Wyndham residents face longer waits for emergency treatment and elective surgery unless the federal government reverses funding cuts to hospitals, state Health Minister and Altona MP Jill Hennessy claims.
According to a state government analysis, Mercy Health, which operates Werribee Mercy Hospital, stands to lose $377 million in federal funding in the next decade.
More than $1 billion could be slashed from hospitals and health services across Victoria with the Abbott government set to change the hospital funding system.
The current system, which is based on growth in demand and costs, is set to be abandoned in favour of a new system from the 2017-18 financial year that will tie federal funding increases to inflation and population growth.
Ms Hennessy said Victoria stood to lose $13.6 billion in funding.
“Victorians are already waiting too long in emergency departments and for elective surgery, and these cuts will only make it worse,” she said.
“Werribee Mercy is a fantastic hospital … to rip $377 million away will make it hard for them to continue do the amazing work they do to treat our loved ones.”
Lalor MP Joanne Ryan urged the government to reverse its decision.
“The real victims of these cuts will be the patients, including the 33,570 that present to the emergency department and the more than 3500 local women who give birth at Werribee Mercy each year,” she said.
Federal Health Minister Sussan Ley told The Age she was committed to working with state and territory governments to deliver a more efficient hospital system, adding that hospital funding under the Abbott government was continuing to go up.
“Unsustainable health spending will cause Australians more harm than good in the long run,” she said.
“These decisions are never easy or popular but doing nothing is not an option … we are a government taking action.”
Mercy Health health services chief executive Linda Mellors said the group was yet to be made aware of any funding cuts.
