Regional hospitals call for funding
Key regional health services are expected to miss out on funding in the state budget, despite waiting times for emergency care and surgery blowing out around Victoria.
Key regional health services are expected to miss out on funding in the Victorian budget, despite waiting times for emergency care and surgery blowing out around the state.
Three regional hospitals — Albury, West Gippsland and stage two of Wonthaggi hospital — received funding commitments in the lead-up to last November’s state election, but opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said hospitals in desperate need of upgrades had missed out.
“There are hospitals right across the state that need significant investment. They’re not up to scratch. And the government has failed to deliver on that for many, many years,” she said.
Among those that have missed out are Mildura Base Public Hospital, which services tens of thousands of people in the state’s north west, as well as far west NSW and the northeast corner of South Australia.
Daylesford, Mansfield and St Arnaud hospitals were also in desperate need of redevelopment, Ms Crozier said.
The government has gone quiet on plans to upgrade Mildura hospital, after spending $2 million on a master plan that was supposed to be made public in April last year.
Health minister Mary-Anne Thomas this week declined to say when the report would be made public, saying in a statement it was “still being considered”.
Mildura mother of two and health care advocate Katrina Umback said the government’s failure to deliver the promised master plan was “confusing”.
“It does start to make you question whether you remain living in this area,” she said.
Ms Umback has been advocating for upgraded health care services in Mildura since 2019, when her husband Scott Umback died at age 42 of preventable heart failure.
Mr Umback’s condition could have been picked up by a routine angiogram, but the service wasn’t available in Mildura, Ms Umback said.
“My husband died waiting for the medevac plane to come. If we could have this diagnostic testing here in Mildura, it could act as a preventive treatment,” she said.
“It would keep people out of the emergency department and less reliance on being evacuated out to Melbourne to receive the immediate life saving treatment that you need when you’re having a heart attack.”
Last weekend, she spent a night in Mildura hospital due to a foot infection — the first time she had been back in the facility since her husband died.
The experience was “traumatic” for her and her two sons, seeing how busy the ward was and knowing much-needed upgrades and services were still not available, she said.
Elective surgery waiting times increase
Across the state, waiting times for all categories of elective surgery at regional hospitals have increased.
At Bendigo, waiting times in the January to March quarter increased 151 per cent to 41 days, up from 27 days last year.
At Warrnambool, waiting times blew out to a whopping 79 days, up from 50 days last year.
At Wodonga they more than doubled to 57.5 days, up from 27 days, while at West Gippsland, they increased 163 per cent to 36 days from 22 days. At Ballarat, waiting times went up to 27 days from 19.
Health minister Mary-Anne Thomas said the government was working to shorten waiting times for surgery and emergency care:
“The latest data shows the Victorian health system is showing signs of improvement, but we know there’s still more work to be done – we will continue to work with all health services to provide them with the targeted support they need to shorten ED and planned surgery wait times and deliver timely, high-quality care for their patients,” she said.
“We’re rebuilding our health system to be better than it was before – that’s why we’re delivering on our $1.5 billion Covid Catch Up Plan to ensure more Victorians receive the surgery they need, when they it.”
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