The Victorian Liberals and Nationals are today taking action to ensure all Victorians can understand the true performance of our health system in a timely and transparent manner.
ThePublic Health and Wellbeing Amendment (Health Services Performance Transparency and Accountability) Bill 2023 will ensure that quarterly health services performance data is made available to the public at the end of the first month following the previous quarter.
Victoria’s public health services performance data includes data related to the quality, safety and performance of ambulance services, public dental care, elective surgery, emergency department care and hospital admission and discharge.
Without a legislated requirement for the public release of data on a specified date, the Andrews Labor Government has proven it will only release it at a time of political convenience.
This was made clear by the Health Minister’s recent attempt to evade scrutiny by releasing the last quarter’s health data just minutes before a press conference, giving journalists no time to review the data and formulate critically important questions.
Shadow Minister for Health, Georgie Crozier, said the problems in the Victorian health system will not be fixed while the Andrews Labor Government continued to play dishonest political games with Victorians health performance figures.
“We’ve seen this show time and time again – Daniel Andrews evades accountability and transparency for the shortcomings of the health system by withholding vital data from the community and from the media,” Ms Crozier said.
“Our health system is failing Victorians. We’ve seen case after case of families travelling interstate to get the care they need and deserve.
“Fixing the health crisis starts by understanding where the problems are. Keeping critical data from the public serves no one’s interests but Daniel Andrews.”
