Wednesday, 12 August 2026

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (12:21): (1408) My question is to the Minister for Health. The emergency department at Ballarat Base Hospital is under enormous pressure. A local man Stephen Downey waited 19 hours in the emergency department to be seen. Stephen’s wife Cheryl, who spoke publicly, said:

It was chaotic, unclean and frantic, and lacking basic services …

This is one of our most trusted institutions and is not a dignified or safe environment for staff or patients.

Minister, that is a scathing assessment. Will you be launching an investigation into the conditions at the Ballarat Base Hospital emergency department?

 Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Special Minister of State) (12:22): I thank Mrs McArthur for her question. This is obviously an issue in her region, and I thank her for raising it in the chamber. I do know that like all other jurisdictions in Australia we are seeing record emergency department presentations around the country, including here in Victoria. We also know that extended emergency department stays can be influenced by a range of factors, including complex systemic factors including the high levels of acuity of the presentations that we are seeing. And I certainly know that that is the case in the mental health portfolio I am also responsible for when it comes to ED presentations. But also there are other factors, including population growth, and there is also a lot of work going on between jurisdictions and the Commonwealth about the impact that access to aged care and disability support is having on our busy emergency departments and hospitals, and how that can impact adversely on bed flow.

In terms of the issues that you have raised on behalf of your constituent Stephen, as you would appreciate, I am not able to talk about individual patients in the chamber, and it will not be my practice to do that, but I would give an open invitation to you, Mrs McArthur, to provide to my office any detailed information you wish to, and I will follow that up and come back to you promptly. In terms of the Ballarat Base Hospital, I can indicate that the government is investing $655 million to redevelop the Ballarat Base Hospital, and I can indicate that the redevelopment will deliver a new multilevel tower; a main entrance off Sturt Street; a new emergency department with an integrated mental health and alcohol and other drug hub, which is an important feature of many of our hospitals now; a new helipad; a new women’s and children’s hub; and an extra 100 inpatient –

Joe McCracken: On a point of order, President, it was a very simple question: will you investigate it, yes or no?

The PRESIDENT: I believe the minister was relevant to the question.

Ingrid STITT: I was continuing to explain the record investment that our government is making in the Ballarat Base Hospital, including a new women’s and children’s hub and an extra 100 inpatient and short-stay beds. These investments are all about unlocking that capacity within the Ballarat Base Hospital. I will always listen to our health services, our clinicians and our workforce when it comes to –

Renee Heath: On a point of order, President, I believe the minister was doing a ministers statement, and I just ask her to return to the question, which was a yes or no.

The PRESIDENT: That is not a point of order. Minister, do you want your 13 seconds back?

Ingrid STITT: Yes, thank you, President. I was just in the process of completing my answer in relation to the acknowledgement that our government make for the need to continue to invest, because we are seeing record presentations right across our emergency departments. I was in the process of indicating that I will always listen to our health services, our clinicians and our workforce on what more we can do to support them.

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (12:26): Minister, it is not about the millions you have invested – if you have, it has clearly not worked – it is the outcomes that matter. Stephen’s wife Cheryl reported that after 19 hours waiting in the chair her husband was then shunted into another area for a further 11 hours, resulting in a total of more than 30 hours of wait time. Cheryl said:

People I was speaking to were horrified, it felt like conditions in a developing country.

Cheryl reported that most of the patients stranded in that emergency department had not had food or water for many hours. Cheryl had to get her own food and water for her husband. Thirty hours of waiting and no food or water is a total and utter disgrace. What are you going to do to fix it?

 Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Special Minister of State) (12:27): Thank you, Mrs McArthur, for your supplementary question. I do extend that offer again that if there are issues that your constituents would like me to follow up, then I invite you to provide that information to me. I can indicate that the investments that the government is making in the Ballarat Base Hospital, once completed, will provide access and capacity to treat at least 18,000 more emergency patients and 14,500 inpatients per year. That is a significant boost to the capacity of the Ballarat Base Hospital, and we will continue to back the communities right across Victoria who deserve access to world-class care.

The PRESIDENT: I acknowledge a previous member of this chamber Jan Kronberg, who is in the gallery.