SOME of the 550 patients at who have been facing elective surgery delays at hospitals in Sunshine and Footscray could soon be given a reprieve.
Last month, Western Health announced Federal Government funding cuts would affect 550 patients at the Sunshine Hospital and the Western Hospital in Footscray.
The funding reductions would have caused hundreds of patients to miss out on elective surgeries scheduled for this financial year.
However, last week the Federal Government announced they would reinstate $107 million in funding to Victoria’s hospitals.
The decision was labelled as a “considerable relief” by Western Health CEO Alex Cockram.
However, Ms Cockram said she had not received official information about how the new funding would be implemented or how $107 million would flow into individual health services.
“Over the course of the next week or more, we would expect to receive clarification from the Federal Government and be able to make firmer decisions about what the announcement will mean for patients and services,” Ms Cockram said.
“We will also need to work through what this will mean for patients who are awaiting elective surgery.”
Western Metropolian MP Andrew Elsbury welcomed the funding announcement from the Federal Government but said another $368 million in cuts have been slated for after June 30.
Mr Elsbury called on Prime Minister Julia Gillard to reverse these reductions.
“The Federal Labour Government needs to end the uncertainty for hospital staff and patients and commit to reinstating all of the money that was promised to the Victorian health system by the Gillard Government,” he said.
Ms Gillard hit back, saying more than 46,000 Victorians were “languishing on elective surgery waiting lists, ambulance response times have blown out, and Mr Baillieu’s response has been to slash $616 million from our state’s health system and then try and blame my government”.
