Tuesday, 13 May 2025

Health services

Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:44): (1598) My adjournment matter tonight is to the Treasurer, and the action I seek is for hospital funding to be increased in the upcoming budget. One of my staff recently gave birth, and they wanted me to share a message about their experience. These are their words:

[QUOTE AWAITING VERIFICATION]

I want to firstly thank the incredible team at Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s Hospital for being there every step of the way, especially at the pointy end in what was a pretty traumatic birth. I literally couldn’t have done it without them. The hospital being named after a former Labor Premier is quite ironic as Aiv delivers my plea to this Labor government.

Whilst the care I received was amazing, it was amazing in the context of what was in their control. I would never blame them for funding barriers, but they exist. And when you are going through one of the hardest things a human can, you can feel those funding shortages. It shows in the small things like access to meals being limited. If you miss the window to eat, you can’t even get an extra bottle of milk, which anyone who has given birth can tell you is very easy to do, because newborns do not exactly operate on a schedule. And it shows in the big things, like being told that there are fully equipped but empty birthing suites unused because there are no funds for staffing, so instead patients are sent to a hospital 40 minutes away for inductions. It shows in the times the midwives had many patients and babies to look after – too many for one person to reasonably manage. It shows in the hours upon hours spent in the waiting room at the maternity assessment care unit waiting for a bed.

As I mentioned, my birth was traumatic. My pregnancy was high risk. I waited days for an induction due to shortages, and I was finally taken to birthing after they caught my baby’s heart rate dropping rapidly. I advocated for myself and just happened to be on the monitor when it happened. But what if I wasn’t? What if there wasn’t a bed? What if I was still in the waiting room? Everything ended up okay, and I had my precious and perfect baby. The people who work there do an amazing job, but the last thing I want is for another parent to experience that stress at their most vulnerable time. The last thing I want is for them to feel those shortages. I urge the government to increase funding for hospitals in Victoria.