Members Statement - Delayed Health Care

MEMBERS STATEMENT

‘DELAYED HEALTH CARE’.

Wednesday, 6 October 2021.

Mr NEWBURY (Brighton):

Current restrictions are deterring people from accessing the health services they need. That delay is causing ongoing health issues, and for many, leading to ongoing agonising pain.

A mother recently contacted me, desperate, because her daughter hasn’t been able to receive myotherapy. Her daughter has a chronic pain condition resulting from spinal surgery three years ago.

As she said: ‘My daughter is in Year 12 and is supposed to be preparing for exams, but she is spending much more time in bed due to severe pain’.

Hampton dentist Dr Ian Maratos, a dental surgeon and dentist, recently shared a disturbing story of a patient, saying:

I saw a new ‘emergency’ patient, a mother of two young kids … She was fully vaccinated, had a TMD issue and some mouth discomfort, she was a little perturbed about a mouth ulcer that had persisted for some months during lockdown … It wasn’t an ulcer—it was oral cancer … It made me worry for my other patients. What was being missed during these extended Lockdowns.

Victorians need access to proper health services.

And we know that ongoing lockdowns are causing access to be denied or dissuaded.

It’s just not good enough.