Private Members Statement: 26 June. Albury Electorate Health Services.

PMS 26 June 2025 - Albury Electorate Health Services

Mr JUSTIN CLANCY (Albury) (17:10): "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cheshire Cat. In health care—and especially in a cross‑border, rapidly growing region like Albury-Wodonga—strategic direction is vital. We know where we want to go. We want a trusted, sustainable, digitally enabled, patient‑centred health service—a system where care is equitable, not divided by a river, postcode or State border, and one that delivers care close to home, supports its workforce and is driven by data, not disconnected paper.

The $558 million investment in the redevelopment of the Albury campus of Albury Wodonga Health is pivotal. Importantly, on the day of the announcement in 2022 the Victorian Premier labelled it "stage one". That was a recognition that regional health care cannot be a one-off investment. We require planning and funding for future stages. That future must include the development of a unified site for Albury Wodonga Health. As CEO Michael Kalimnios said in 2021, "In the next 20 years we need to have the issues solved and be working from a single site." Buildings create the space, but it is the people, systems, technology and funding models that fill that space with life-saving outcomes.

We must address all those pillars to build a stronger future for our region's health care. No vision for the future is complete without our people. The best infrastructure and technology in the world are meaningless without the clinicians, nurses, allied health professionals, support staff and leaders who make the system work. We should continue to aspire to the development of a health education and research hub to build a workforce pipeline that supports training, development and retention. That includes partnering with universities, expanding rural placements and investing in staff wellbeing.

In May 2024 I addressed this House on the urgent need for an electronic medical record [EMR] system for Albury Wodonga Health. I quoted Jonathan Green, who said, "When compared to our metropolitan colleagues, our digital maturity is trending downwards." EMRs are the foundation of safe, modern care. As outlined by the Productivity Commission, EMRs reduce pathology testing by 6.3 per cent, imaging by 12.5 per cent, emergency department stays by 22 per cent and inpatient length of stay by 6 per cent. That is not just cost saving; it is life saving. The introduction of an EMR is not a luxury; it is a necessity. It is the backbone of any modern health organisation. I repeat my call for Albury Wodonga Health to have an EMR.

The Albury Wodonga Health Statement of Priorities for 2024-25 calls for expanding virtual and home‑based care, and rightly so. Initiatives like the University of New South Wales's TeleClinicalCare, which I learnt about through Professor Nigel Lovell, show that remote monitoring can reduce readmissions by 50 per cent. By adopting those digital innovations, we better support chronic disease management and post‑discharge care and avoid unnecessary hospital presentations, all while improving patient experience. That is about delivering care where people live, work and recover. It is about dignity and access.

In the 2025-26 Victorian budget, operational funding was secured to support nine of the 16 new short‑stay emergency care points. Let me be clear that we are a long way from the service levels and activity‑based funding that we require. We need a funding model that reflects the complexity of bi-state service delivery and population growth—one that gives line of sight to both State governments and Albury Wodonga Health, that supports innovation and funds value, not just throughput, and that acknowledges that rural and regional health services face higher costs, unique workforce challenges and greater social disadvantage.

Yesterday I presented a petition on behalf of the Corowa, Rutherglen and Wahgunyah communities. I acknowledge their constructive engagement. We need a broader commitment to rural and regional sustainability in health. We need collaborative care models, like those led by the Rural Doctors Network. Let us replicate, scale and embed those models in our community with the support of both State governments. We know the way forward. To get there, I urge our health Ministers to engage and go forward with our community to an evolving, integrated health system that is fit for purpose, futureproofed and fundamentally patient centred. Let us build on what we have started, not just today but also for generations.