Thursday, 18 June 2026

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:11): (1367) My question is for the Minister for Health. Minister, Rhonda needs a hip replacement. She is in debilitating pain from her femur pushing into her hip joint. She has been waiting for five years and finally got the call to say she would have her surgery on 5 May. The evening before Rhonda’s scheduled surgery she received a call from Eastern Health saying her surgery was cancelled because they had no beds. For three weeks Rhonda and her husband patiently waited to hear back for an update on a rescheduled date for surgery. They heard nothing, so they endeavoured to find out themselves by calling the hospital. After numerous calls and leaving messages as instructed, they finally received a generic message asking if Rhonda still required surgery. Minister, this is simply not good enough. Rhonda is suffering from terrible pain coupled with a state of deep despair. There was no follow-up initially, and there has still been no follow-up. Why is the system failing Victorians like Rhonda?

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Health, Minister for Water) (12:11): Thanks, Ms Crozier, for that question. I am not sure if the name of the patient that you have put on the record today is a pseudonym, but –

Georgie Crozier: On a point of order, President, just to confirm for the minister: no, it is a patient. She wants me to raise it with you, so please do not deflect from it. Rhonda is the patient.

Harriet SHING: I am literally asking for specific information to assist me to be able to –

Georgie Crozier interjected.

Harriet SHING: Ms Crozier, I am attempting to assist you in answering this question. In doing so I just want to be really clear that this is something that we take really seriously. I would welcome an opportunity to get further information and detail from you about the specifics of this particular person’s experience so that I can look into it. I have encouraged you on a number of occasions in this place to get in touch with my office with specific matters so that we can address them, in compliance with consent and patient privacy issues, making sure that we are meeting those commitments and obligations and responsibilities, those matters, so that we can get those questions answered. You have actually been able to provide that information outside of this place. We have actually been able to address that with the consent of the person involved or the families involved. We have followed up with those cases that you have raised. Ms Crozier, I would say to you again: please provide that information to my office so that we can we can seek –

Georgie Crozier: On a point of order, President, this is a system that is failing, as I pointed out in my preamble. The question is very simple, and I would ask you to ask the minister to come back to responding to that simple question: why is the system failing Victorians like Rhonda?

Jaclyn Symes: On the point of order, President, Ms Crozier specifically said that Rhonda asked her to ask the minister for a response today, and the minister is seeking to offer an invitation for Rhonda, through Ms Crozier, to provide more details. It is exactly what the question was.

The PRESIDENT: I believe the minister is being relevant to the question.

Harriet SHING: Ms Crozier, I am not going to address you directly. Perhaps I will address Rhonda directly.

Rhonda, we are really happy to address the questions that you have raised. Please feel free to get in touch with me directly, and we will get some further information for you. Your consent is really important as we proceed with working to engage through the Department of Health and through Eastern Health. If you are able to provide that information, we can get that response for you.

Ms Crozier, you have agreed, because you have written to me on a number of occasions now raising specific questions, that that is an appropriate way to raise those matters, and in turn we have responded with information that has assisted you.

Members interjecting.

Harriet SHING: Ms Crozier, if you do not see that it is a matter of respect and patient privacy to write to me directly, then that is a matter for you, but we will always continue to provide that care. Rhonda, please do get in touch so that we can assist.

Georgie Crozier: On a point of order, President, I know the minister is struggling here, because this case study that I have highlighted shows the system is failing. She still is refusing to answer the question. Just to reassure the minister, I do speak to these people, so they know what I am doing. I would ask you, President, to bring the minister back in the last 25 seconds of this question to telling Victorians why this system is failing Victorians like Rhonda.

The PRESIDENT: The minister is being relevant to the question.

Harriet SHING: Ms Crozier, I am not going to take your word for it that you have patient consent to share private information, and I am not going to go into specifics of an individual matter in this place.

Rhonda, please do get in touch, and we will, once we get that consent, be able to follow that matter up for you.

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:16): The minister might try and spin her way out of this, but it is a case study. It is a serious issue where the system is failing. Her surgery was cancelled. I can tell you, Minister: you might have a problem with Rhonda’s case study, but I am going to continue to raise these issues in the Parliament all the time, because you and your predecessors have failed Victorians. I ask: just like Mercy Werribee a couple of weeks ago, where surgery was cancelled and nurses were asked to take leave, this is another example where hospitals cannot manage demand. What advice have you received regarding the number of patients having surgery cancelled because of a lack of beds?

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Health, Minister for Water) (12:17): I am going to take you up on your preamble, Ms Crozier. Rhonda, you are not a case study; you are a patient. What we will do is continue to work with you once we get your consent. Once we can work through the privacy responsibilities that apply to your particular circumstances, we will address that.

Ms Crozier, we have a range of systems in place to make sure that we can deliver the care that Victorians need. That is one of the reasons why we do have increased capacity across the system, and it is one of the reasons why we have systems in place to manage any changes that might result, for example, from unplanned leave.

Georgie Crozier interjected.

Harriet SHING: Again, Ms Crozier, this is part of the delivery of a health system that is increasingly able to respond to the needs and the complexity of patients across the system.

Georgie Crozier interjected.

Harriet SHING: Ms Crozier, it is just a shame that you are not listening to the answers, because we are always happy to provide further information, including that which is already publicly available.

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:18): I move:

That the minister’s response be taken into consideration on the next day of meeting.

Motion agreed to.