General News
1 August, 2024
MP raises concerns surrounding health services
A WESTERN Victoria MP has raised concerns health funding cuts will force mergers leaving patients in the region travelling for hours to access hospital and healthcare services.
Bev McArthur MP raised the matter in Parliament saying the rumoured mergers of regional health authorities would be forced on country patients “by Labor’s inability to manage money and it's affecting regional Victorians most severely”.
Mrs McArthur’s statement comes after a member of a regional hospital board, who does not want to be identified for fear of repercussions, claimed 25 health services were told their funding would be slashed by up to 30 per cent and to draw instead on reserves into 2025.
She described the Minister’s earlier response on this topic as “complacent nonsense”.
“The Minister might issue statements pretending there’s nothing to see here, but Victorians only have to compare their experience to her denials to recognise them for the offensive fantasy they are,” Mrs McArthur said.
“I have previously raised my concern about non-disclosure agreements forced on regional health board members and also about local health service charity and campaign community fundraising being swallowed up.
“My question today is more fundamental.
“Merging into one superstructure might provide cheaper services like operations by individual unit cost if they are all performed centrally, but Minister, how can you guarantee that bean-counting bureaucrats will properly assign a dollar value to the incalculable benefit for patients and their families of having services provided in local hospitals?”
Mrs McArthur said given many regional hospitals were jointly funded by Federal and State Government, she also had questions as to which services will be retained and which will be lost.
“The Victorian Health Association have warned the Victorian Government that the rumoured funding cuts and forced mergers will compromise the delivery of high-quality care,” she said.
“Why is it my rural constituents have to constantly pay the price for Labor's inability to manage massive infrastructure projects on time and on budget in metro Melbourne, thereby affecting vital funding of rural roads and now hospitals?”