The state opposition has slammed secret plans to overhaul Victoria’s healthcare system.
Victoria’s Health Department is developing plans to overhaul the state’s health system, with The Age revealing the reforms could include forced amalgamations of local health services.
Shadow health minister Georgie Crozier said the proposal would be bad for Victorians, especially people outside metropolitan Melbourne.
“We know it’s Victorians who will suffer if health services are amalgamated, particularly in regional and rural areas,” Ms Crozier said in a statement.
“These areas could lose local health services and people will be forced to travel further for vital health care.”
The secret plans came to light on Wednesday, with The Age revealing an expert advisory committee had been consulting chief executives and board chairs from Victoria’s health services for several months.
A leaked presentation obtained by the paper canvasses the possibility of Victoria’s 76 health services being forcibly amalgamated. Other potential changes include formal partnerships between health services, including shared surgery waiting lists, administration services, workforce recruitment and mandatory training.
However some health practitioners believe there could be benefits from overhauling Victoria’s health system, with Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill arguing poor co-ordination often resulted in unnecessary ambulance transfers between hospitals, as well as long waits when the ambulances arrived – sometimes tying up a town’s only available ambulance crew.
The ambulance union secretary said the large number of health services with different policies was a constant source of frustration for paramedics.
Shadow minister Crozier said Premier Jacinta Allan and Health Minister Mary-Ann Thomas “need to be upfront about their plans and how they will impact Victorians,” pointing out the secret plans come on top of “Labor’s health tax”.
The government’s changes will see payroll tax applying to general practitioners for the first time in a move that has been widely condemned as a threat to medical clinics that will force more sick Victorians into overstretched emergency departments.
“Under Labor, Victoria is broke so it’s little wonder the Allan Government is targeting vital health services as it looks to find savings to pay for their huge cost blowouts on major projects, now totalling over $38 billion,” Ms Crozier said.
(SKY NEWS)
