Juliana ADDISON (Wendouree) (12:10): It is my pleasure to join the debate today. I would like to compliment the member for Euroa on her first contribution. Out of respect for that I bit my tongue and there was no calling out. I know it was your first contribution. But I want to say that I share the values of the Labor Party. There is no need for me to ever worry about things because we have a strong, vibrant Labor Party where we debate issues and I am very, very happy where I am.

I am very, very happy to stand up and support this bill. It is the Health Legislation Amendment (Information Sharing) Bill 2023, which proposes legislative amendments to implement a secure information-sharing platform for Victorian health services. I am pleased to follow on from the outstanding member for Eltham, who shared the experience of her family with her father receiving excellent care in Gippsland, followed by the member for Mordialloc, who gave a really great contribution addressing the opt-out matters and why that is not something that we are prepared to entertain, that is not an amendment that we are prepared to look at, because this is what other states do. We will not be doing that, because we believe that adequate protections are in place.

And how about the new member for Greenvale – what a superstar, what a rockstar. It is hard to believe that he has only been in this place for such a short time after such an outstanding contribution. As someone who, whilst representing metropolitan Melbourne, has had so much experience in regional and rural Victoria, you are a real asset to the Labor Party, so I am so pleased to have you here.

It is members like those that I have listed and others who hold our nurses, our paramedics, our hospital cleaners and our allied health workers in the highest regard. We support them day in, day out. Once again I offer my sincere thanks and gratitude to our healthcare workers for all they do for the Ballarat community.

The Minister for Health has had a very, very busy less than 12 months in the job, and I thank her for again bringing this bill to the house. There is a mountain of work that the Minister for Health has done to support our healthcare workers, building new hospitals, investing in world-leading health infrastructure and providing safe and quality care for patients, and for me that is what is really important: safe and quality care for patients.

Prior to being elected to this place I was chair of quality and safety at Ballarat Health Services, and it is an issue that is very important to me. That is why I was very, very eager to speak on this bill. The Minister for Health understands the importance of sharing records, because like me she is a regional MP who cares deeply about her community, and she wants to make sure that regional communities and regional patients get the same care as our metropolitan brothers and sisters. That is what this bill will ensure.

I welcome the support that this government is giving Grampians Health, in particular for our Ballarat Base Hospital redevelopment – a record $541.8 million to redevelop the base. But we are also providing other infrastructure support, like $3.5 million for a replacement radiotherapy linear accelerator, a LINAC, to treat cancer patients and reduce the need for Ballarat patients to travel to Melbourne for treatment.

Another way we are supporting Ballarat patients is the introduction of robot-assisted surgery. The new robot at Ballarat is amazing. I got to scrub into theatre just last Monday. It was incredible watching this surgery, being in there and just thinking: whether you are in London, whether you are in New York, whether you are in Boston, no-one in the world has got access to better robotic surgery than we do right here in Ballarat, and I could not be prouder as someone who has worked so hard to get that.

I also want to recognise the extensive efforts of the ministerial office and the Department of Health, who have developed this legislation in consultation with relevant stakeholders. This is something this government does very well. We go out and we talk about legislation and we consult. From clinicians to consumers to hospitals and health services, several relevant commissioners and legal bodies, unions – including the great leadership of Lisa Fitzpatrick at the ANMF, great people at the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation – and professional associations including the AMA are among those who have provided input. I welcome their contributions, and I thank the department for the extensive consultation that has been done to get this bill to this place.

The provision of quality health care is the cornerstone of our society. It impacts the mental and physical wellbeing not only of individuals but of entire populations. It also prevents the spread of infections and disease and promotes good health. We all know this to be the case, but our experience with COVID over the last few years has made it even more evident.

In the ever-advancing field of medicine access to a patient’s medical information is crucial. Delays in accessing health data can be critical to determining treatment plans and patient safety, so it is so important that the right people have the right information at the right time to make the right clinical calls. If not, there could be adverse health outcomes, contributing to disabling injury or illness, lowering the quality of life or even leading to a premature death. Access to accurate and up-to-date health records can prevent adverse outcomes, and that is what we all want.

While Victoria’s public hospitals were split decades ago into separate networks, they are now more and more operating in concert as components of a single statewide system. However, this is yet to be extended to a standardised approach to sharing digital records. This needs to be addressed, as Victorians do not live their lives within the borders of a single health service. Indeed only this week as I drove to Parliament I went through various different health catchment areas. Victorians want to journey for work, for schooling, for family and friends and for recreation and sightseeing, and as a result if we find ourselves needing essential medical treatment, we may find it is some distance away from our home.

For example, a Ballarat resident could be holidaying on the Surf Coast or at a Cats game at Kardinia Park or studying at Deakin’s Geelong Waterfront and they could be involved in an accident or suffer a serious health emergency. They would be rushed by ambulance to Barwon Health. Timely access to the Ballarat patient’s medical records from Grampians Health would be most beneficial for the treating clinicians and the patients to identify any medical procedures, medications administered, treatments received and adverse reactions or allergies to medicines. This is an example of why we need the Health Legislation Amendment (Information Sharing) Bill 2023. I do not want to see any patients suffering avoidable harm while they are receiving care in a Victorian health service, which could happen without timely access to health records – and I am pleased that the member for Geelong is happy about my Barwon reference and the Cats. Continuity of care is so important, and that is why it is at the heart of this legislation. We need to ensure that patients can receive, and professionals can practise, efficient and effective health care right throughout our state, which is dependent upon the availability of accurate, existing health information.

To this end, this bill proposes amendments to the Health Services Act 1998 as well as the Health Records Act 2001, which will build the legislative framework for an electronic patient health information sharing system to be used in a range of Victorian health services. This is a system that builds on the best practices of other jurisdictions, including New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT, which have all implemented health information sharing at the point of care.

Additionally, it reflects the very important Targeting Zero report – expert recommendations on the interchange of electronic information between hospitals. It has been mentioned but this important report, which was released in October 2016 after a review of hospital safety, focused on eliminating avoidable harm and strengthening the quality of care. This is the time for this bill, this is the time for patient safety, and I do not want to see it further delayed or stalled, like the opposition does.

The bill proposes that the information sharing system will be established and maintained by the Department of Health and will provide in-scope services with essential summary information for the purposes of patient care. It is intended to include critical details such as allergies, medication, diagnoses, lab work and imaging results – information relating to a patient that is vital for ongoing care. Accessing the information can be crucial and time critical, but while health services can and do share information for the purposes of patient care, current communication methods have proven to be disjointed and cumbersome.

In closing, I would like to say that, as someone who has spent longer than any parent would want to in an ICU with their child in Melbourne, a long way from home, I support this bill, because regional Victorians when they bring their kids to metropolitan hospitals should be able to access their patient files.

Watch and read more of my speeches to Parliament here, including responses from ministers on how we’re working for Wendouree.

You can also view videos from Parliament, browse Hansard transcripts, learn about bills and legislation, and much more at the Parliament of Victoria’s website.