Wednesday, 8 June 2022

 Mr GRIMLEY (Western Victoria) (17:58): (1970) My adjournment debate is for the Minister for Health, and the action that I seek is for the minister to investigate possible funding opportunities for the Willaura hospital, which has not had significant building upgrades for decades. Last year a constituent contacted my office regarding the Willaura hospital. She said her husband was in the hospital and was requiring ongoing assistance. In her email to me she said, and I quote:

My husband was a patient recently and while the staff and the food were wonderful I was aghast at the state of the hospital.

Patients who are quite elderly shared one toilet in the wing my husband was in. The rooms were in a very poor state with no bedside light which is an accident waiting to happen.

After receiving this email I asked a constituency question regarding a safety audit and funding for any part of the hospital that did not meet safety standards. The response from the minister was not satisfactory, in my opinion. The Willaura hospital was not mentioned once in the short reply, and no information was given as to what funding the government has provided the hospital. Instead the answer was regarding the East Grampians Health Service, with most of the funding that was discussed in the response given to Ararat hospital.

After the letter to my office and the question to the minister, I met with interim CEO of the East Grampians Health Service Peter Armstrong. I made a commitment that when I was in the area I would visit the Willaura hospital. I did this last week and spoke with the new CEO, Nick Bush, and Peter, who is the director of clinical services. I toured the hospital and saw the old building that is being held together with paint and patchwork. There are eight acute beds with only two bathrooms to be shared between everyone. The building itself was built in 1935, and there are stories of Weary Dunlop performing surgeries in the same rooms that are due for an upgrade, I kid you not.

The staff at the hospital are exceptional. Each nurse, administrator and other support staff does a phenomenal job to make sure all the patients are cared for with compassion and that the residents in the 10-bed aged care facility are happy as well. I understand applications for the Regional Health Infrastructure Fund will be open in the coming weeks. Any application by Willaura hospital should be considered with urgent regard. I reiterate that the action that I seek is that the Minister for Health investigate possible funding opportunities for the Willaura hospital, which has not had a significant building upgrade for decades.