Juliana ADDISON (Wendouree) (12:59:449:): The Andrews Labor government is delivering world-class health care at Grampians Health with a $6.5 million investment in robot-assisted surgery. This is only the fourth surgical robot in a public hospital in Victoria, with the other robots at hospitals in Melbourne and Geelong.

What this means for my community is that we have better treatment closer to home. This significant investment means that patients from Ballarat and across the region will have access to the world’s best innovative technology, which will improve recovery time and deliver better surgical outcomes with less scarring and blood loss.

Recently I had the opportunity to scrub in at Ballarat Base Hospital to watch colorectal surgeon Dr Carolyn Vasey use the surgical robot to undertake a complex procedure, with the support of a great theatre team. I saw firsthand the benefit the robot provides the surgeon, with four arms instead of two and 360-degree wrist movements.

It was wonderful to meet Lisa, who has recently had rectal surgery performed by Dr Vasey using the surgical robot. Lisa’s recovery time was greatly reduced, as was her length of stay, being discharged after two days rather than eight. This meant that she was back at home sooner with her family and a hospital bed was available for another patient – a great outcome for the patient and the hospital.

Ballarat patients like Lisa deserve excellent health care and the best health outcomes. That is why we are strongly supporting our health workers and investing in state-of-the-art medical technology to deliver the best-quality treatments right in the heart of Ballarat. Thank you to the Premier and the Minister for Health.