Australia’s doctors say public hospitals are “doomed to fail” under Malcolm Turnbull, with the latest AMA Public Hospital Report Card again revealing the impact of Turnbull’s cuts.
With the Report Card showing that hospital waiting and treatment times continue to blow out under Turnbull, the AMA says:
“The current funding formula will doom our public hospitals to fail, and patients will suffer as a result”.
Even worse, Turnbull wants to lock in these cuts for another five years, with the AMA saying:
“the latest Commonwealth funding offer at February’s COAG meeting – which is effectively a continuation of the current agreement … would lead to a continuation of the prevailing underperformance of hospitals due to significant underfunding and insufficient capacity”.
The 2018 Report Card shows that one in three urgent patients in emergency departments are not seen within the recommended time. It also shows that in some states, one in five patients who need elective surgery urgently wait longer than the clinically recommended time – jeopardising their health and safety.
The Report Card also shows that as a result of Turnbull’s cuts, hospital performance is stagnant or going backwards in most categories.
The AMA has used today’s Report Card to call for an end to the “blame game’ between the Commonwealth and states on public hospital funding.
Labor agrees. The last Labor Government negotiated the historic National Health Reform Agreement with the states, and committed to fund an equal share of efficient growth in hospital costs.
Before the 2013 election, the Liberals promised “no cuts to health” and said “a Coalition Government will support the transition to the Commonwealth providing 50 per cent growth funding”.
But the Liberals broke this promise, tearing up the Agreement in their very first Budget – leading to the current crisis in our public hospitals.
The Liberals can never be trusted on health, and only Labor will properly fund Australia’s public hospitals.