Thursday, 9 June 2022

Health system

Mr McCURDY (Ovens Valley) (14:35): My question is to the Premier. Earlier this week Crystal Jones from Moyhu’s young son was struggling to breathe. Nurse-on-Call advised her to take him straight to the emergency unit, which she did, at Wangaratta hospital. Overworked staff advised her there was a long wait and they would need to wait outside as the emergency department was full. Waiting with them outside in the cold was a woman in labour. Crystal waited outside for 4 hours before being able to move inside. After eight years in office can the Premier advise: is this what his government considers country Victoria’s gold standard hospital system?

Mr ANDREWS (Mulgrave—Premier) (14:36): Firstly, can I send my best wishes to Crystal and her child and express my regret if in any way Northeast Health or ambulance or any part of our health system has not been able to provide her with the support and the care and the service that she has every right to expect. I know the community that the member represents very well, and I know the hospital that the member cites very well. I have been there and have been very pleased to be involved in various elements of rebuilding that facility. They have been the recipients of a number of grants provided not by a former government but provided by this government.

I was asked about eight years—yes, eight years backing Wangaratta hospital, eight years backing our nurses, eight years legislating nurse-to-patient ratios, eight years of more funding and 22 000 extra health workers. That is what the eight years has been all about. The member asked what eight years has been all—well, again, it was not eight years of cuts and closures and privatisations. If the member is unwilling to acknowledge that we are in the midst of a one-in-100-year event and that when I speak with Premier Perrottet in New South Wales we talk about exactly the same pressures, exactly the same challenges, because there seems to be a degree of reality with the Premier of New South Wales and a degree of acceptance that no-one chose this as an outcome, no-one made decisions to deliver this outcome—this in fact is global. It is beyond the control of any of us, regardless of our political persuasion. It seems that those of the same political party here in Victoria simply refuse to acknowledge that our staff are doing the very best they can in incredibly difficult circumstances, that the government is providing them with record support and that there are more patients presenting than we have seen for a very long time and indeed more people calling for support than has ever been the case.

We, over our first period of time in office, repaired so much of the damage done by the government we took over from, and we will again—not by cuts and closures and privatisations, but by investment and hard work alongside our workforce. We will repair the damage that this pandemic has done, we will make sure that each and every patient who needs care gets that care, we will honour our workforce—not spend all of our time bagging our nurses and doctors and ambos. We will respond to any case where we are provided with sufficient information to identify that person and will ask the hospital to chase those matters up. If there is any further information that the member wants to provide to me, I give him and his constituent that undertaking.

Mr McCURDY (Ovens Valley) (14:39): Thank you, Premier. I am pleased that you care about the staff, because despite her son having a serious medical issue, one of Crystal’s major concerns was the staff and other patients having to wait or work outside on a Wangaratta winter’s night. How is it acceptable to have a situation where pregnant women, sick kids and healthcare staff are working or queueing outside of a hospital emergency department in the cold for hours because the government cannot manage Victoria’s health system?

Mr ANDREWS (Mulgrave—Premier) (14:39): Well, again, it should not come as a surprise to the honourable member that I ‘care’ about the staff. We have hired 22 000 more of them and given them legislated ratios. We have not been giving them the bird. We have not been going to war with them like others chose to do. The member can make all these comments. Let us be very clear about this, there are more people presenting to emergency departments than we have seen for a very long time—perhaps ever.

Our staff are doing their level best to provide care and support to each and every one of those patients and their families. Our staff have our full support. They are doing the very best they can in extraordinary circumstances. I would not like to think that any member of this place would essentially spend each and every day bagging the very health professionals who are working so hard for each and every one of us. However, it does seem to me that there are some who are addicted to bagging our nurses and doctors and ambos, and we will not stand for it.