How major parties would tackle Geelong’s health woes

Geelong is Victoria’s second-largest city, but patients are still struggling to access healthcare. With a state election imminent, how is this being addressed?

Curlewis mum Jessica Moresco spoke out about her experience with a long wait in the Geelong hospital emergency department. Picture: Mark Wilson

Geelong may be Victoria’s second-largest city but residents are still struggling to access health services.

And with a state election on November 26, how both major parties plan to tackle health will be front of mind for many voters.

This year alone this masthead has revealed health woes including:

A LACK of public rheumatologist services in Geelong meant locals faced paying for private care or travelling to Melbourne;

A PSYCHIATRISTshortage contributing tolong waits;

FAMILIES battling to access psychologists in Geelong for their kids, and

GEELONG families being forced to travel to Melbourne because of a “critical shortage” of paediatricians.

Patients have also raised concerns about long waits in the emergency department and elective surgery delays.

Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the Liberals and Nationals’ “real solutions” for better healthcare in Geelong included building a new women’s and children’s hospital, building a new 800-space carpark for Geelong hospital and commissioning a feasibility study into a new second hospital to service Greater Geelong’s growing suburbs.

“Importantly, we also have a plan to staff them,” she said.

“A Matt Guy-led government will deliver financial support through scholarships to train and retrain nurses working in the public and private system, and also look at ways to encourage international professionals across many sectors to come to Victoria and provide the healthcare we need and deserve.”

A state government spokesman said it knew the importance of getting care locally.

“It’s why we’ve grown Barwon Health’s workforce by almost 22 per cent and have a comprehensive plan to train and recruit an additional 24,000 additional healthcare workers,” he said.

“Geelong is a growing city and we’re delivering the infrastructure to meet this demand.”

This included a new Barwon Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

The spokesman said the government had delivered projects including Barwon Health North, a new alcohol and other drug facility in Corio and the new 16-bed McKellar Mental Health and Wellbeing Centre.

“We are getting on delivering a new early parenting centre and a new emergency department zone just for kids at (Geelong hospital),” he said.

Australian Patients Association chief executive Stephen Mason said it was aware of workforce shortages across the health sector causing “pain and suffering, and sometime even despair and financial hardship”.

“Apart from training more healthcare professionals we have to look are ways of using the staff we currently have more productively,” he said.

“This means expanding the scope of practice for nurses, GPs and pharmacists, amongst others.”

Barwon Health’s strategic plan 2020-25 noted dealing effectively with the growth in demand from a booming population was a key strategic issue.

Spokeswoman Kate Bibby said the organisation welcomed all support from government to improve the services it offered to the region.

“Our strategic plan has outlined our priorities for the coming years and we look forward to continue delivering services that better meet the needs of our community under all circumstances,” she said.

In October, a health department spokesman said the federal government was committed to implementing the National Medical Workforce Strategy 2021-2031, which would guide long-term collaborative medical workforce planning across Australia.

The spokesman said it identified achievable, practical actions to build a sustainable, highly trained medical workforce and aimed to rebalance the supply and distribution of the medical workforce.

Originally published as How major parties would tackle Geelong’s health woes