Health system
Mr WELLS (Rowville) (09:56): This statement condemns the Andrews Labor government’s appalling neglect of hospitals for residents in the south-east. Our health workers are under immense pressure in a system that is broken and under-resourced. I was shocked to hear the awful experience of patients in my electorate, like Adrian, whose stroke was not diagnosed for eight days. Adrian was rushed to the Monash Medical Centre by ambulance with a severe headache and vomiting on 2 May. Adrian also has prostate cancer. His wife pleaded repeatedly with hospital staff for an MRI. On 5 May the hospital diagnosed Adrian with a complex migraine. By Thursday, 6 May, having not had an MRI, he was discharged with no medication and no scheduled follow-ups. Adrian was still so ill by 10 May his GP saw him at home and immediately ordered an MRI. The MRI showed Adrian had had a stroke eight days earlier. But it gets worse. Adrian and his wife immediately returned to the Monash Medical Centre, where it took 5 hours to see a doctor. The doctor stated, ‘We don’t think he is a stroke victim’, even though the MRI showed otherwise. Adrian was left in a chair for a further 7 hours. By the time a bed on a ward was available, more than 12 hours after he had arrived, he had been exposed to COVID and was isolated but discharged home with his family without a PCR test. Adrian’s experience is not isolated.