November 5th, 2021Boost for Victorian health system

Victoria’s health system will be boosted further with a range of measures to free up capacity in public hospitals, as we head toward an expected surge in COVID patients.
The new $307 million package is designed to make the most of our resources within hospitals, while increasing in home and community care options to keep our critical care beds ready for those who need them most.
Hospital in the Home will receive an urgent injection of up to $87 million to care for both COVID and non-COVID patients at home, which will free up more than 100 public hospital beds in metropolitan Melbourne.
An injection of $42 million will allow the COVID Positive Pathways program to employ more than 150 extra staff to assess what medical or social supports COVID positive patients might need to help them remain at home during their recovery, and additional staff to navigate their COVID care from hospital back into their home.
The funding will also provide oximeters and home oxygen units to positive patients, so their symptoms can be monitored remotely, and help to establish dedicated triage spaces in the program for people who deteriorate and require hospitalisation.
Ambulance Victoria will receive more than $40 million to boost their capacity to manage increased COVID caseload and provide surge capacity for patients with less serious conditions that still require hospitalisation.
The funding will provide 58 non-emergency patient transport vehicles, more than 200 student paramedics, 13 additional Peak Period Units, and additional paramedics to provide care at handover and assist with flow at Emergency Departments.
Aboriginal health organisations in regional and metropolitan areas will share in $12 million to increase clinical sessions, in-home care, healthcare coordination between Aboriginal and mainstream services, and provide increased COVID care pathways and primary healthcare to reduce pressure on the hospital system.
Additional funding will support patients with a disability who are currently in a metropolitan hospital and are medically fit for discharge, but are waiting in hospital for NDIS packages and accommodation.
Victoria will step up while waiting for national NDIS processes to be worked through, with flexible support packages that enable these patients to move home or into comfortable and appropriate community accommodation – freeing up hospital beds for COVID-positive patients.
Similarly, geriatric clinicians will be deployed to residential aged care facilities to reduce avoidable hospital admissions. Combined with high vaccination rates, this will see more elderly residents cared for where they live, rather than in hospital.
An extra 450 people will be supported by Melbourne based specialist community palliative care providers in their homes – which is expected to free up between 10 and 20 per cent of the metropolitan palliative care beds over the next five months.
Extra workforce measures include $3.6 million to support 3,000 critical care training places and employ 24 health educators on wards to provide additional training for 750 multi-disciplinary clinicians in ICU surge and acute care.