CATHERINE KING MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND MEDICARE

MEMBER FOR BALLARAT

SENATOR JENNY MCALLISTER

SENATOR FOR NEW SOUTH WALES

MALCOLM’S HOSPITAL CUTS HURTING BANKSTOWN-LIDCOMBE HOSPITAL

Malcolm Turnbull's health cuts are putting pressure on Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital and hospitals around Australia.

Shadow Minister for Health and Medicare Catherine King and Senator for NSW Jenny McAllister visited the Hospital today to hear from patients, doctors, nurses and staff about the impact of the cuts.

The NSW Liberal Government's own data shows that Bankstown Hospital is struggling. One in three patients are not being treated on time in the emergency department, and 1,700 patients are ready for surgery but languishing on the waiting list.

And Mr Turnbull's cuts mean that the story is the same around NSW. The Australian Medical Association's Public Hospital Report Card, released last week, shows that NSW is falling even further behind its emergency department treatment targets. And the average wait for elective surgery has blown out to around 55 days.

Faced with this crisis, Mr Turnbull needs to pull his head out of the sand, follow Labor's lead and reverse his hospital cuts. At the last election, Labor committed to restore its historic agreement with the states to 2020 - which would have meant an additional $630 million for NSW public hospitals.

New Health Ministers in Canberra and Sydney will do nothing to improve the state of NSW public hospitals. The Liberals need to change their policies, not their pitch.

MEDIA CONTACTS: JOANNE CLEARY  (KING) – 0428 816 751

                                LYNDAL HOWISON (MCALLISTER) – 0404 854 033