Goulburn Valley Health
Ms SHEED (Shepparton) (09:50): This week Goulburn Valley Health in Shepparton, now a major regional health service, is short 80 doctors, 130 nurses and 40 allied health workers. The COVID pandemic has had a dramatic effect on the impact and capacity of our hospital to deliver services across the region, which encompasses southern New South Wales and as far down as Seymour and Wallan. I have been advocating strongly for additional support for our health service for as long as I have been a member in this place and am very proud that we have attracted huge investment in the redevelopment of our hospital and associated services, but there is always a need for more to be done. I was disappointed this week when five priority primary care clinics were announced, four in metropolitan Melbourne and one in Ballarat. Just yesterday a further 20 clinics were announced by the government, with the location of 10 of them announced and 10 yet to be announced. I plead with the government to consider the extreme staff shortages, the difficulties in recruitment of professional staff to regional areas, the overworked health workers in our hospital system and the extraordinary burden on our emergency department that has been brought about by the burden of illness, which has dramatically increased during the pandemic. A priority clinic established in our hospital in partnership with GPs to ease pressure on emergency departments and give people faster care for urgent but non-critical conditions would really make a huge difference to the day-to-day operations of the hospital.