Wednesday, 23 September 2026

 Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (12:01): (1494) My question is to the Minister for Health. Minister, a few weeks ago I raised concerns from a former nurse, Laura, who worked at the Ballarat Base ED. She wrote to you asking for you to (1) have an open, independent investigation into Ballarat Base ED, (2) publicly acknowledge the severity of the crisis at the Ballarat Base ED, (3) implement corrective actions immediately and (4) engage directly with frontline staff. Minister, I know you have replied – I have read your response – and you did not commit to any of those things to Laura. Why not?

 Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Special Minister of State) (12:02): I thank Mr McCracken for his question, and I want to thank Laura for writing to me. I have written back to her, as the member has indicated. I want to extend my thanks to all of the healthcare workers at Ballarat Base Hospital – our incredible doctors, nurses, paramedics and everyone who works so hard to provide care to Victorians. We know that some patients have experienced long waits, and I have gone to these matters in the chamber recently and indicated that we are seeing record demand right across the hospital system, particularly in emergency departments. We are seeing sustained demand, with patients presenting with increasingly complex medical needs. The sickest and most critically ill patients obviously continue to be treated first, as our teams in our EDs triage the most urgent cases, as you would expect.

I take the concerns raised by frontline healthcare workers, including Laura, extremely seriously. I have been in discussions with my department about the matters at Grampians Health and indeed have been discussing it with my colleagues in the lower house in the other place, and we are already working together to address some of these pressures. I have asked my department to convene a regional round table in Ballarat, bringing together Grampians Health, clinicians, representatives of the workforce and other relevant stakeholders, and the round table will have a strong focus on practical improvements to patient flow, access to beds and workforce safety. It is incredibly important that we all work collaboratively to support the workforce up there in Ballarat, and that is what I am committed to doing.

I also want to just indicate that the $58 million that supports our hospitals to improve patient flow in this year’s budget is making a difference, including the ability for work to happen and to continue at Grampians Health, Bendigo Health and –

Joe McCracken: On a point of order, President, I have been waiting patiently and listening carefully to the minister’s response. I ask that the President bring the minister back to the question on relevance: of the four points that I raised on Laura’s behalf the minister has not addressed one of them.

The PRESIDENT: I believe the minister has been relevant to the question. In between, Mr McCracken, with your colleagues continually interjecting it has been hard to hear her, but I do believe she has been relevant to the question.

Ingrid STITT: As I was saying, I do take the issues that have been brought to my attention by Laura and others at Grampians Health incredibly seriously, which is why I am acting and talking with my department about what needs to occur at Grampians Health, the first step being getting all of the key stakeholders together. But that is already work that we are strongly focused on in the health department around patient flow. The $58 million in the budget is all about making sure that we are on the ground supporting care outside of emergency departments as well as within emergency departments when it comes to patient flow. We will continue our strong focus on supporting the workforce.

 Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (12:06): Minister, in your response to Laura you said, and I quote directly from the letter:

I appreciate that statistics alone cannot capture the experience of every patient or staff member. Performance data is important, but so too are the experiences and concerns raised by patients, staff and health services themselves.

Last sitting week I raised concerns from doctors, the week before I raised concerns from nurses, and your written response to Laura was noncommittal. All I am trying to do is give voice to the people that are suffering through the experiences they have had at Ballarat Base Hospital. You have said repeatedly that you are working with Grampians Health and how that is the appropriate way to deal with these concerns. My question is: what specific actions and outcomes are you working with Grampians Health on?

 Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Special Minister of State) (12:07): I have been addressing these questions in my answer to Mr McCracken’s substantive question, which I am happy to go through again. It is very important that I, as minister, and the health department continue to listen to the very valid issues that are being brought to us by staff at Grampians Health. That is why I have asked my department to convene round tables of key stakeholders, including representatives of the workforce, to make sure that we are focused on supporting patient flow through the ED. It is also important and highly relevant to again point out that we are very aware that the redevelopment of the Ballarat Base Hospital is a key component to unlocking patient flow. We will be delivering that new project. It is a $655 million redevelopment, and a big part of that is that the capacity of the ED will be expanded.