Media release

Transcript: Dr Hambleton, Media Doorstop, 2 August 2011

Transcript: Media Doorstop

                Rydges South Bank Hotel, Brisbane

                Tuesday 2 August 2011

Subject: COAG National Health Reform Agreement


 

STEVE HAMBLETON:     Well thank you ladies and gentlemen for coming today. Today we've had a historic deal where all of the states have actually agreed, and the federal government's agreed to provide extra input - and extra finances - into the health system - $16.4 billion by 2020 is certainly needed in our hospital sector. We know our hospital sector's under pressure, and it needs the extra funds, and it needs all of us to be on the same side. So this is the first thing. The second thing is we've heard that there is a signal that the government is actually starting to take the advice of clinicians, and the expert advisory group, they've taken that advice about the hospital targets, emergency medicine targets, and elective surgery targets. And these are good signs.

And thirdly the Prime Minister actually called me yesterday, and we see this as a good sign that we're re-engaging with health reform to deliver the outcomes that we need. And most importantly, when hospital funding is delivered, it needs to be transparent. We need to know that when a dollar goes into hospitals, it delivers medical care at the front line, so we'd like to see that when a dollar is spent - when dollars are put into state governments - they actually get spent on health care. And this is very important.

QUESTION:     Is the deal signed under Julia Gillard better or worse than what Kevin Rudd first put on the table?

STEVE HAMBLETON:   Well it's certainly very different to the deal that we saw offered by the previous Prime Minister. The dollars are the same. And there's certainly - that's very important. On... we have got the transparency that we need. The dollars are the same. And we do have the transparency that we need to be able to measure where those hospital funds go. The blame game is not entirely gone but it's moved and it's changed.

We have that extra transparency where you can actually track the dollars, and that will give us the ability to actually put pressure on the right area, whether it be federal or state government or the local hospital networks themselves.

QUESTION:     Just explain that. You said the blame game hasn't gone but it's changed. What do you mean by that?

STEVE HAMBLETON:     Well the AMA's called for a single funder originally to make sure that we couldn't have one level of government blaming the other. Now we see the federal government's actually going up to a 50 per cent partnership in the financing of hospitals. That will take some time. But that is a good goal.

We need to make sure, though, when the hospital funding is delivered, it's transparent, so we can measure where it's gone - we can measure the outcomes that it does, rather than have one level of government blaming another.

QUESTION:     The original target was to have 95 per cent of patients in emergency wards seen within four hours. Now it's 100 per cent. Is that a realistic target?

STEVE HAMBLETON:     Well the original target was imposed from above. This new target is actually a result of clinician discussion and clinician engagement, and that's the difference. The way it will be delivered will actually be by clinicians redesigning the system to deliver those targets - rather than having them imposed.

So that's a huge change for us.

It means that the government is actually taking notice of what clinicians are telling them.

We have to be realistic about what happens in hospitals - it can't just be a private, an emergency department solution. This must be a whole of hospital solution. So you need to engage the clinicians to deliver that outcome.

QUESTION:     Is the deal a backdown by the government compared to what was initially put up?

STEVE HAMBLETON:     Well it's a change. The dollars are the same. The input is the same. The increased funding is the same. I guess the patients and the doctors at the front line of services are the ones that are going to judge the final outcome.

If our patients can get into hospitals - if they can get cared for they can get their elective surgery, they can get into and out of emergency departments, we'll know that health reform has been delivered.

QUESTION:     Do you think patients will see a difference?

STEVE HAMBLETON:     Well it'll take a few years for these changes to take place, but I think patients will see a difference. We'll have the transparency. We can say that our patients are being treated properly in our emergency departments - their elective surgery waiting times are coming down. And we're communicating better through the health system. That's when we'll know that hospital reform has been delivered.

QUESTION:     How was the Prime Minister when she phoned you up?

STEVE HAMBLETON:     Well the Prime Minister congratulated me on taking over the leadership of the AMA, and was able to inform me about the changes that are taking place. The key for me, though, was the improvement in clinician engagement. And the big signal was that doctors are going to be listened to on the front line. And the fact that the Prime Minister took time to call me I think is a good sign.

 


2 August 2011

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