Mr Pallas (Tarneit) — I rise to speak on the Napthine government’s failure to address  the increasing demand being  placed upon the  Werribee Mercy Hospital’s emergency department.  Annual  reports  tabled in  the  Parliament in  the  last sitting week reveal what many local residents already know  —  that the state’s health system is struggling  to cope  and is  starved of  resources due  to $826 million in Napthine government cuts.  It beggars belief that  the Werribee Mercy has had 264 patients languish in the emergency department  for over  24 hours in the last year. Over 30 per cent of  emergency  presentations  were  not assessed within 4 hours.

Thirty per cent of triage categories 1-5 emergency patients were not seen within clinically recommended times.  Ambulance ramping continues to be a serious issue at the Werribee Mercy, with  16 per  cent of ambulance transfers taking over 40 minutes.

The staff at the Werribee Mercy do the best they can  with limited resources. It is of  grave concern  that the Napthine government wants to put more pressure on an emergency  department  that is  already  struggling  under  the  pressure  of Wyndham’s growing population by not providing adequate funds and support for the dedicated staff  to  do their  job  as  effectively as  possible. 

The  Napthine government  must  invest adequate  funds  so  that the  members  of  the Wyndham community can  feel confident that they or their loved ones will be treated in a timely manner if they have to go to the emergency department at Werribee Mercy.