Thursday, 2 May 2019

Western Metropolitan Region

In reply to Mr MELHEM (Western Metropolitan) (6 March 2019)

Ms MIKAKOS (Northern Metropolitan—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services):

The Andrews Labor Government is committed to ensuring delivery of high-quality healthcare for all Victorians.

On 14 March 2019, I had the pleasure of visiting the site of the Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Sunshine with the member and other Labor colleagues. This brand new $200 million hospital will allow more women to give birth closer to home and provide world-class maternity and specialist paediatric care for families needing children’s services. More than 150 nurses and midwives will call this hospital home when it opens its doors. This is in addition to the extra 600 nurses and midwives that will be employed across the State as a result of our Government’s recent improvements to the Safe Patient Care Act 2015.

Government’s changes to the Act will create a range of positive impacts for all public health services, including those in the western metropolitan region. For example, amendments to the rounding methodology will mean that, in most circumstances when calculating staffing requirements, the number of nurses or midwives must be rounded up to the next whole number, ensuring that staffing reflects increasing patient complexity and contemporary workload levels.

In addition, new and increased ratios across a range of clinical settings will create consistency in service provision and deliver more nurses and midwives where we need them most.

Together, these changes will have a positive and lasting impact for healthcare provision in this State and in particular, for the member’s local community in the west of Melbourne.

The Andrews Labor Government will also establish a $50 million Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Development Fund that will build the capability and capacity of the workforce.