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The Bureau of Health Information’s latest Healthcare Quarterly report provides further evidence that fundamental changes are needed to improve funding for public hospitals and alleviate pressure on the system.
“Each quarter, the Bureau of Health Information releases a report that is more damning than the last. How much more evidence does the Commonwealth Government need before it commits to a 50/50 funding split?” said AMA (NSW) President, Dr Michael Bonning.
“Emergency department attendances are at record levels, patients are waiting longer to be transferred from ambulance to ED, the average length of stay in hospital for patients is increasing – there are huge bottlenecks in our hospitals that are hampering the health system’s ability to care for patients.
“We can’t keep doing the same things and expecting to see improvements – the federal Government needs to change the way public hospitals are funded to expand capacity and improve performance.
The AMA’s Clear the Hospital Logjam campaign outlines a plan to alleviate the pressure on public hospitals.
“The four-point plan calls for a reintroduction of funding for performance improvement. It also calls on government to give public hospitals additional funding for extra beds and staff to expand capacity.
“In addition, we’re asking Government to fund alternatives for out-of-hospital care, so patients with needs that can be better met in the community can be treated outside of hospital. This includes co-ordination with general practitioners to address avoidable admissions and readmissions.
“The AMA continues to call on the Commonwealth to increase its contribution to 50%. This is an investment of $12.7bn over four years between 2022-23 and 2025-26. NSW would be required to then reinvest the 5% of ‘freed-up’ funds to improve performance and capacity.
“And lastly, the AMA is urging the Commonwealth to remove the artificial 6.5% cap on funding growth that is shared between States and Territories.”
Dr Bonning said it was good to see that elective surgery activity is picking up.
“There is a need to address long elective surgery waitlists and we want to see the State adequately fund this work to be done in public hospitals, rather than outsourced to private hospitals.”
Dr Bonning added that State must address the workforce shortages that are contributing widespread burnout among doctors.
“We know from member feedback that there are unprecedented levels of fatigue for doctors at all career stages. It is having a detrimental effect on doctors’ health and wellbeing and makes it more difficult to provide high quality patient care,” Dr Bonning said.
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