"Vote Local, Vote Liz"

All my working life I have been involved in the Healthcare area, so this is a topic that is particularly close to my heart. I orginally went to university to qualify as a nurse and a midwife, and have worked in healthcare for many years.

The biggest challenges I see are in fact long-term , the issues of both the aging population in our established areas, and the challenge of providing a completely different set health of services to our growing baby boom areas.

From a personal view, when I was pregnant with Grace, I couldn't access the type of maternity care that I wanted at Werribee Hospital, my closest hospital. My choices were either Sunshine Hospital or the Royal Womens'. I think any women who has had a child can empathise that it is not a pleasant experience to be driving an extra 20-30 minutes when you are in labour! I was very disappointed that these services were not available to me locally.

From friends I have heard various other issues about the lack of healthcare services for them. Issues like having to wait 6 months to see a peadiatrician locally, therefore not having to travel to the City; waiting times when they visited their obstetrician because there are so few obstetricians in the area.

What are the specific problems that you encounter now when accessing health services?

• Is it about lack of GPs;
• is it about hospital waiting times in emergency;
• is about lack of easily accessible health care services for your mum, your dad, you child your partner; 
• is it about having to travel, with limited time and resources, to obtain the services you require;

In my opinion when resources are allocated wisely with the issues of the community heard, there is a better chance of satisfying the needs of the community.

Please contact me and let me know what issues have you encountered in our local area when it comes to your healthcare?

Contact me