Veterans salute public hospitals

Launching the results of the Veteran and War Widow(er) Patient Satisfaction Survey 2001 on behalf of Health Minister John Thwaites, the Parliamentary Secretary for Human Services, Matt Viney said 60 per cent of the people who were polled responded to the survey.

‘This is a very high level for a survey of this kind and shows that veterans and war widows and widowers obviously welcomed the opportunity to comment on the quality of health services.

‘The survey was conducted with veterans, war widows and widowers by an independent data collection company, covering hospitals right across the State.

‘It showed they are generally happy with the level of care they receive in our public hospitals.’

The veterans gave an overall satisfaction rating on their hospital stay of 87.8 per cent—up from 86.1 per cent in a survey a year earlier.

Suggestions provided by the veterans on how to further improve the level of care will be passed on to the management and staff at hospitals.

The Victorian Government has been providing services to eligible veterans, widows and widowers since the transfer of the Repatriation General Hospital at Heidelberg from the Commonwealth in January 1995.