Thursday, 6 February 2020

Elective surgery waiting lists

Mr M O’BRIEN (Malvern—Leader of the Opposition) (11:07): My question is to the Premier. At a time of record federal government funding for health Victoria’s elective surgery waiting lists have blown out—

Members interjecting.

Mr M O’BRIEN: I am glad the members opposite think that elective surgery waiting lists blowing is a source of amusement, but I can assure you, they do not—

Members interjecting.

Mr M O’BRIEN: I will start again. My question is to the Premier. At a time of record federal government funding for health Victoria’s elective surgery waiting lists have blown out by 11 000 people since June last year. How is it fair that Victorians in desperate need of cataract surgery, knee and hip replacements and hysterectomies are waiting years because this government has so dismally failed to manage Victoria’s health system?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! I warn the member for Essendon.

Mr ANDREWS (Mulgrave—Premier) (11:08): I do thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. He asked me about the health system, and I am very pleased to be able to confirm for all Victorians that our government in each and every year that we have had the great privilege of being in office have delivered additional funding so that we can hire more nurses, more doctors and more paramedics. We make choices, and health is about choices. You could, for instance, choose to go to war with your workforce. You could choose that. I wonder whether that would be in the interests of patients? I do not think so.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! I warn the member for Warrandyte and the member for Eltham.

Mr ANDREWS: He would not know what a win looked like, this one—Mr Marginal Seats over here.

Mr R Smith interjected.

Mr ANDREWS: You would do better to say less, I think.

Mr R Smith interjected.

Mr ANDREWS: Well, they should hide you.

Members interjecting.

Mr ANDREWS: On serious matters, you could go to war with your workforce; we will not do that. You could cut budgets across the board; we will not do that either. Instead we will continue to invest in record terms so that we can treat more patients and provide better care. Now, that is not to say that there are not challenges in our health system; of course there are. We had a flu season last year, for instance, where there were—

Members interjecting.

Mr ANDREWS: Apparently the chief health officer here knows better.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Before calling the Leader of the Opposition, I again warn all members that they will be removed from the chamber without warning if they keep shouting across the chamber.

Mr M O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, relating to the Premier debating the question. The question was: how is it fair for these Victorians who are waiting for surgery—for knee and hip replacements, for hysterectomies, for cataract surgery—that they are languishing on these waiting lists? And 11 000 more of them have been languishing since last June. I ask you to bring the Premier back to answering that question and answering the question for those Victorians who are suffering as a result.

The SPEAKER: Order! It was a very long question, and the Premier is being relevant to the question that was asked.

Mr ANDREWS: The Leader of the Opposition may think that 67 000 laboratory-confirmed cases of flu and a record number of people presenting to our emergency departments is unrelated to elective surgery. It is directly related. It is because of pressures like that that surgery, for instance, gets cancelled and postponed.

Members interjecting.

Mr ANDREWS: Well, apparently those opposite know better. They ought to stick to what they know best: cutting budgets and attacking health workers. On the issue of treatment, I am very pleased to be able to confirm for the Leader of the Opposition that despite that pressure in terms of a horror flu season, all category 1 patients received their surgery within 30 days and half within 10 days—

Members interjecting.

Mr ANDREWS: Well, apparently time to treatment does not matter. How long you wait does not matter, according to the health experts opposite here. And they are getting their surgery quicker than they have ever got it. Apparently that is not relevant; how long you wait is not relevant. The fact that people are waiting less than they have ever waited—

Members interjecting.

Mr ANDREWS: Just get this straight: the fact that people are waiting less time than ever before—in other words, they are getting their surgery faster than they ever have—apparently is irrelevant according to Dr O’Brien.

The SPEAKER: Order! I warn the Premier to use correct titles.

Mr M O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, I am pleased that the Premier is making it clear that he thinks waiting lists do not matter. He thinks waiting lists do not matter at all.

Mr ANDREWS: The Leader of the Opposition and all those opposite and indeed all Victorians can be assured that we will continue to invest in health in record terms, to treat more patients and to treat them faster. We reject the notion of cutting funding and going to war with our workforce. We never have and we never will.

Mr M O’BRIEN (Malvern—Leader of the Opposition) (11:12): Just since the last election we have seen ambulances ramping, including 11 at one hospital last night. Surgery is cancelled because of unclean surgical equipment, and now, despite the Premier’s promises, surgical waitlists have gone up—not down. With 51 000 Victorians languishing on elective surgery waiting lists, when will these lists be brought back under 40 000?

Mr ANDREWS (Mulgrave—Premier) (11:12): I am genuinely indebted to the Leader of the Opposition for raising the issue of ambulance performance. We are very proud of our paramedics, every single one.

Members interjecting.

Mr ANDREWS: Well, I would not hold your breath waiting for me to take enterprise bargaining agreement advice for the paramedic union from you. Do not do that. It would not be good for your health, I do not think. We will not be lectured by those who cut hospital funding. We will not be lectured by those who decided the best thing to do was to give the bird to our nurses—

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier will resume his seat.

Mr M O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, under the standing orders the Premier’s answer is supposed to be factual, and I would make available to the house the Fact Check from ABC looking at the former health minister’s claims:

Did the Victorian coalition cut a billion from health when last in office?

Wrong. I make that available to the house. No more lies from you, mate.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition knows that that is—

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party!

Mr ANDREWS: If only they had got 3 million of those printed instead of their health policy, maybe things would be a little bit different. Goodness me, the ABC Fact Check! The Victorian community have worked—

Members interjecting.

Mr ANDREWS: They are great fans of yours. They are wonderful fans of yours. At the end of the day we have increased funding every year. We will continue to do that. We will not be lectured on ambulance performance by those who delivered an ambulance crisis.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Warrandyte will leave the chamber for the period of 1 hour.

Member for Warrandyte withdrew from chamber.

The SPEAKER: I have warned all members across the chamber to stop shouting.