In a cruel cost cutting exercise, the Minister for Health, Mary-Anne Thomas, has told Victorian regional health services, including those in East Gippsland, to make significant ‘back of house’ budget savings, immediately.
Nationals Member for Gippsland East, Tim Bull, says as the state continues to navigate the ongoing health service crisis, the Government must stop pressuring local hospitals from making damaging cuts to regional health services.
“The Minister is calling this a “Financial Management Improvement Plan” that boils down to cutting millions from hospital budgets, but at the same time, she is asking for no front-line services to be impacted.
“I spoke about this in Parliament last week and said, ‘asking country hospitals to cut millions and then tell them not to impact services to the public, was a fantasy request. It really is just not achievable’.
“Even if it could be done, what she is asking is for health services to cut local jobs from communities.
“The most unbiased commentators cannot believe this request. While Victoria is in the midst of an extended public health crisis, the Allan Labor Government is targeting regional health services to help pay for its financial incompetence.
Mr Bull challenged the Minister to show how regional hospital boards can cut millions of dollars from their budgets, without impacting frontline services or impact local jobs.
Monday, 8 April 2024
“We have people dying on hospital waiting lists, people who cannot get their medical scan results back in time so they can start their oncology treatment, and we have ambulances ramped because there are no beds for the patients in the hospitals, and the Minister wants to cut funding,” Mr Bull said in State Parliament.
“This is a cruel and disgraceful request from the Labor Government that must be revoked immediately.
“It’s not our hospitals that need a lesson on managing budgets. If Labor could manage its major infrastructure projects financially, our hospital boards would not be asked to take these alarming measures,” he said.
