Top Doctor Points to 500 Dead Victorians a Year, Labels Bracks and Brumby ‘funeral directors’

Dr Peter Lazzari, one of Victoria’s most senior physicians, was blunt and direct on Southern Cross Radio today:

These waiting list figures of 500 deaths doesn’t even account for those who have continued to suffer pain, who have continued to suffer deterioration in their health, or maybe eventually get their operation but it’s higher risk

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$48 million for New Doctors

It was with great pride and satisfaction that Ted Baillieu and I unveiled our policy to attract new doctors to regional areas suffering under the current chronic shortfall. Read more about…

Bronwyn Pike: Hospital Crisis? It’s just a ‘local issue’

That’s the Health Minister’s response to the crisis facing Wonthaggi Hospital, according to the South Gippsland Sentinel-Times (20 June). As regional users of emergency health services await desperately needing funding, health bureaucrats disappear on holiday and the Minister passes the buck. Read more about…

Mums Wind up Paying the Penalty for Government Incompetence in Sale

The continuing incompetence of the Bracks Government is now being felt by new mums at Sale Hospital, where two paediatricians have been driven from the facility, unable to cope with the unrelenting workload and the absence of any future planning by the Government.

Talking to the Yarram Standard News (21 June), Michelle Dillow worries that when her second child is due in September they may be shunted off elsewhere because Sale Hospital can’t cope. ‘It does make you a bit uneasy, knowing if something goes wrong you may have to be transported to another hospital where they have all the services.’

Meanwhile, other soon-to-be mums in Sale will be waiting six months before another paediatrician arrives from South Africa.

Except for emergency services, paediatrics, staffing levels and after hours care, Bronwyn Pike has got regional health in Victoria totally under control!

A Five-Year Wait – But Still No Money for Wonthaggi Hospital

For five years Wonthaggi Hospital has been begging the Bracks Government for a proper accident and emergency service, reports the Leongatha Star (27 June).

And after the current budget, they’re still waiting. No funding has been forthcoming despite the 100% rise in patients presenting for emergency treatment over the last five years. That translates to 10,000 cases a year.

It’s not as though it’s a major undertaking, either. The hospital has the facilities, but not the money to staff it.

How bad does it have to get before Health Minister Bronwyn Pike takes some responsibility for the health services crisis in Victoria?

1162 Days Spent Waiting to See A Specialist: And That Ain’t The Record!

Consider the case of poor Graeme Turnley of St Albans Park. Mr Turnley has told the Geelong Advertiserthat he ‘has waited for a consultation with a urologist since receiving a letter confirming his place on the waiting list in April 2003′.

According to the paper:

In the original letter, Mr Turnley was told he would have to wait 26 weeks for a consultation. Barwon Health later told him that wait would extend to 34 months, which passed by in February this year, before he received a phone call last Thursday asking if he wanted to remain on the list.

Sadly Mr Turnley’s case is far from isolated. According to the Auditor-General’s report, Access to specialist medical outpatient care, released last week, Victorians are waiting years to see urologists and other specialist.

Waiting lists for outpatient appointments are a hidden scandal in Victoria. The A-G found that the DHS keeps almost no records of how many people are waiting to see specialists, nor for how long they are waiting. As The Age commented ‘the number of people on the lists are only ever approximation’.

Nothing In The Budget To Ease Rural Doctor Crisis

The AMA has slammed Labor’s budget for ignoring the shortage of rural doctors.

“Doctors are extremely disappointed there is nothing in this week’s budget to attract GPs and specialists to practice in rural Victoria,” AMA Victoria president Dr Mark Yates told the Bendigo Advertiser.

“Communities across the state are justifiably concerned about the future of their local medical services.”

The news comes as the ABC prepares to broadcast an episode of Four Corners in which doctors claim that obstetrics services in some parts of rural Australia are Third World.

Since Labor came to office in Victoria, over 18 hospitals have suspended or abandoned their obstetrics services.

Clock Ticking Towards Melbourne’s First Ambulance Strike In 30 Years

The clock is counting down towards Melbourne’s first ambulance strike in over 30 years.

Last week 300 members of the Ambulance Employees Association voted to stop work in a month if the Metropolitan Ambulance Service doesn’t meet their concerns over rostering.

Paramedics are angry that they are being forced to start work shifts all over Melbourne with no nottice.

“Paramedics have had enough,” Ambulance Employees Association secretary Steve McGhie [told the Herald Sun ]

“After a 10-hour shift or a 14-hour night shift plus overtime they are expected to drive from one side of Melbourne to the other in order to get home.

“Their kids and families are suffering and fatigue is a threat to their safety.”….
….“Imagine turning up for work at Maroondah and being sent to Laverton and being expected to finish the shift at Laverton before trying to get back to the other side of Melbourne,” he said.

“Finding child care to fit into this is impossible and getting enough sleep between shifts is really difficult.”

This mess needs to be sorted out quickly. Labor must guarantee that there will no disruption to Melbourne’s ambulance service. The buck stops with Bronwyn Pike.

Did it take 20 minutes for an ambulance to reach the scene of the Korumburra tragedy?

The questions about the state of rural ambulance services won’t go away. On Saturday a 49-year-old Warragul woman was killed and three people injured when a ute drove into them as they walked home from a party in Korumburra. The Herald Sun reports that:

Witnesses said it took up to 20 minutes for an ambulance to get to the horrific South Gippsland crash…….

….“It seemed like forever until the ambulance came, people were ringing and saying: `Where the hell are you?’ ”

Korumburra’s ambulance station is only manned by one paramedic. Bronwyn Pike needs to tell us:

How long was it before the first ambulance reached the scene of the accident?

How long was it before any back-up crews were able to get there from Leongatha?

Nine Questions Bronwyn Pike Needs To Answer Pronto

Earlier this week an HIV positive man was charged with deliberately infecting people with the virus over a six year period.

It is believed there could be dozens of unknowing victims in the community.

Disturbingly, it appears that the Department of Human Services was warned 5 years ago, in 2001, about the alleged actions of the man but it appears to have done nothing.

In Victoria it is a criminal offence to knowingly or recklessly spread the HIV infection and authorities have the power to detain such a person.

Bronwyn Pike has some questions to answer about this, namely:

• How many times was DHS warned about the man’s alleged behaviour?

• Did DHS attempt to contact him?

• Has DHS co-operated with the police in their attempts to contact the man’s other alleged victims?

• Why did DHS not attempt to warn his alleged victims?

• Why did DHS not inform police that they had been warned about this man’s actions?

• If DHS believed him to be acting improperly why did they make no move to detain him?

• How long has Health Minister Bronwyn Pike known about this?

But most importantly of all;

• Has DHS received any other warnings from members of the public about someone allegedly spreading the HIV virus?
• What has DHS done about them?