Tuesday, 20 June 2023

 Annabelle CLEELAND (Euroa) (19:05): (223) My adjournment tonight is for the Minister for Health, and the action I seek is a substantial increase in funding for regional health services so my community can get the health care they need when they need it. Regional Victorians, including those in Mitchell, Benalla, Strathbogie and Greater Bendigo, are bearing the brunt of the heartbreaking mismanagement of our health services by the minister. Our healthcare system is not just failing, it is people’s families, loved ones and children suffering. When I say loved ones, I also include my two-year-old daughter Quinn, who last week was hospitalised with severe respiratory issues. Despite best efforts, our local hospital could not afford to stock the critical dexamethasone she urgently needed. We went by ambulance to the Northern Hospital, where she was in one of nearly 20 ambulances ramped at a hospital that had a queue to the emergency department that overflowed outside and in the rain. Minister, your inaction and incompetent management of our health system is failing our children, our families and our community, turning heartbreaking stories into a harsh healthcare reality.

I want to use this opportunity to thank from the bottom of our hearts our local healthcare heroes like Sarah, Chris and Harmony but also to apologise for the lack of adequate support they receive from this government. But we cannot keep relying on these life savers to mask the management failings of this Labor government. Our health care, once a beacon, is crippled under the weight of this government’s incompetence. The category 1 surgery waitlist for critical cases has spiked by over 45 per cent in three months, with a disturbing 147 per cent rise at Bendigo Hospital. Every person on these waitlists has painful reminders of our failing system.

One of these is Heathcote business owner Tracie, who in the past three months has attended Bendigo Health’s emergency department three times and was told to wait 45 minutes for an ambulance while experiencing heart attack and abdominal pain symptoms. During one visit Tracie waited 9 hours before she was told the hospital was unable to provide a bed or CT or MRI scan. The crippling pain forced Tracie to go to a private hospital in Melbourne, where she was diagnosed with nerve damage from a fractured spine. Tracie had to pay $2000 to receive the care that is being denied to regional Victorians. Both Tracie and Quinn reflect thousands of people in regional Victoria who are suffering from the disparity in healthcare investment between Melbourne and the country by this government. The ongoing neglect of our health system is perpetually deferring essential surgeries and undermining preventative health care. Today it was hard to hear the minister gloat about Melbourne being the centre for state-of-the-art medical research when I know there are people struggling to receive even the most basic of care in our regional communities. I call on the minister to act urgently. Pull your head out of the sand and confront the healthcare crisis. Every Victorian, irrespective of where they live, deserves quality health care. This is a fundamental right and not a luxury. Regional Victorians are struggling under the weight of your complacency and are paying an unfair price.