Tuesday, 30 August 2022

 Ms CONNOLLY (Tarneit) (14:42): (6501) My question is for the Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services. Last weekend our government made an amazing announcement—a $14.3 million package to establish and fund five new primary care centres. We know that our emergency departments are currently very, very busy, and this is something our government is committed to working tirelessly to improve, with a $12 billion investment in our health system, the largest in any Victorian budget, training the staff we need to cope with current and future demands. But what this surge in emergency department presentations has done is tell another story. We are struggling to get enough GPs, or rather there are not enough GPs offering bulk-bill visitations, which deters people from seeking the medical assistance they need and sends them straight to the ED—something we are trying to avoid. Five hospitals will be receiving the primary care centres, including Sunshine Hospital in Melbourne’s west, designed to further ease pressure on our EDs, and just today another 10 in Victoria have been announced. So my question— (Time expired)