Tuesday, 13 August 2024

Health services

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (18:55): (1046) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Health, and it relates to declining access to public health in the Wonthaggi area. The action I seek is for the minister to address the glaring health crisis in the Bass Coast region, including but not limited to extra resources and funding. The Wonthaggi community is justifiably concerned that dwindling access to health care exists in the town. Residents have contacted me, and they are highly distressed and calling for help. One of the fastest growing areas in regional Victoria, Wonthaggi has got a population of almost 12,000 people, and this is set to grow and double over the coming years. It is a great place to live and raise a family, but locals tell me they are struggling to access primary health care. When unwell they often have no option but to present at the hospital emergency department or wait for six to seven days to see a GP.

One constituent of many who have contacted me, Rae Vaessen-Geritz, manages a residential house for people with disability. She is struggling to get her clients in just to get scripts, let alone securing new appointments for new conditions. There are only two GP clinics in Wonthaggi, and one GP clinic of six doctors is down to one very valuable doctor. These were the clinics that the government was actually going to tax before pressure from the Liberals and Nationals made the government backflip. Unsurprisingly, Bass Coast health services have had an escalation in people presenting to the emergency department. The presentations have almost risen by 100 per cent in the last four years. The wait times in emergency have increased to over 100 per cent, and people are spending 56 minutes longer in ED than they were five years ago. It is struggling to meet demand, despite the best efforts of our doctors, our nurses and our allied staff, who have the highest respect from locals, myself included, and I am sure all here.

The community want to know why the government has allowed access to health care in the Bass Coast to deteriorate to such levels at the same time they are planning to grow this community. The minister has staved off the hospital mergers, but there is still an overhanging concern that there will be mergers within the Gippsland region. The Australian Medical Association president Michael Page has said the best way that state governments can help make sure pressure is off GPs and to improve access to health care is to ensure that there are more trained general practitioners in the community. I call on the government to focus on this community and provide extra resources and funding for better health care.