Broken Health Budget Failing to Meet Patient Demand

Quarterly results from The Bureau of Health Information (BHI) released today indicate a deeply disturbing trend with the NSW public health system experiencing record demand during the first quarter of 2024. 

AMA (NSW) President Dr Kathryn Austin said “This is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Our health system is held together by the goodwill of treating professionals, but with demand continuing to rise to record levels and a lack of funding to support already overburdened staff, it is becoming increasingly impossible for the doctors and health workers of NSW to deliver the care that the citizens of this state deserve.”

On the eve of the NSW Budget, Dr Austin warned “The NSW health system is straining under the weight of increased demand and complexity at a time when budgets are being slashed. The 2023 NSW Budget allocated only a .87% increase to the state’s health system, which after health inflation is an effective cut.  

“NSW hospitals are seeing a significant increase in demand for services. The figures show a significant increase in category one patients – the sickest patients needing the most urgent care. The need to care for these patients impacts waiting times and therefore access to care. We know that long wait times correlate with poorer outcomes for patients and frustration and dissatisfaction.” Dr Austin said.

As expected, NSW has seen a serious decline in elective surgery activity with close to a 14% reduction in the number of elective surgery cases undertaken since the previous quarter (Oct – Dec) when dedicated funding from the previous NSW government ceased. AMA (NSW) expects access to elective surgery to continue to suffer without dedicated resources. 

Dr Austin said “The Minns government announced a surgical taskforce to reduce elective surgery wait times, but the funding had already been put in place by the Perrottet government. Now the Perrottet government’s funding program has ended elective surgery numbers have fallen dramatically. 

“These figures reflect a system which is experiencing continued downward decline under the Minns Government. The health system needs more than the announcement of taskforces and inquiries, it needs genuine cash injections. These figures show that there is record demand. It is not matched by record investment. Patients can expect worsening figures in subsequent quarters and that means increasingly poor interactions with a desperately underfunded health service.” 

The BHI quarterly figures, taking in the period from 1 January – 31 March 2024 show 

• There were 51,149 elective surgeries performed – down 6.6% from the same quarter last year and down 13.9% on the October – December 2023 quarter (59,422 elective surgeries performed).
• There were 810,201 emergency department (ED) attendances – up 5.2% from the same quarter a year earlier and the highest of any quarter since BHI began reporting in 2010
• Of those 192,874 patients arrived by ambulance – up 7% on the same period last year and also a record.
• In relation to ambulance activity there were 284,543 incidents and 383,341 responses up 6.8% and 10.2 respectively, compared with the same quarter the previous year. Both were the highest of any quarter since BHI began reporting in 2010.
• EDs saw record numbers of the most urgent patients with 6,677 triage 1 presentations and 123,935 triage 2 presentations.
• 9% of patients spent less than four hours in the ED – the lowest since recording in 2010. One in 10 patients spent longer than 10 hours 53 minutes in the ED, up 23 minutes from the previous quarter.
• There were 93,839 patients on the elective surgery waiting list at the end of March up from 88,618 at the end of December 2023.
• Of these patients, 3,419 had waited longer than clinically recommended – up from 2,133 at the end of December 2023.
• There were 481, 335 admitted patient episodes, up 2.7% compared with the same quarter the previous year. There was an increase in episodes across acute overnight, non-acute and mental health patients.

Contact: +61 419 402 955 | news@amansw.com.au