Hospital Waiting List Manipulation Exposed

The revelation of details of hospital waiting list manipulation is further evidence that the Brumby Government is hiding the true extent of delays in our hospitals, Shadow Minister for Health Helen Shardey said today.

The Brumby Labor Government has misrepresented and covered up the crisis in our health system, and has consistently denied waiting list manipulation.

For more than twelve months, the Opposition has repeatedly raised serious concerns over the accuracy and under-reporting of Victorian hospital waiting lists, Mrs Shardey said.

Each time the Brumby Government has responded with denials. It now appears there is significant evidence that confirms our concerns over secret waiting lists.

Today I have written to the Chairman of the Upper House Inquiry into Hospital Performance and requested the Committee investigate the records and files on the manipulation of hospital waiting lists and bring these files before the Committee’s hearings.

The Labor Government is engaged in a systematic attempt to conceal the true extent of failures in the delivery of basic services.

These revelations today follow on from an Ombudsman’s report last week which revealed crime statistics had been under-reported for years by the Brumby Government.

I think increasingly Victorians are realising that the boasts of the Brumby Government are without foundation.

After nearly 10 years and $250 billion, the Brumby Government’s spending per person on health is the lowest in Australia. This is putting unprecedented pressure on our health system and is impacting on the lives of Victorians.

Last week Dr Peter Lazzari was sacked after he made a submission to the Upper House Inquiry into Public Hospital Performance outlining serious issues in the health system and in particular the manipulation of waiting lists.

John Brumby has refused to guarantee that all public sector workers are free to volunteer evidence and submissions to government inquiries without fear of retribution, Mrs Shardey said.

Labor Scraps Ambulance Victoria First Aid Training

Shadow Minister for Health Helen Shardey said it was shameful that less than a year after merging Victoria’s rural and metropolitan ambulance network Labor will scrap Ambulance Victoria’s first aid training services.

An alert recently posted on the Ambulance Victoria website reads: Ambulance Victoria First Aid will soon be withdrawing from providing First Aid training. Public courses will be conducted up to the end of April 2009. No more bookings will be taken for onsite First Aid training.

Mrs Shardey said it was outrageous that first aid training for Anaphylaxis Management (treatment for anaphylactic shock) was one of the programs that would no longer be available from Ambulance Victoria’s service, particularly when the Brumby Government made such training mandatory in schools.

The website also notes that the First Aid Training and Qualifications division of Ambulance Victoria employs 12 full-time staff and more than 100 part time instructors.

These instructors conduct courses specifically tailored to save lives in workplaces and at home, Mrs Shardey said.

The division is managed from Ballarat and training is conducted at outlets including Bairnsdale, Ballarat, Bendigo, Colac, Geelong, Hamilton, Mildura, Sale, Swan Hill, Traralgon West, Warrnambool, Wangaratta and Wodonga.

How many more programs can the Brumby Government cut from rural and regional health services? Mrs Shardey said.

Not only has this Labor Government made it more difficult for vulnerable Victorians to access hospital care through lack of hospital beds and closure of maternity services, now it is limiting rural and regional access to first aid training, Mrs Shardey said.

Outside metropolitan Melbourne someone’s first aid training can often be the difference between life and death for a workmate or family member in an emergency.

The Brumby Government should be boosting health services, not scrapping first aid training programs that provide local jobs and save lives, Mrs Shardey said.

Labor’s Health Spend Lowest In Australia

Victorian families are suffering because the Brumby Government continues to mismanage and underfund the public health system, Shadow Minister for Health Helen Shardey said today.

The Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services 2009 reveals Labor’s spending per person on health is the lowest in Australia.

The report also shows that Victoria has the lowest number of beds per person in Australia – just 2.4 beds compared with the Australian average of 2.7.

“On top of these shocking revelations, there has also been a steady increase from 2003 to 2007 in the number of days sick Victorians spend waiting for elective surgery,” Mrs Shardey said.

“This is no surprise to the thousands of patients languishing on long elective surgery waiting lists, with one in five people having experienced ‘extended waiting times’.

“There’s also a worrying trend emerging in our public hospitals where fewer patients are being allocated to Category 1 (urgent) surgery, prompting a blowout in Category 2 (semi-urgent) figures.

“This means Victoria has 29 per cent fewer patients listed as Category 1 surgery patients than NSW, but we also have the second highest number of patients in the nation listed as Category 2.

“I fear public hospitals are being discouraged to classify patients at Category 1 in order to meet their hospital benchmarks and retain their funding.”

Victoria also has the dubious distinction of being the second highest state in relation to ‘sentinel’ events.

‘Sentinel’ events are defined as the number of reported adverse events that occur because of hospital system and process deficiencies which result in death or serious harm.

Of the 45 reported events in Victoria, 20 involved an operation on the wrong body part.

Victoria also has a higher unplanned hospital readmission rate than the national average, meaning that more patients are being forced to return to hospital after their initial treatment.

“This report shows once again that Labor’s mismanagement and underfunding of the Victorian health system means Victorian families are being denied a basic health service.

“Labor has had ten years and $250 billion in revenue but can’t deliver a basic health service to Victorian families,” Mrs Shardey said.

Health Service Still Poor Despite Rehashed Labor Hype

Despite the hype and ceremony, Premier John Brumby’s much anticipated Annual Statement of Government Intentions is yet another rehash of old health announcements and initiatives dressed up to look brand new, Shadow Minister for Health Helen Shardey said today.

Hidden within the 90 pages of hype in this booklet is an embarassingly meagre offering of only five pages of health statements all of which have already been announced, Mrs Shardey said.

The statement shows a heavy reliance on Commonwealth funding, with the Premier crowing about $181 million of Federal money only to admit in the next line that this will be subject to COAG negotiation.

Some of Mr Brumby’s claims about Victoria being the best-performing state for elective surgery are rather puzzling, as according to The Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services 2009, Queensland out-performed Victoria and Victoria was above the national average for patients waiting more than 365 days for elective surgery*, Mrs Shardey said.

The Productivity Commision’s report also indicated that one in five Victorians on the elective surgery waiting list had extended waiting times.

The Cancer Action Plan, The Tobacco Action Plan and the National Registration of Health Professionals have all been announced before.

The same can be said of the Government’s stalled WorkHealth program which, despite being announced in July last year, was only partly rolled out three months later, Mrs Shardey said.

Apart from providing some funding for already announced initiatives and highlighting some budget items, there is not one new initiative for health in this entire announcement.

After nearly ten years the Brumby Government is tired and failing to deliver basic health services to the Victorian community.

*page 10.28