Tuesday, 28 November 2023

Elective surgery

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:13): My question is to the Minister for Health. Ahead of the last election Labor promised that:

Thousands more public patients will soon receive elective surgery …

It has been revealed at PAEC that 1395 Victorians tragically died while waiting for elective surgery over the past two years. How many more Victorians will have to die before the government honours its promise to fix elective surgery?

Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Health Infrastructure, Minister for Ambulance Services) (14:13): The Leader of the Opposition has shown once again that they are a party of no integrity. The Leader of the Opposition knows that he is misconstruing data for political purposes.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, this is a very, very serious –

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Points of order will be heard in silence. The Minister for Health!

James Newbury: This is a very serious question about very tragic events that we have asked about, and we would ask that the minister come back to the original question.

The SPEAKER: I ask the Minister for Health to address the question that was asked.

Mary-Anne THOMAS: As was also noted – and as the Leader of the Opposition has neglected to inform the house – there are a range of reasons why people may be removed from the waitlist, and indeed some of those are no longer on the waitlist because they have died. But let me be clear: Safer Care Victoria requires that every person who has suffered a sentinel event or has died as a consequence of not receiving the care in our health system that they need and deserve is reported to them, and they also make the point that there have been zero deaths reported as a consequence of not getting the surgery that people need.

Members interjecting.

Mary-Anne THOMAS: So let me be clear – you asked the question, and you listen to the answer.

The SPEAKER: Through the Chair!

Mary-Anne THOMAS: This is an issue that our government takes very, very seriously. I will also point you to the consistent results of our health data that is released every quarter, which shows that across the year 99.9 per cent of category 1 surgery, which is the urgent, essential, life-saving surgery, is done within the clinically approved time, which is 30 days. What is more, it shows that the median wait time is 12 days. So let us be clear: we have a waitlist, and it is one that we are also driving down – another inconvenient truth for the Leader of the Opposition. However, what we have seen – and I am not surprised at where the Leader of the Opposition has chosen to go with this – is that no-one on our waitlist has died as a consequence of not receiving the surgery that they need.

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:17): Ahead of the last election Labor purchased Bellbird Private Hospital in Blackburn with the promise to perform 5700 additional public elective surgeries each year. It was revealed at PAEC that fewer than 900 surgeries were performed before the hospital was closed and demolition works commenced. When will the government honour its promise for an additional 5700 public elective surgeries each year from this facility?

Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Health Infrastructure, Minister for Ambulance Services) (14:17): This reminds me, this question from the Leader of the Opposition, that when this government purchased Bellbird hospital we were accused of a socialist manoeuvre. What that suggests to me is that, given the chance, they will sell off Bellbird, they will sell off Frankston, they will privatise Mildura – they will sell off Mildura like they did last time.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, this question is an important supplementary asking when the government will live up to its promise of delivering 5700 elective surgeries.

The SPEAKER: A point of order is not an opportunity to repeat the question. The minister was being a little bit relevant. I do ask the minister to come back.

Mary-Anne THOMAS: We were very proud to purchase two private hospitals to turn them into public surgery centres. Those hospitals are on track to continue to deliver the additional surgery that we have committed to the Victorian people that we will deliver.