Cuts to the national partnership agreement on public hospitals start from today, costing the local health network in Logan more than $26 million dollars over the next four years.

Catherine King and Jim Chalmers today visited the Logan Hospital in the Metro South Hospital and Health Service to see firsthand what these cuts will mean for patients, families and residents in Logan.

“Tony Abbott’s cuts to hospitals will increase emergency department waiting times, increase elective surgery waiting times, and reduce the number of hospital beds across the country,” Catherine King, Labor’s Shadow Minister for Health said.

“The cruel and unnecessary cuts to health and hospitals in this budget are really going to hurt local people in my community,” local member Jim Chalmers said.

“In government, Labor invested more in Australia’s public hospital system than any previous government had, including $175 million in funding, which went (along with State money) towards the Logan Hospital Redevelopment Project and associated ongoing costs.”

Logan Hospital is just one of many hospitals that will suffer under Tony Abbott’s budget cuts that start today.

Tony Abbott promised at the election that there would be ‘no cuts to health’ but is now cutting $50 billion from Australia’s public hospital system.

This is on top of the Abbott government cutting $370 million from preventive health programs and trying to impose a GP Tax that will hurt every Australian.

The Abbott Government is determined to destroy universal healthcare as we know it.

Catherine King, Jim Chalmers and the Labor Opposition will stand up to Tony Abbott’s new GP Tax and billions of dollars’ worth of health cuts. Only Labor can be trusted to protect Medicare.