Questions without notice and ministers statements
Health system
Mr GUY (Bulleen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:01): My question is to the Minister for Health. On 8 March Jeanne from Melbourne’s south came to Parliament to raise the issue about her elective surgery delay. She was here again today. Her details were sent to the minister on 24 June. Jeanne needs a knee replacement. She now cannot walk long distance, mostly relies on a walking frame and is also mostly housebound and totally reliant on her family to help. Four months on, Minister, I ask the government again: why are people like Jeanne still waiting months for vital surgery? Will Jeanne ever get her surgery, the surgery she needs, before she has a serious fall?
Ms THOMAS (Macedon—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services) (14:02): Could I begin by acknowledging Jeanne and the distress that she is obviously experiencing. Living with pain is difficult, but I do want to assure Jeanne and indeed all Victorians that our government is supporting our healthcare workers to get on and deliver planned surgeries, be they category 1, category 2 or category 3. And I make this point also—that every day in our hospitals our healthcare workers, our clinicians and our nurses are making decisions based on the available staff that they have about the surgeries that they can deliver. It is important to point out once again, and I do need to point it out because the opposition seem not to be able to understand, that the pandemic has had a significant impact on workforce, so on any given day we are seeing staff furloughed—and what that means is that our healthcare workers and our clinicians are working hard every day to actively manage the waiting list. Indeed this is an experience that is not exclusive to us here in Victoria; it is being experienced in New South Wales, in Queensland—all around the nation and indeed around the world. Again, I thank the member for raising the question. I can assure him that my department will follow through with Jeanne and understand exactly where she is and make sure that she is being actively managed because that is my expectation of how we are supporting everyone on the waitlist.
I will make a couple of other points. Last week the Premier and I made a very, very important announcement—and that was that we are purchasing the Bellbird Private Hospital and turning it into the Blackburn public surgery clinic, a clinic that will deliver an additional 5700 planned surgeries every year. And that is on top of an announcement made previously—that we will purchase Frankston Private Hospital to deliver an additional 9000 public surgeries every year. We have in place a $1.5 billion COVID catch-up plan, and we are facing straight into the challenges that our system is experiencing when it comes to our planned surgery waitlist. I was pleased to see that the last quarter data suggested some stabilisation in those numbers. But we will not shy away from the fact that there is more work to do. I understand that at the heart of every decision our government make and all the support that we provide is a patient just like Jeanne, and that is what gets me up to work every day—to deliver the best care for all Victorians.
Mr GUY (Bulleen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:05): I thank the minister for her answer. One of Jeanne’s last options to get her vital surgery is to simply abandon all hope of it ever being done in Victoria and get it done in India at a cost of $25 000. How is it acceptable that Victorians desperate for elective surgery have to consider going overseas because the Andrews government has mismanaged elective surgery and left nearly 100 000 Victorians in pain and on a never-ending waiting list?
Ms THOMAS (Macedon—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services) (14:06): Can I make this point: across our health system we have hardworking clinicians, nurses, allied healthcare workers, cooks and cleaners all working hard every day to provide the care that Victorians need. We have a plan, a COVID catch-up plan—$1.5 billion to ensure that we can deliver—
Members interjecting.
The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Warrandyte is warned.
Ms THOMAS: planned surgery. Our plan is that we will build back better out of this pandemic. We are recruiting and training an additional 7000 staff. We are investing in hospitals, emergency departments and theatres, and we of course have purchased two private hospitals to turn them into public surgery clinics, which those on the other side oppose.