The number of patients waiting for elective surgery at two of Melbourne’s largest hospitals will blow out as a result of Malcolm Turnbull’s latest round of $73 million cuts to Victoria’s health system.
Visiting the Royal Melbourne Hospital today, Minister for Health, Jill Hennessy, said Melbourne Health had advised the Government wait lists for elective surgery would increase by 1,000 patients as a result of a $5.1 million cut to its budget bottom line by the Federal Liberal Government.
The human impact of these cuts comes ahead of the Federal Minister for Health’s visit to Monash Health today to officially open the new Monash Translational Research Facility.
Monash Health, which is facing a $9.9 million cut to its budget bottom line, has advised the Andrews Labor Government that it will have to cut 3,000 elective surgery procedures to fill the funding gap.
Today’s visit is an opportunity for the Federal Liberal Government to put Victorian patients first and reverse these brutal cuts to Victoria’s health system.
These cuts are just another example of Malcolm Turnbull using any feeble excuse to cut Victorian health funding.
Despite previously agreeing to the way Victoria calculates health activity funding - as applied by the former Victorian Liberal Government – the Turnbull Government, through the National Health Funding Pool Administrator, has now back-flipped on how the National Health Funding Pool is calculated and allocated in Victoria.
This accounting trick means Malcolm Turnbull will claw back $73 million in health funding from Victoria, leaving health services like Melbourne Health and Monash Health facing cuts of millions of dollars to fill this black-hole.
These savage cuts come at a time when Victoria’s health system is already under attack from the Federal Liberal Government with another $17.7 billion in cuts soon to hit our hospitals.
When it comes to funding for Victorian hospitals and patients, all we have seen from Malcolm Turnbull is cuts, cost-shifting and excuses.
Every time Malcolm Turnbull cuts Victoria’s health funding to prop up his own budget bottom line, our hospitals and patients suffer.
It’s not good enough and Victorian patients deserve better.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Health Jill Hennessy
“With thousands of patients set to miss out on vital surgeries as a result of these cuts, it’s time Malcolm Turnbull put patients first and reinstates Victoria’s funding.”
“The Federal Health Minister needs to explain to Victorians why they will have to wait longer for surgeries because of the cuts her Government has made to our hospitals.”
“Victoria will not stand by while Malcolm Turnbull continues to take the axe to Victoria’s health system just to fill his own budget black-hole. These cuts hurt our patients and they hurt our hospitals.”
Reviewed 19 August 2020