Health cuts will hurt everyone
Victoria’s public hospitals have been asked to make $107 million in savings this financial year due to reduced federal funding to the state.
For Mercy Health that translates to an immediate $3 million cut between now and June 30.
An unplanned and unbudgeted cut like this will hurt. It will hurt services. It will hurt staff. It will hurt the community.
Public health funding is complex, and hospitals are large, complex businesses. Like all good businesses, ours is planned and engineered based on best-estimates with an inbuilt capacity to withstand shock. We focus on continual service improvement and delivering the best services possible.
Unlike many businesses, ours is primarily hands-on care, and is all about people.
So, cuts like this which come mid-funding cycle and without warning, create a big business shock. They result in immediate cost reductions rather than planned and considered approaches. Most importantly, they lack full consideration of the long-term effects on the health outcomes for our communities, the retention of our highly skilled workforce, and the attraction of our next generation of health workers. We know this, and governments know this. As a denominational hospital, Mercy Health is somewhat different to a public hospital. Most notably, we are fully responsible for our losses and have to fund any shortfall from our own money or external borrowings.
In simple terms, Mercy Health must ensure its hospitals do not operate at a deficit.
Our directors and senior executives bear the legal obligation of ensuring our services are financially viable and our business is solvent. Stephen Cornelissen, chief executive, Mercy Health
Lack of planning will hit us again
VicRoads has confirmed that it has not done any detailed study into the land that will be required for the eventual removal of the Hoppers Crossing Railway level crossing. With incomplete planning, the Growth Areas Authority has presented us with plans for the development of what is vacant land in the Werribee East Employment Precinct and the Point Cook West precinct.
Another traffic infrastructure disaster in the making!
Lance Pritchard, Hoppers Crossing
Re: Australia Day: Fun for all in Wyndham on ‘our’ day (Weekly, January 24) The fact remains that we all live in the greatest country in the world because we want to. Happy Australia Day to everyone regardless of whether you were born here or not.
Tony A
