Tuesday, 17 June 2025

Regional patient transport

Annabelle CLEELAND (Euroa) (19:21): (1189) My adjournment tonight is for the Minister for Health. The action I seek is a commitment to urgently reform Victoria’s non-emergency patient transport system and the Victorian patient transport assistance scheme so regional patients can access life-saving treatment without financial or logistical hardship. Right now the system is failing. The government’s changes to non-emergency patient transport, combined with a broken VPTAS system, are leaving regional Victorians behind, especially those who rely on regular medical treatments like renal dialysis. A government-commissioned review confirmed what my electorate already know: the system does not meet our patients’ needs. We need change that improves access, makes the system more efficient and better supports both patients and our workforce. But when you look at that review, it is clear regional services were barely consulted. Independent analysis into costs and feasibility was ignored entirely. Decisions are being made in Melbourne offices with very little understanding of what this means for regional Victoria.

Since demand rose by 25 per cent in 2019 Ambulance Victoria tightened eligibility criteria. Non-emergency patient transport is now only available for those needing active clinical supervision during travel. There is a consequence to this. It might work in the city, where patients have other transport options, but for regional patients this is absolutely devastating. Many could access subsidised taxi travel previously. Now they are told they no longer qualify and are left to make their own arrangements – people like June Howard in Benalla, who needs dialysis three times a week. In towns like Devenish and Heathcote there is simply no public transport at all. Ambulance Victoria will not take them. Taxis are not covered and many are missing appointments or going without treatment entirely.

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For those who think VPTAS will step in, it absolutely will not. The scheme is plagued by delays, bureaucracy and poor communication. Patients like Trevor Willmott have been waiting eight months for reimbursement – eight months, during a cost-of-living crisis. Many are hundreds of dollars out of pocket, and some cannot even get through to VPTAS on the phone or by email. When the cost of living keeps rising, expecting patients to cover these huge up-front costs and wait months to be reimbursed is simply impossible. It is not a bureaucratic failure, it is a moral one.

On top of this is the outdated 100-kilometre travel rule, which locks out patients in places like Benalla simply because the nearest hospital falls just short of the distance threshold. These families are being disqualified based on a technicality, even when the services they need are not available locally. For patients needing multiple treatments each week the financial and emotional strain is overwhelming. These are real people – patients trying to get treatment. The Allan Labor government cannot keep ignoring this. Stop abandoning regional patients on the side of the road.