The healthcare system in Australia is under a lot of strain. With an unprecedented pandemic and chronic conditions on the rise, more and more people are needing to access hospital services.

This increased demand has put a lot of pressure on our hospitals, which are struggling to keep up. Wait times for elective surgery are getting longer, and patients are being left in pain or discomfort for months on end.

It's a sad reality that many Australians face when they need medical care, but it looks like there could soon be some relief in sight — at least in Victoria.

Matthew Guy of the Victorian Liberal Party has announced a plan to invest $66 million into increasing the use of medical robots in the state’s public hospital system.

In a statement, he said: ‘Following years of mismanagement by Daniel Andrews, Victoria’s elective surgery waitlist reached record highs before the pandemic.’

‘Worse still, after the world’s longest lockdown, a state-wide Code Brown and several elective surgery bans, the number of Victorians waiting in pain and limbo has blown out to more than 85,000 people.’

​

Eight Victorian hospitals might see new surgical robots under Matthew Guy’s $66 million plan. Credit: ABC

Guy said robotic-assisted surgery can help reduce the pressure on Victoria’s hospital system because patients would have shorter hospital stays, freeing up space for more surgeries.

The surgery technology is currently used at a few hospitals around the state, but under this new plan it would be performed at eight additional major sites including The Alfred, The Olivia Newton-John Cancer Centre and Austin Health.

Each of the proposed robots will be supported by a comprehensive training package and a maintenance plan.

An elective surgery is a ‘necessary’ procedure that can be ‘delayed for at least 24 hours’, such as tonsil removal, hip replacements, or cosmetic surgery.

Three out of every four Victorians needing elective surgery are treated within the recommended time, according to state statistics.

However, the median waiting time for an operation in the state is 34 days. The national average for 2020-2021 is 48 days, in comparison.

In April, the Victorian Government announced a $1.5 billion investment in public health facilities ‘to catch up on deferred care’. The development is expected to provide around 240,000 people access to needed medical help annually by 2024.

‘As Premier, my first priority will be to fix the health crisis,’ said Guy, who hopes to win Victoria’s state election on November 26.

Liberal Party candidate Matthew Guy wants more robots introduced to Victoria’s health system to help address bloated waiting lists for elective surgeries. Credit: news.com.au

‘This technology will help us halve the elective surgery waitlist and give tens of thousands of Victorians their lives back.’

But Victoria’s Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas thinks the proposal isn’t fit to address pressing health sector woes.

‘Now it’s robots over ratios as they try desperately to find a workforce they don’t have to consult,’ she said.

Liberal spokesperson for health Georgie Crozier however begs to differ.

‘The Andrews Labour Government mocking technology that is already widely in use in the private sector shows how out of touch, out of ideas, and out of time they are,’ she said.

Key Takeaways

• The Opposition in Victoria, Australia is proposing increased use of medical robots in order to help shorten hospital stays and free up capacity for more surgeries.
• The current government is critical of the plan, saying that it is not in line with the sector's needs.
• The Opposition argues that the technology has a place to improve Victoria's embattled healthcare system.

‘We have announced a Real Solutions Plan to train an additional 40,000 nurses and midwives, and we will not be changing the legislated ratios, full stop.’

Premier Daniel Andrews earlier promised a $5000 sign-on bonus to graduate nurses and midwives entering the state’s health workforce over the next year if he is re-elected.

What do you think of this plan to introduce more surgical robots in Victorian hospitals? Is it something you agree with, or would you prefer the funding be used in other ways?

If this becomes a reality in Victoria, it’s likely the rest of Australia will follow suit.

Tell us your thoughts and opinions below!

Source: YouTube/9 News Australia​

 

[Bernice S]

The healthcare system in Australia is under a lot of strain. With an unprecedented pandemic and chronic conditions on the rise, more and more people are needing to access hospital services.

This increased demand has put a lot of pressure on our hospitals, which are struggling to keep up. Wait times for elective surgery are getting longer, and patients are being left in pain or discomfort for months on end.

It's a sad reality that many Australians face when they need medical care, but it looks like there could soon be some relief in sight — at least in Victoria.

Matthew Guy of the Victorian Liberal Party has announced a plan to invest $66 million into increasing the use of medical robots in the state’s public hospital system.

In a statement, he said: ‘Following years of mismanagement by Daniel Andrews, Victoria’s elective surgery waitlist reached record highs before the pandemic.’

‘Worse still, after the world’s longest lockdown, a state-wide Code Brown and several elective surgery bans, the number of Victorians waiting in pain and limbo has blown out to more than 85,000 people.’

​

View attachment 8701

Eight Victorian hospitals might see new surgical robots under Matthew Guy’s $66 million plan. Credit: ABC

Guy said robotic-assisted surgery can help reduce the pressure on Victoria’s hospital system because patients would have shorter hospital stays, freeing up space for more surgeries.

The surgery technology is currently used at a few hospitals around the state, but under this new plan it would be performed at eight additional major sites including The Alfred, The Olivia Newton-John Cancer Centre and Austin Health.

