Concerns about potential hospital closures continue as the Department of Health fails to rule out the forced amalgamation of Victoria's health services.
Under questioning today in the Victorian Parliament's Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC), Department Secretary, Euan Wallace, denied the state's health services were on the brink of financial disaster, but could not outline where the emergency $1.5 billion Allan Labor Government bailout had gone.
Furthermore, the Department failed to explain why Koo Wee Rup Hospital was being amalgamated into Bayside Health and why the Royal Children's Hospital pathology unit was merging with the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Victoria's health services recorded a more than $1 billion deficit, with 36 health services – including the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre - having less than 14 days' cash on hand across 2023-24.
These significant losses occurred as the Labor Government starved health services of critical funding through the 2022-23 financial year. The Department of Health paid fewer than one in two invoices below $3 million within the required 10-day period since 2021.
Shadow Minster for Health, Georgie Crozier, said: "The Allan Labor Government is hiding budget cuts, hospital closures and service amalgamations behind bureaucracy.
"After being forced to pay a $1.5 billion bailout of Victoria's health services, the Allan Labor Government is now unable to explain where the taxpayer money has gone.
"Labor cannot manage money, cannot manage our health system and Victorians are paying the price."
