleared to go home with nowhere to go because the national disability insurance scheme is not stepping up and doing its job. These people—there is nothing wrong with them, they are cleared to go—are stuck in these beds blocking access to systems. That reflects choices. You can put patients first or you can put patients last. We choose to put patients— (Time expired)