There was no joy in Bendigo Health plans announced yesterday to combat the loss of $2.9 million in federal government money from its 2012–13 budget.
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A cut of 600 elective surgeries between Easter and June 30. The closure of 24 acute beds. Such moves must impact heavily on many families in our region. But perhaps the most concerning thing to come out of the plan was the decision to take $100,000 from mental health spending.
The $100,000 will be achieved by not recruiting for vacancies and reducing after-hours services at regional locations.
This move will see people presenting with mental health problems in outlying areas after hours transported to Bendigo Health for treatment.
The issue with that is Bendigo Health is already struggling to meet demand.
Mental health is a growing problem with no signs of that trend reversing. Now is not the time for a single cut to services in this area.
Figures released in October last year showed a sharp rise in waiting times for people seeking help for mental issues at Bendigo Health.
State opposition figures, accepted as correct, revealed 39 mentally ill patients had waited more than eight hours for admission to Bendigo Health in April to June 2012, a staggering rise from just four for the same period in 2011.
So with Bendigo Health already finding it difficult to cope with demand, it will now be forced to deal with people being transported in for care. How many people are we talking about exactly?
Mental health patients deserve the right treatment and this area of health care needs more attention, not less.
The only silver lining yesterday was predicted staff cuts have not eventuated. Let’s hope that stance can be maintained for all concerned.
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