Victoria’s health system is broken.

People have been saying it to me for several years – especially during and post COVID-19 – but it is not until you experience it, either yourself or with a family member, that you truly understand.

One of my family became seriously unwell last weekend, and had to be taken to the emergency department at a Melbourne hospital.

And while he doesn’t live in the Wimmera, I’m sure plenty of residents can relate to his experience in trying to navigate the health system.

It all started on a Saturday afternoon, when he became cold and was shivering. By late afternoon he couldn’t walk and was incoherent. After being told an ambulance would take more than hour to reach him, other family members decided to drive him to the nearest hospital.

There he was told to go straight to the nearest major hospital in Melbourne – without even being looked at by the local hospital.

After protests by family members, nurses at the first hospital checked him out and called an ambulance for him to be taken to a Melbourne hospital.

Four hours later, the ambulance arrived, taking him to the Melbourne hospital’s emergency department at 11.30pm on Saturday.

Fluctuating blood pressure, high heart rate, and high temperature, among others, accompanied his original symptoms. 

By Sunday afternoon, he still hadn’t been admitted to a ward.

When that eventually did happen, the doctors and nurses tried their best to find the answer to why he was so sick. 

While we could see they were all trying their best to work under busy conditions, it felt like we were answering the same questions over and over again, always to different people.

Communication was lacking and there seemed to be no one in charge who was overseeing his care and, importantly, keeping our family informed.

Thankfully intravenous antibiotics slowly started to fight against the mystery infection, and he improved enough to go home after a few days.

He was one of the lucky ones. It could have ended up so much worse – and for some people it does.

Delays and substandard care are mostly caused by an under-funded health system.

It is not the fault of those people who are actually working every day in the system.

It is the way the system is being managed from the top, and the government funding – or lack of being allocated – that is causing headaches and heartache.

As a newspaper editor, I don’t have the answers to fix the health system – but listening to those who work in it and experience issues every day is a good place to start.

The allocation of more money each year needs to be prioritised by both levels of government.

The functioning of our hospitals is literally a matter of life and death.

The entire June 26, 2024 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!

The entire June, 26, 2024 edition of AgLife is available online. READ IT HERE!