Can an election cure Victoria's health system?

It is now under a month until Victorians hit the polls ahead of the state election and so far Labor and the Coalition have pledged billions to upgrade and revitalise the healthsystem.

But what does this mean for a healthcare workforce that is already stretched?

Although any funding for health services is "greatly welcomed", a peak medical body has warned of the need for immediate practical funding for primary health care instead of pouring billions into hospital infrastructure.

"The current government has prioritised billions of dollars of new spending on health in the coming years This does not improve the critical situation healthcare workers face on the ground right now, whether in public hospitals or in general practice," Australian Medical Association Victoria (AMAV) President Dr Roderick McRae said in the AMAV election statement.

"This crisis has built up over decades, across multiple administrations, due, in no small part, to now past lack of sophisticated, coordinated, long-term planning failing to recognise increasing demand and capacity constraints as systems stretched to cope."

Dr McRae said to ensure there was sustainability in the Victorian healthcare system, conditions for general practice needed to improve.

"The plight of general practice, indeed its business viability, remains dire," he said.

"General practice shoulders over 90 per cent of the healthcare burden in Victoria, yet receives the least attention from the state government."

'The hospital sector can only flourish, if GPs can flourish alongside it'

One of the "inherent flaws in the health system is that there is far too much funding" into hospital medicine, Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Victorian chair Dr Anita Munoz told 9news.com.au.

"It's the most expensive way to deliver care and which emphasises illnesses at the most severe end, which means that the opportunity for disease prevention and control is lost by not emphasising care in the community," she said.

Dr Munoz is calling for greater investment in growing the number of general practitioners (GP), which in return would provide greater support for the health system as a whole.

"It is important to recognise that the hospital sector can only flourish, if GPs can flourish alongside it," she said.

"Otherwise, we will have expanded hospital networks treating patients that would be usually treated in the community, if the proper services existed.

"We know if a good GP care is funded properly, patients who are discharged from hospital and see their GP within seven days have lower chances to returning to hospital for unplanned conditions.

"But having a good GP means funding."

Dr Munoz believes the next government needs to create equal access to healthcare outside metropolitan Melbourne.

"The government can support GPs to move into remote and rural communities, providing a package of support to relocate themselves outside metropolitan areas, which includes support for partners and family," she said.

"We want equal access for GPs to be located in every postcode in Victoria.

"There is a lot that can be done from a GP perspective to manage patients that are transitioning outside hospital care and into the community."

The health system is far greater than just hospitals, Rob Moodie, a professor in public health at the University of Melbourne's School of Population and Global Health said.

"We do need hospitals but it's the not the only thing that we need," he told 9news.com.au.

"We will not be able to keep up with the costs of tertiary care, it's impossible.

Prof. Moodie said it was important to focus on keeping Victorians out of hospitals.

He said investing in community health, primary care and positive health promotion needed to expand.

"The more we can work on preventing people from getting into hospital, the more better it will be for the system as a whole," he said.

"Currently we are focused in treatment and we need to be re-focused to prevention."

Hospitals plead for funding

However, hospital infrastructure is also needed and just last week, a regional health service took to social mediato plead with the government for funding upgrades.

Western District Health Service (WDHS), which oversees Hamilton Base Hospital, launched the one-minute video begging the Andrews government for more funding.

"It's absolutely horrendous," WDHS chief executive Rohan Fitzgerald told 9News.

"In terms of the clinical care provided, it's wonderful. But if you look at the physical infrastructure there is no privacy at all.

"Our staff have to move mountains to provide care in third-world conditions in what are completely inadequate conditions."

The hospital wants the state government to commit $17m dollars to help fund a $32m upgrade of its emergency department and intensive care unit.

Meanwhile, Professor Mark Fitzgerald, the Alfred Hospital's Director of Trauma Service labelled the conditions at the hospital "inadequate" and dangerous.

"It's just not fit for purpose, we can't get people through the operating theatre fast enough," he said.

Source: 9News

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