FRONTLINE staff and services will not be affected after hospitals were told to slash millions of dollars in costs, the Victorian Government has said.
Struggling with mounting debt, the state government has told rural and metropolitan health bosses to find savings of between $4 million and $10 million over the next three years, without cutting frontline jobs.
A Department of Health spokesperson said the cost reductions will focus on streamlining payroll and other administrative functions such as consultancies.
“We regularly engage with health services on their finances and activity to access spending, including looking at back office and administrative functions,” the spokesperson said.
“Across public health services in both regional and metropolitan Victoria, there are disparities in back office and administrative spending – to rectify this, the Department has requested that services, particularly those in the higher range, simply look at options to reduce any inefficiencies.
“This will not affect any frontline services or staff – health continues to be the Victorian Government’s largest investment, with record funding in hospitals, healthcare workers and new services.”
Victorian Healthcare Association chief executive officer Leigh Clarke believes any cuts to health services would place pressure on an already stretched and fatigued workforce.
“Essentially, public health services are not being funded in line with the real costs of delivering services – costs which are increasing,” Ms Clarke said.
“Health services can’t be expected to find efficiencies because of a structural failing of the current health funding mechanism.
“We need to recognise that we are operating in a high inflationary environment which has worsened an already growing structural deficit in Victoria’s health budget.”
Ms Clarke urged the state government to reconsider its approach to the indexation of health service funding.
“Overall funding for Victoria’s healthcare services must match inflation to meet rising demand and deliver quality care, in addition to addressing the structural deficit that our services cannot control,” she said.
“If we don’t make a change, the gap between funding and the cost of delivering care will only continue to widen.”
Swan Hill District Health was contacted for comment.
