COAG Delivers on Public Hospitals
AMA President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua, said today that the AMA welcomes the positive COAG outcomes on public hospitals with a commitment of an extra $1 billion from the Federal Government in funding and indexation in 2008-09.
Dr Capolingua said this would help address the funding shortfall from the Commonwealth in recent years and provides a boost to our over-stressed public hospital system.
"We look forward now to the commitments from the States," Dr Capolingua said.
Dr Capolingua said the AMA welcomes other announcements in the Communiqu , including:
- Special consideration for the maintenance of small and regional hospitals, reflecting Community Service Obligations,
- Commitment to closing the life expectancy gap for Indigenous Australians, and
- The new Ministerial Conference on Ageing.
Dr Capolingua said the lack of detail in the COAG Communiqu means that the AMA's concerns about national registration remain.
"The Government must immediately make public the Inter-Government Agreement so that we can see exactly what is proposed in the COAG national registration and accreditation model," Dr Capolingua said.
"Until we see the detail, our position on the proposed model remains unchanged."
Dr Capolingua said the Communiqu presents a more considered overarching approach to health policy, but is let down by the failure of governments to properly consult over the national registration proposals.