Report Backs AMA Case on Under-Funded Hospitals
All Australian governments - state, territory and federal - must commit themselves to the reform of Australia's public hospital system, the Federal President of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Kerryn Phelps, said today.
The comments follow the release today of a Senate 'first report' on public hospital funding.
"Today's report backs the AMA's case that Australia's public hospitals are seriously under-funded and reform is necessary," Dr Phelps said.
"The committee, while making no specific findings, identified serious under-funding and the fragmented nature of the roles and responsibilities of the Commonwealth and state/territory governments as key problems that needed to be addressed.
"It also said that capital funding had 'long been the poor relation to recurrent funding in many areas of government enterprise, but perhaps nowhere more noticeably than in public hospitals'.
"Again, this confirms what the AMA has been saying for some time.
"The report says that one of the central difficulties for the Senate inquiry was lack of good data on which to base informed decisions. This is an appalling indictment of the management of our health system. If we can't get good data, how can we get good reform?
"The report puts forward some broad reform options. These at least provide a framework for debate, though that debate should not necessarily be limited to the committee's models.
"This is an issue which must be given a high national priority.
"We need reform - not bandaids," Dr Phelps said.