Funding cuts to Bowral hospital claims Labor MP

Whitlam MP Stephen Jones on Monday said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was cutting $715 million out of Australia’s public hospitals between 2017- 2020. 

Mr Jones said $620,000 would be cut from Bowral and District Hospital, and a total of $215 million across NSW hospitals between the three year period.

“The [funding] cuts are equivalent to funding for 1500 outpatient appointments, 930 emergency department visits, 170 cataract extractions or 24 knee replacements [in Bowral],” he said. 

The cuts – which Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has denied – have caused anxiety within the community according to Mr Jones. 

READ MORE: Fed Labor push for public hospital funding

“Bowral hospital is already under a lot of pressure, and people feel as though they are being pushed to other hospitals like Campbelltown for treatment,” he said. “Residents living right across the Southern Highlands will be hurt by Turnbull’s cuts because every dollar cut from our public hospitals is a dollar cut from our sickest and most vulnerable patients.” 

Mr Jones said the Prime Minister’s priorities were not in order. 

“Mr Turnbull is happy to give big business a tax handout but won’t properly fund our local public hospitals and give locals the health care they need,” he said. 

Mr Jones said the Labor Party was pushing for the Prime Minister to reverse the cuts. 

“With the May budget fast approaching we want to see these funding cuts rectified and restored,” he said. 

However, Minister Hunt told Fairfax Media the Federal government had delivered more funding for hospitals than Labor previously had. 

“This year, the Coalition is delivering nearly $2 billion more to NSW hospitals, compared to what Labor funded in their last year in government,” he said. 

“Labor will say and do anything to try and trick patients with their blatant lies, thankfully the real figures show the truth.”