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Northe Speaks In Parliament On Increased Funding To Latrobe Regional Hospital Member for Morwell Russell Northe today raised in Parliament his support for increased funding to Latrobe Regional Hospital from the Victorian Coalition Government. By Russell Northe - 5th September 2013 - Back to News Mr Northe said ¡§I rise today to support the increase in funding by the Victorian Coalition Government to Latrobe Regional Hospital (LRH) in the financial year of 2013/2014.
¡§LRH will receive an additional $8.35 million or 5.6% increase in funding this financial year compared to 2012/2013.
¡§As a major regional hospital it¡¦s imperative that as demand at LRH grows so does funding and capital investment and I¡¦m pleased that our Government has invested significantly to improve health and mental health services in Gippsland.
¡§This is in stark contrast to the Federal Labor Government, which conversely seeks to rip health funding out of Victoria.
¡§The Rudd Labor Government has advised that it will be paying Victoria¡¦s hospitals $368 million less over the next three years than it had initially promised and in terms of LRH this is a reduction of some $7.5 million over a 3 year period.
¡§The State Coalition Government¡¦s funding boost will go some way to address that cut, but imagine how many more patients our hospitals could treat if the Federal Labor Government didn¡¦t reduce their funding.
¡§To make matters worse the Rudd Labor Governments carbon tax has meant that LRH has had to pay an additional $161,000 in energy costs over the past 12 months placing further financial pressures on our health services.¡¨
The Victorian Coalition Government continues to support Latrobe Regional Hospital by providing funding for a number of projects including:
„h Funding for four additional sub-acute beds, and expansion of the hospital¡¦s Rehabilitation Centre.
„h $550,000 to establish a new Cognitive, Dementia and Memory Service and commence planning for a new pain clinic.
„h $96,704 to assist the increasing demand for colonoscopy procedures with funding for new equipment.
„h $500,000 over 4 years to assist alcohol and drug affected patients; the funding will help provide additional specialist staff.
„h $446,000 funding boost for the replacement of vital medical equipment and infrastructure upgrades.
„h A new Mother-Baby Mental Health service.
„h $50,000 funding to improve safety for women in the mental health unit (Flynn ward)
russell.northe@parliament.vic.gov.au www.russellnorthe.com.au 66 George St, Morwell VIC 3840 ph 03 5133 9088 fax 03 5133 9388
„h Funding for four new mental health inpatient beds
Mr Northe said ¡§Whilst the Federal Labor Government has seen fit to pull funding out of Victorian Hospitals, the Victorian Coalition Government is proud to provide additional funding for services and investing in capital.
¡§I commend all staff at LRH for their ongoing efforts and dedication to the Gippsland community in delivering health services across our region.¡¨
Media contact: Russell Northe 5133 9088
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: news@gippsland.com
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