As I have shared with this House before, health care and wait times in Liverpool Hospital are a key issue for my community. We inherited from the Liberals a system that was overwhelmed and under-resourced. Furthermore, the Federal Liberal Government's freeze on Medicare rebates contributed to people either delaying GP care or not seeking care at all. It meant that they were forced to wait for hours in an emergency department [ED]. EDs are not designed to provide the care of GPs. My community was struggling to access emergency care in a timely manner, which was then putting strain on those trying to access non-emergency care and surgical procedures. However, I am glad to say that our Premier and the Minister for Health made addressing that a key priority. The day after the 2023 State election, when many would be forgiven for taking a day to recover, they turned up to Liverpool Hospital to share how the New South Wales Labor Government would better serve the people of south-west Sydney.
In the almost two years since this Labor Government was voted in, we have led efforts to create more pathways to care outside our busy hospitals via HealthDirect and urgent care services; reduced the numbers of overdue surgeries by safely increasing short‑stay surgeries; empowered pharmacies to prescribe low‑complexity medications, relieving pressure on our GPs; and established the emergency department and surgical care taskforces. Furthermore, Liverpool Hospital was announced as one of two trial sites for the rollout of safe staffing levels. I also acknowledge the Federal Labor Government's significant investment in primary and urgent care across the region. Liverpool has significantly benefitted from an urgent care clinic located in the heart of our CBD. Almost 6,000 patients have been diverted from EDs across south-west Sydney, thanks to the Federal and New South Wales governments' rollout of urgent care services and clinics across New South Wales.
Today I can share some good news with the House. Never-before-seen figures show that emergency department wait times at Liverpool Hospital have halved over the past year. The time to treatment for triage 2 patients has been slashed from 18 minutes in December 2023 to nine minutes in December 2024. Labor's measures to address the health needs of our community are bearing fruit but I appreciate that there is more to do. The removal of the wages cap has initiated a community discussion about how much we value our health workers. I put on the record my hope that we come to a speedy resolution to negotiations with nurses, psychiatrists and other health workers, who are the backbone of our health system. I also highlight the work being done by my Federal colleague the member for Werriwa, Anne Stanley, who is campaigning for the establishment of another urgent care clinic in Busby. A clinic in the 2168 postcode would make a huge difference to our community. I look forward to supporting her efforts to make it a reality.
It comes as the New South Wales Government rolls out its half-a-billion-dollar emergency department relief investment, which includes a $171.4 million investment to introduce three additional virtual care services, helping prevent 180,000 trips to the ED; a $100 million investment to back in our urgent care services to become a mainstay and key instrument of the health system by providing pathways to care outside of our hospitals for an estimated 114,000 patients; a $70 million investment to expand emergency department short stay units to improve patient flow to reduce emergency department wait times by nearly 80,000 hours; a $15.1 million investment for an ambulance allocation matrix that provides real‑time hospital data to enable paramedics to transport patients to emergency departments with greater capacity, reducing wait times; a $31.4 million investment to increase Hospital in the Home across the State, allowing over 3,500 additional patients each year to be cared for in their own home rather than a hospital bed; and a $53.9 million investment to improve patient flow and support discharge planning for identified patients early on who are suitable to be discharged home with the appropriate supports in place.
As other speakers in the debate have explained, the measures that this Labor Government has introduced in partnership with the Federal Labor Government have gone a significant way to ensuring that the health needs of our communities are met, especially those at Liverpool and the broader south-west Sydney region who are struggling after a decade of neglect.