Each of the proposed robots will be supported by a comprehensive training package and a maintenance plan.

An elective surgery is a ‘necessary’ procedure that can be ‘delayed for at least 24 hours’, such as tonsil removal, hip replacements, or cosmetic surgery.

Three out of every four Victorians needing elective surgery are treated within the recommended time, according to state statistics.

However, the median waiting time for an operation in the state is 34 days. The national average for 2020-2021 is 48 days, in comparison.

In April, the Victorian Government announced a $1.5 billion investment in public health facilities ‘to catch up on deferred care’. The development is expected to provide around 240,000 people access to needed medical help annually by 2024.

‘As Premier, my first priority will be to fix the health crisis,’ said Guy, who hopes to win Victoria’s state election on November 26.

View attachment 8700

Liberal Party candidate Matthew Guy wants more robots introduced to Victoria’s health system to help address bloated waiting lists for elective surgeries. Credit: news.com.au

‘This technology will help us halve the elective surgery waitlist and give tens of thousands of Victorians their lives back.’

But Victoria’s Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas thinks the proposal isn’t fit to address pressing health sector woes.

‘Now it’s robots over ratios as they try desperately to find a workforce they don’t have to consult,’ she said.

Liberal spokesperson for health Georgie Crozier however begs to differ.

‘The Andrews Labour Government mocking technology that is already widely in use in the private sector shows how out of touch, out of ideas, and out of time they are,’ she said.

Key Takeaways

• The Opposition in Victoria, Australia is proposing increased use of medical robots in order to help shorten hospital stays and free up capacity for more surgeries.
• The current government is critical of the plan, saying that it is not in line with the sector's needs.
• The Opposition argues that the technology has a place to improve Victoria's embattled healthcare system.

‘We have announced a Real Solutions Plan to train an additional 40,000 nurses and midwives, and we will not be changing the legislated ratios, full stop.’

Premier Daniel Andrews earlier promised a $5000 sign-on bonus to graduate nurses and midwives entering the state’s health workforce over the next year if he is re-elected.

What do you think of this plan to introduce more surgical robots in Victorian hospitals? Is it something you agree with, or would you prefer the funding be used in other ways?

If this becomes a reality in Victoria, it’s likely the rest of Australia will follow suit.

Tell us your thoughts and opinions below!

Source: YouTube/9 News Australia​

Funding should be used for people NOT ROBOTS. I would hate the thought of a robot operating on me. People deserve jobs. They have mortgages and families to support. Robots don't. We should stop letting robots take away jobs from people when if the truth is to be told it comes down to saving money not saving lives.

 

[Ricci]

As I live with constant pain that limits the amount that I can do if I lived in Victoria I wouldn't care if I was operated on by surgeons, robots or little green men from Mars if it stopped the pain. I'm interested in outcomes rather than how we get there, we know that automation is taking on more and more of the mundane jobs in the market so it's only a matter of time before it's commonplace everywhere.

 

[riskydave]

The healthcare system in Australia is under a lot of strain. With an unprecedented pandemic and chronic conditions on the rise, more and more people are needing to access hospital services.

This increased demand has put a lot of pressure on our hospitals, which are struggling to keep up. Wait times for elective surgery are getting longer, and patients are being left in pain or discomfort for months on end.

It's a sad reality that many Australians face when they need medical care, but it looks like there could soon be some relief in sight — at least in Victoria.

Matthew Guy of the Victorian Liberal Party has announced a plan to invest $66 million into increasing the use of medical robots in the state’s public hospital system.

In a statement, he said: ‘Following years of mismanagement by Daniel Andrews, Victoria’s elective surgery waitlist reached record highs before the pandemic.’

‘Worse still, after the world’s longest lockdown, a state-wide Code Brown and several elective surgery bans, the number of Victorians waiting in pain and limbo has blown out to more than 85,000 people.’

​

View attachment 8701

Eight Victorian hospitals might see new surgical robots under Matthew Guy’s $66 million plan. Credit: ABC

Guy said robotic-assisted surgery can help reduce the pressure on Victoria’s hospital system because patients would have shorter hospital stays, freeing up space for more surgeries.

The surgery technology is currently used at a few hospitals around the state, but under this new plan it would be performed at eight additional major sites including The Alfred, The Olivia Newton-John Cancer Centre and Austin Health.

Each of the proposed robots will be supported by a comprehensive training package and a maintenance plan.

An elective surgery is a ‘necessary’ procedure that can be ‘delayed for at least 24 hours’, such as tonsil removal, hip replacements, or cosmetic surgery.

Three out of every four Victorians needing elective surgery are treated within the recommended time, according to state statistics.

However, the median waiting time for an operation in the state is 34 days. The national average for 2020-2021 is 48 days, in comparison.

In April, the Victorian Government announced a $1.5 billion investment in public health facilities ‘to catch up on deferred care’. The development is expected to provide around 240,000 people access to needed medical help annually by 2024.

