Acknowledging the Labor Party’s win in last night’s Victorian election, the peak body for emergency medicine in Australia and New Zealand says it is ready to provide the clinical expert advice to improve patient outcomes.
Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) President Dr Simon Judkins said: “ACEM looks forward to working with the returned Daniel Andrews-led government to ensure the community has ongoing access to an accessible, high quality, and safe health system.”
ACEM Victoria Faculty Chair Dr Shyaman Menon said: “Improving mental health care is a priority, the College has been outspoken on this, and so the promised royal commission into mental health must result in having the best mental health system we can possibly have.”
Dr Menon said strengthening the oversight of safety and clinical governance was vital to patients’ health care experience. “Clinicians must continue to be empowered to lead quality care improvement initiatives across the health system,” he said.
In terms of infrastructure, Labor pledged, among other things, a new $1.5 billion hospital for Footscray, an expansion of the Royal Children's Hospital, and children's emergency departments for Geelong, Maroondah, Frankston, Casey and Northern hospitals.
“While welcomed, capacity must be built into the overall hospital system in order to deal with the extra patients and to provide proper care,” Dr Menon said. “We urge the Government and The Department of Health and Human Services to take the opportunity to work with the College on quality frameworks and structures, and clinical governance and leadership to address issues of overcrowding so we realise improvements to patients’ experiences of care in emergency departments.”
The College also looks forward to the preventative, community-based measures announced during the election campaign being delivered.
Dr Menon added: “ACEM is keen to work with the government, hospital leadership and health department executives to develop actions to improve patient outcomes.”
Background
ACEM is the peak body for emergency medicine in Australia and New Zealand, responsible for training emergency physicians and advancement of professional standards. www.acem.org.au
Contact
Andre Khoury
ACEM Public Affairs Manager
03 8679 8813
0498 068 023
[email protected]