Opposition Pans Hospital for Giving Aboriginal Patients 30-Minute Treatment Priority

Aboriginal patients presenting to Melbourne’s St Vincent’s are given a ‘category 3’ priority, meaning they need to be treated within 30 minutes.

A man waving the Aboriginal flag at a NAIDOC march in Melbourne, Australia on July 6, 2018. Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Former nurse and now-shadow health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier has called hospital rules designed to prioritise Indigenous emergency patients divisive.

Recent reports revealed that the inner-city St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne issued a staff directive in April 2024 to fast-track care for all Indigenous patients presented to the emergency department.