Wednesday, 30 October 2019

Gippsland health services workforce

Mr D O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (19:04): (1368) My adjournment matter tonight is for the Minister for Health in the other place, and the action I seek is for the minister to undertake a program to support Gippsland hospitals, and health services more broadly, with workforce recruitment. There is a particular issue in Gippsland—and indeed right throughout rural Australia and rural Victoria—with respect to health workforce recruitment. I have had firsthand experience of that in my electorate, particularly with GPs, midwives and nurses.

The Yarram community has been grappling for some time with a shortage of GPs. In the case of Yarram and District Health Service, the health service actually runs a GP clinic and at the moment I believe—at the time of speaking—has just one GP permanently on staff. It has managed to secure locums for the summer period, but I know that it has been very difficult even to do that.

Likewise, we saw the spectacle a few weeks ago of Leongatha Hospital twice having to close its midwifery section because there was literally a shortage of midwives. I have had a number of complaints over recent weeks about the hospital not being fully staffed when it comes to nurses as well. Likewise, the Sale hospital, run by the Central Gippsland Health Service, had some issues with getting enough paediatricians. Dentists are another issue, although I believe the dental cohort is currently full. But a couple of the ones that I mentioned are critical.

It does not matter whether you are a constituent in Gippsland South or a young National from elsewhere in the state, there are certainly people who need good health services. The Liberals and Nationals took a policy to the election last year to establish a rural workforce development strategy, which is something that the Victorian Healthcare Association, I believe, has been calling for for a number of years. The Labor government did not respond in similar terms.

I think it is something that should be done in conjunction with the commonwealth, because certainly when it comes to GP recruitment and development the commonwealth absolutely has a role to play. I know our federal senator, Bridget McKenzie, when she was the minister for regional services, unveiled a significant plan to help encourage more GPs into rural areas, certainly through a rural GPs specialist training program as well. I ask the minister to work with the commonwealth but particularly to work with the hospitals and the health services throughout Gippsland to improve the workforce shortages that we have got, to ensure that the people of Gippsland South have access to quality health care.