Healthcare
The longest surgery wait list, budget cuts and a disputed $500m hospital fix
Anger is boiling over in Albury-Wodonga, where the waiting list for planned surgery is already the worst in regional Victoria.
- by Benjamin Preiss
Latest
Doctors fear elective surgery lists will blow out again
Victoria blitzed elective surgery waiting lists down after the pandemic, but looming health cuts threaten to blow them out again and force more people to take out private health insurance.
- by Jewel Topsfield
‘Scorched earth’: What the state’s health funding squeeze means for rural health
Health outcomes for people in regional areas are already poorer than the city. Here’s why they may get much worse.
- by Benjamin Preiss
The common but little-known virus causing disability in hundreds of babies
Every year, about 400 babies are born with physical and intellectual disabilities caused by a virus many pregnant women don’t know about.
- by Henrietta Cook
Narelle watched her husband die a painful death, so she chose hers
Since NSW became the last state in Australia to offer voluntary assisted dying in November, hundreds of people have applied. These are some of their stories.
- by Angus Thomson
Exclusive
Hospitals
Secret recording reveals sense of budget crisis in Victorian hospitals
Bed and ward closures, reducing elective surgery, cancelling breast screenings and even closing special-care cots were all openly discussed as possibilities to save money.
- by Chip Le Grand, Jewel Topsfield, Henrietta Cook, Benjamin Preiss and Broede Carmody
‘Turn the lights off’: Hospital staff offered cost-cutting tips in budget crackdown
Workers at three major Melbourne hospitals have been told that simple things can save money, as Alfred Health reviews costs in a desperate bid to cut spending.
- by Jewel Topsfield and Broede Carmody
‘No one wants to be sharing this message’: Major hospitals confirm budget squeeze
Two of Victoria’s largest health services have imposed hiring freezes in response to government demands for huge savings, causing stress for health workers.
- by Jewel Topsfield and Henrietta Cook
2023: Victorian health system failing to meet targets
Data shows parts of Victoria’s health system still falls short of the government's own gold standard.
Hostile to elated: Nurses overwhelmingly approve new pay deal
Victorian nurses and midwives have backed the 28.4 per cent pay rise over four years. The deal ends months of tense talks between their union and the government.
- by Henrietta Cook
Exclusive
Healthcare
Hiring freeze and cuts to surgery, stationery: Hospital chief’s warning over ‘challenging’ budget
Western Health has imposed a hiring freeze, cut back elective surgery and told staff to look for other savings as it grapples with state government budget cuts.
- by Jewel Topsfield and Rachel Eddie
Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/healthcare