Thursday, 29 August 2024

 Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Health Infrastructure, Minister for Ambulance Services) (14:14): I rise to update the house on the Allan Labor government’s support for Victorians to access urgent care where and when they need it. This morning the Premier, local member Minister Erdogan in the other place and I joined Access Health and Community in Richmond to mark a huge milestone: half a million presentations to priority primary care centres since they opened. They now have a new name, urgent care clinics, making it easier for Victorians to navigate our health system. Urgent care clinics are there when you need to access medical attention but it is not a life-threatening emergency. Think cuts, burns, breaks, infections and other common illnesses and injuries. Across Victoria 29 clinics, including nine in rural and regional Victoria, are easing pressure on our busy emergency departments.

Patient surveys tell us that almost half of those people who have presented to our urgent care clinics would otherwise have gone to an emergency department, so that is hundreds of thousands of trips to our EDs that have been saved for Victorians. We also know that 38 per cent of the patients accessing care are children and that 45 per cent of admissions happen after hours, so this is an initiative that is delivering for families. Our government’s commitment has always been to help families where and when they need it most.

It should not be that difficult to see a doctor when you need to see one, but we know, after almost a decade of neglect from the former federal Liberal–National government, that Medicare is broken. What did those on the other side of the house have to say when the Medicare rebate was frozen?

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, it is inappropriate for the minister to be attacking the opposition in a ministers statement again.

The SPEAKER: I ask the minister to come back to her ministers statement.

Mary-Anne THOMAS: The point is that, while those on the other side of the place have done nothing to advance the healthcare interests of Victorians, those on this side – (Time expired)