The meeting, held on Wednesday, July 24, with shadow mental health minister Emma Kealy, aimed to provide community members with more information about the proposed changes.
Mrs O’Keeffe said it was important the community was kept informed, and that locals’ experiences were heard.
“I am gravely concerned about the health and wellbeing of our exhausted workforce and the impact on patient care, and I have raised my concerns in parliament with the health minister,” she said.
“The staff at our local hospitals are working tirelessly to provide the best care possible but they are being impacted by Labor’s poor decisions.”
Ms Kealy said the Victorian Government was set to combine 76 health services across the state into just 12 larger hubs.
This follows significant funding cuts to health care in the most recent state budget.
Public health funding was cut by 33.8 per cent, and more than 20 health services were told their budgets would be cut by up to 30 per cent across the next financial year.
Following these announcements, many towns held protests, including Alexandra and Seymour, highlighting community concern.
“Labor’s plans for vast amalgamations and slashing budgets are not the answer to fix health workforce issues, ambulance ramping and long wait times for surgery that Victorians are experiencing across the state,” Ms Kealy said.
“It makes no sense for Labor to slash hospital budgets and force the hospitals into a position where they can’t employ new staff when they are already struggling to keep up with demand for care.”
Mrs O’Keeffe said it was appalling that the government had committed billions to city-centric projects such as the Suburban Rail Loop.
“The government should be prioritising health. They have their priorities all wrong,” she said.
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