Trading blows over health

By Lia Bichel
THE State Government has denied claims that elective surgery patients at Casey Hospital will suffer from budget cuts.
Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan said $500million in health cuts have forced Casey and Dandenong Hospitals to make the difficult decisions to reduce the number of elective surgeries this year. He said this would result in a ballooning waiting list, with 785 more local patients waiting for surgery compared with the same time last year.
But Kathryn McFarlane, spokesperson for the Health Minister David Davis, said funding for Southern Health has, in fact, increased by $36 million in the 2011 State Budget.
“The health system is facing significant pressure from increased demand, and that is why the Baillieu Government has increased funding to health services,” Ms Davis said.
“Funding for Southern Health increased by $36 million in the 2011 State Budget.”
But Mr Donnellan said he believed the health system was critically under-funded and could get worse.
“It will only get worse if Mr Baillieu has his way in the nurses’ dispute and cuts a further $100 million from the health budget each year, meaning the equivalent of 1758 nurses will be lost from Victoria’s health system,” Mr Donnellan said.
“Mr Baillieu has not added one extra doctor, one extra nurse or one extra hospital bed – and has abandoned his promise to deliver an extra 100 hospital beds this year.
“He and his government are clearly feeling the heat on health which is why they tried to bury these figures by dropping them during the busy holiday period.”
Ms McFarlane said the State Government was trying to fix a decade of mismanagement.
“A record $13 billion investment in Victorian health was also delivered in the State Budget, an increase of $725 million from Labor’s last budget,” Ms McFarlane said.
“The government has managed to achieve this result despite pressures from the Commonwealth, reducing GST revenue by $2.5 billion and the uncertain global economic environment.
“It will take time to turn around Labor’s 11 years of mismanagement of Victoria’s health system.”
A spokesperson for Southern Health refused to comment.