Hospital health worry

By Casey Neill
A BELGRAVE South mother says hills women are getting second rate health care and is calling for more funding at the Angliss Hospital.
Claire Blissenden tried to book a mammogram for her daughter Naomi, 18, at the Upper Ferntree Gully hospital on advice from her GP and was distressed to find the service was unavailable.
“I just couldn’t believe that a hospital of that size doesn’t have that facility,” she said.
“It’s pretty sad that women up here don’t have access to first rate health care.”
Ms Blissenden said staff told her they would like to offer the service but did not have the funding.
“It’s outrageous that all the women who live in the hills have to go traipsing over to Maroondah Hospital,” she said.
“It should be available at our local hospital.”
Ms Blissenden now plans to organise a petition to call for the service at the Angliss.
Angliss Hospital clinical and site operations chief Alison Patrick said the hospital provided excellent care to the community.
She said staff offered a range of services including emergency medicine, general medicine, general surgery, midwifery, paediatrics and rehabilitation, as well as programs to care for patients in their own homes.
“Eastern Health offers a comprehensive specialist mammography service at Maroondah Hospital for people living in the east,” she said.
“This service includes mammography, sentinel node location, stereotactic biopsy and hook-wire location.”
A State Government spokesman said the mammography service at Maroondah Hospital provided excellent care for women as part of a consolidated specialist breast imaging service in a clinically appropriate environment. He also said private breast imaging service providers would often bulk bill on the request of a GP.
The spokesman said the Government had provided funding for 20,000 extra breast cancer screening tests each year through its $150 million Cancer Action Plan. “Funding to Breastscreen Victoria has increased from $19 million in 1999 to $34 million in 2010,” he said.
“In addition, $10 million has been provided to further roll out digital mammography across Victoria.”