More patients on average are dying while waiting for elective surgery at Albury Wodonga Health than at any other Victorian hospital service, a Border politician says.
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Bill Tilley highlighted the dire situation while standing next to 68 crosses planted in a nature strip outside Wodonga hospital on Wednesday, May 8.
The white markers, with the permission of Wodonga Council, were hammered into the grass by his staff to illustrate the number of people who died in 2022-23 while waiting for surgery at Albury Wodonga Health.
Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas revealed the number in reply to a question on notice put in Parliament by Mr Tilley, the member for Benambra.
"Of those who were removed from the planned surgery waiting by reason of death, 68 were on the waiting list at Albury Wodonga Health and 16 were constituents of the Benambra electorate," Ms Thomas said.
Mr Tilley received the reply in February and used the day after the delivery of Victoria's state budget, which had no specified infrastructure funding for Albury Wodonga Health, to publicise it.
"You've got 68 families that have lost a loved one, 68 people that should never have died sitting on a hospital list and it's completely unacceptable," Mr Tilley said.
"When you see the commitment or the lack of commitment from the Victorian government in relation to our health service, it's just an absolute disgrace."
Mr Tilley said the data about those waiting for elective surgery at Albury Wodonga Health stood out.
"We're something in the order of 20 per cent more deaths, above the average than anywhere in the state of Victoria," he said.
"It's approximately about 15 more deaths a year annually at Albury Wodonga Health than what are passing on waiting lists at any other part of Victoria.
"It's completely unacceptable."
Wodonga retiree Vicki Lancaster, who is awaiting a left knee replacement, tweeted in response to the deaths data that "sadly there will be more".
"Not just from the health issues but sadly from taking their own lives due to the constant pain," Mrs Lancaster wrote.
"Our health ministers don't understand and in the same situation could find the money for an operation unlike many on the waiting list."
Mr Tilley also noted ambulance woes, still unexplained to The Border Mail by Albury Wodonga Health, and greater ill-health of those attending emergency departments.
"Recently we saw local stories here about how the NSW Ambulance service (were) still spending up to six hours ramping at the new emergency department (in Albury)," he said.
"The simple reason for that is that they cannot offload a patient into the emergency department because off the back of the emergency department is that there are no beds.
"People are now presenting to the emergency department in a worse condition than what they would because they know that they're not going to get treatment, so they're sitting at home suffering until they can't suffer any further before they go into the hospital and seek treatment.
"It's completely unacceptable in a modern society."
As of March 2024, there were 3378 patients waiting for surgery at Albury Wodonga Health, a decrease from 3586 12 months previously.
However, that number is still higher than those for health services that serve the more populous cities of Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong.
The March 2024 surgery waiting list figures respectively for those three are 1656, 1737 and 1699.