‘As Premier, my first priority will be to fix the health crisis,’ said Guy, who hopes to win Victoria’s state election on November 26.

View attachment 8700

Liberal Party candidate Matthew Guy wants more robots introduced to Victoria’s health system to help address bloated waiting lists for elective surgeries. Credit: news.com.au

‘This technology will help us halve the elective surgery waitlist and give tens of thousands of Victorians their lives back.’

But Victoria’s Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas thinks the proposal isn’t fit to address pressing health sector woes.

‘Now it’s robots over ratios as they try desperately to find a workforce they don’t have to consult,’ she said.

Liberal spokesperson for health Georgie Crozier however begs to differ.

‘The Andrews Labour Government mocking technology that is already widely in use in the private sector shows how out of touch, out of ideas, and out of time they are,’ she said.

Key Takeaways

• The Opposition in Victoria, Australia is proposing increased use of medical robots in order to help shorten hospital stays and free up capacity for more surgeries.
• The current government is critical of the plan, saying that it is not in line with the sector's needs.
• The Opposition argues that the technology has a place to improve Victoria's embattled healthcare system.

‘We have announced a Real Solutions Plan to train an additional 40,000 nurses and midwives, and we will not be changing the legislated ratios, full stop.’

Premier Daniel Andrews earlier promised a $5000 sign-on bonus to graduate nurses and midwives entering the state’s health workforce over the next year if he is re-elected.

What do you think of this plan to introduce more surgical robots in Victorian hospitals? Is it something you agree with, or would you prefer the funding be used in other ways?

If this becomes a reality in Victoria, it’s likely the rest of Australia will follow suit.

Tell us your thoughts and opinions below!

Source: YouTube/9 News Australia​

Stop sending money overseas and build some Hospitals in this country with that money, do people understand what is happening. Every year another 300,000 people come into the country from school, plus whatever the Government brings in from overseas so lets say around 500,000 every year hit the system. So in the last ten years nothing has been built or fixed and yet roughly 5 million more people have been let loose to need the facilities. in another ten years there will be another 5 million if not more, no wonder the system is breaking down, Governments need to spend some money on this country, stop trying to fix every other countries medical and water and lives with our money, fix our own. This country is a mess, really, and no-one seems to be or seems to want to do anything about it except have another meeting and make another bunch of check lists and do some more environmental inmact studies. The Governments of this country really need to start building stuff for this country or we are going to be in hole heap of trouble in ten more years, another 5 or more million using the limited facilites. So that will be 15 million extra people using the facilties that are already struggling, and that's on top of the ageing population and problems we already have right this very minute!

 

[elaine41]

irstly, I'm curious to know where the Liberal govt would find 40,000 people to train as nurses. Where will they receive their education (the universities could not accommodate that many new students)? Then when they have received their education they still need to be trained in the hospitals where they will be working since, as things stand now, they are educated but not trained (so says a retired nurse).

Second, who do I sue if my surgery goes wrong & I was operated on by a robot? They will have a comprehensive training package & ongoing maintenance for robots - hahaha. Will they have insurance cover to cover mishaps in surgery?

Then they think that because a robot operated on a patient that person will need less time in hospital for recovery!!! Please explain to me how you figure that out.

They want to do more surgery but there is already a shortage of hospital beds so where will they accommodate these patients during their recovery? In the hallway? First things first - to have more surgical procedures we need more beds; to get more beds we need more hospitals. Simple.

This is just one more dreamland idea which they hope a gullible public will fall for.

 

[Iggydi]

My husband had Prostate Cancer and had his Prostate removed via robot. He was in hospital for 1 day after the surgery and had 5 little nicks in is abdomen. We live in Queensland and he went to the Princess Alexandra Hospital. If he had his Prostate removed the usual way he would have spent a lot more time in hospital. So it was a win win for all involved. The surgeon operated the robot.

 

[Ezzy]

A big carrot! $5,000 for every graduate who signs on to the health system in the next 12 months IF Daniel Andrews wins the next State Election. What happens if he does not win, will this offer be null & void?u

 

[Colette 3799]

My husband had Prostate Cancer and had his Prostate removed via robot. He was in hospital for 1 day after the surgery and had 5 little nicks in is abdomen. We live in Queensland and he went to the Princess Alexandra Hospital. If he had his Prostate removed the usual way he would have spent a lot more time in hospital. So it was a win win for all involved. The surgeon operated the robot.

My husband had his prostate removed in the traditional procedure. He was in hospital for four days. Some of his friends have also had prostate surgery, some with the robot and the ones that had the traditional way actually recovered quicker ie urine leaking etc. in fact my husband asked about the robotic surgery, willing to use his superannuation to fund it. The Prostrate nurse said the money would be better used for a good holiday.

 

[riskydave]

A big carrot! $5,000 for every graduate who signs on to the health system in the next 12 months IF Daniel Andrews wins the next State Election. What happens if he does not win, will this offer be null & void?u

It will be null and void anyway, he is a politician so is inherantly just a liar!