MALCOLM TURNBULL MUST REVERSE HOSPITAL CUTS IN BUDGET

Malcolm Turnbull faces a key test in next month’s Budget - to reverse his cuts to hospitals around Australia, including the $14 million cut to Box Hill and other Eastern Health hospitals in Melbourne.

 

Mr Turnbull is cutting $715 million from Australia’s public hospitals between 2017 and 2020 – including $14 million from Eastern Health.

 

The cut to Eastern Health alone is equivalent to:

-          21,000 emergency department visits; or

-          4,000 cataract surgeries; or

-          Over 500 knee replacements; or

-          33,990 outpatient appointments.

 Doctors, nurses and other hospital staff in Eastern Health are already overstretched – and Malcolm Turnbull’s cuts will only make things worse.

 Mr Turnbull is prepared to give big business a $65 billion tax handout but he can’t even find a fraction of that money to properly fund Australia’s hospitals. That says everything about his priorities.

 

The question for Malcolm Turnbull now is: will he do the right thing in next month’s Budget and reverse these cruel hospital cuts?

 The $14 million cut to Eastern Health is part of a $183 million cut to hospitals across Victoria.

 In 2016-17, Victoria’s emergency departments saw a record number of people, with 1.73 million presentations. The last thing the state’s hospitals need is a funding cut.

 Australians don’t go to our public hospitals because they want something to do – they go because they desperately need health care to get back on their feet.

 

They’re people waiting for hip surgery, knee replacements, and dealing with life-threatening health issues.

 Every dollar cut from our public hospitals is a dollar cut from our sickest and most vulnerable patients.

 Access to health care should be determined by your Medicare card – not your credit card.

 Mr Turnbull must reverse his hospital cuts in next month’s Budget.

 Additional statistics:

In 2016–17, there were 7.8 million presentations to Australia’s public hospital emergency departments—an average of more than 21,000 presentations each day. In Victoria, there were 1.73 million presentations in 2016-17 – an average of 4,742 each day.

 

[if !supportLists]·         [endif]There are 158,000 more presentations to Victoria’s emergency departments a year than before the Federal Liberals were elected.

 

[if !supportLists]·         [endif]13.8% of Australians will visit an emergency department every year – that’s around 872,600 people in Victoria.

 

[if !supportLists]·         [endif]More than 50 percent of public hospital doctors are working unsafe hours that put them at significant risk of fatigue – including 75% of intensive care specialists, with the Australian Medical Association saying “the strain and the pressure on our public hospitals is having a detrimental impact on the health of our doctors.”