Why are some Victorian hospitals saying they’re freezing recruitment and looking for ways to cut costs?

The Victorian Healthcare Association says hospitals have been subject to ‘cost containment measures’ while the health minister says she has asked them to cut ‘waste and duplication’. Photograph: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

There are fears among Victorian hospitals that they will have to close beds, delay elective surgeries and sack staff as the state government works to rein in post-pandemic health spending amid its debt woes.

Despite both the premier, Jacinta Allan, and the health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, dismissing such measures as “speculation” and “fearmongering”, several major hospitals have confirmed they have imposed hiring freezes ahead of submitting their annual budgets to the health department.