Loading
Chief executive of the Victorian Healthcare Association,Tom Symondson,said with thousands of current health vacancies,it was wise to spend money on both training new staff domestically and bringing workers from overseas.
“So some of them may be on the floor pretty quickly. And some of them it’s going to take as long as it takes to be qualified as a nurse or midwife,so three or four years,” he said.
“We also know our need for nurses and other healthcare workers is already growing... so this isn’t just something we do and just forget about. We have to do this every year from now on.”
Victoria’s troubled triple-zero service will receive $333 million for nearly 400 new staff, afterThe Age revealed that 11 adults and four children have died since October after people calling triple-zero were forced to wait up to 15 minutes to connect to an operator.
It is a significant boost to staffing levels,an almost 50 per cent increase to the current workforce of 895 at the essential service,which continues to report ongoing delays of up to seven minutes to reach an ambulance operator. From late March to late April,more than 6000 ambulance calls faced waits of at least one minute,including almost 1000 that waited four minutes or more.
Opposition leader Matthew Guy said the Andrews government could not be trusted to fix the health crisis,and almost 400 new triple-zero call-takers should have been funded months ago.
“I don’t understand why the government’s taken so long to actually do that ... Instead,the government’s waiting for a budget because it’s about their PR and spin rather than a real solution,” Guy said.
Some groups,including AMA,said they were disappointed there hadn’t been more focus on community health,which could help prevent people going to hospital in the first place. The Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association said it was facing an “alarming” $39 million cut in funding for alcohol and other drug treatment and prevention.
Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier criticised the government for not detailing when it would be allocating money for the Melton Hospital,with the funding allocation “to be confirmed” in the budget papers.
Loading
When it opens,the new hospital will include a new 24-hour emergency department,an intensive care unit,along with maternity and mental health services.
Other initiatives which attempt to tackle the structural issues facing the health system and the big backlog of deferred care include a plan to free up hospital beds by providing close to $700 million to care for people in their homes. And as previously announced,$1.5 billion is being spent on providing an extra 40,000 elective surgeries to reduce the wait lists that had ballooned out during surgery bans as COVID-19 cases spiked.
The $2.9 billion of health infrastructure spending includes about $500 million for the Barwon Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Geelong for new maternity and paediatric services,and $236 million to expand the emergency departments at Casey and Werribee Mercy Hospital.
Regional hospitals will share in $300 million in small to medium grants to fund projects such as theatre renovations and equipment upgrades. As the state boosts its health spend,Premier Daniel Andrews declared this week that he would also be seeking a bigger commitment from the Commonwealth,no matter what happens on May 21.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories,analysis and insights.Sign up here.