Urgent Fix Needed for Overloaded Public Hospitals
AMA President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua, today said The State of Our Public Hospitals Report 2008 demonstrated unequivocally that hard work and substantial funding were necessary to bring the public hospital system up to speed.
"The AMA agrees wholeheartedly with Health Minister Roxon that there is much hard work to be done to make sure our public hospitals are in the best possible shape to deliver quality health care," Dr Capolingua said.
"Australian doctors and patients who experience the situation every day have known for a long time that our public hospitals are at breaking point. It's a relief that the numbers proving this are now in front of the Government - it now has the opportunity to take meaningful action based on the hard facts."
The AMA has been advocating for a Federal Government cash injection of more than $3 billion to fund thousands of extra beds in public hospitals across Australia.
"At least 3,750 more beds are needed before hospitals can cope with current demand and operate at internationally-accepted safe bed occupancy levels of 85 per cent or less," Dr Capolingua said.
"And that estimate was made without any consideration of the possible additional impact on demand as a result of the Government's proposed changes to Medicare Levy Surcharge income thresholds.
"The National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission should focus on the needs of the public hospital sector.
"Population growth, increased levels of chronic disease, and an ageing population, make increasing the number of hospital beds a priority if we are to restore bed occupancy to safe levels and improve elective surgery and hospital access for patients now and into the future."
The requirement for public hospitals to maintain a bed occupancy rate of 85% or lower should become a national performance benchmark, Dr Capolingua said.
"The Government's health announcements to date will not fully address acute care pressures into the future," she said.
"This report is a wake-up call to the governments of Australia: Public hospital infrastructure and capacity must be substantially and permanently expanded."
Dr Capolingua stressed that the hard-working doctors, nurses, and other health professionals working in public hospitals were doing an outstanding job with scarce resources and support.
"But feedback from those on the ground is that morale is low. The fabric of a system built around the dedication of the medical and nursing workforce through hard times is showing signs of reaching its limits," she said.