C'mon COAG, Kick Some Goals - You Know the Answer Is More Public Hospital Funding

AMA Vice President, Dr Gary Speck, said arguing over technical and academic issues of how public hospitals were funded did nothing to address the real problem - the pressure on an already struggling public hospital system.

"Put simply, patients continue to wait and suffer while bureaucrats haggle," he said.

"All along, the AMA has said that what was needed was more acute care beds and more doctors trained.

"Demand on acute care beds in public hospitals will continue and our public hospitals must be funded to meet this demand," he said.

The AMA said that next week, COAG needed to agree on:

• $3 billion additional up-front funding in the next Australian Health Care Agreement for 3,750 new public hospital beds and associated staff and infrastructure. This must be accompanied by indexation of 8-9 per cent to address increasing costs and demands in the future;
• A guarantee to increase training places for doctors; and
• A real commitment for additional public hospital funding to compensate for the fallout from any Medicare Levy Surcharge changes.

Dr Speck said the additional funding would allow public hospitals to operate at an internationally-accepted safe bed occupancy level of 85 per cent or less so they were better able to cope with demand.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's report, Health Expenditure Australia 2006-07, showed that the Commonwealth's share of public hospital funding had consistently fallen since 2000-01 - now at only 33 per cent.

Dr Speck said it was no wonder patients and doctors alike were experiencing unprecedented pressure in public hospitals when governments were shirking their responsibility to adequately fund the system.

"C'mon COAG, next week we need to see real solutions and substantial cash injections to fix the problem. Get off the bench and kick some goals for the long-suffering patients and public hospitals," he said.

CONTACT: Kylie Butler 02 6270 5466 or 0417 652 488