‘Holding the tide back’: doctor’s plea for health deal
Health ministers are being urged to jointly bear the burden of funding public hospitals as a leading emergency doctor warns of ambulance queues and overflowing waiting rooms.
State and territory governments have rejected the federal government’s latest funding offer to support its overstretched public hospital system.
Health Minister Mark Butler met with state and territory counterparts on Friday to reiterate his expectation that the federal government will find cost-saving measures in health systems.
In 2023 the national cabinet approved increasing the Commonwealth’s share of public hospital funding to 42.5 per cent by 2030 and 45 per cent by 2035.
State and territory health ministers have said the federal government’s latest offer of $1 billion in additional funding – bringing the total additional funding offer to $21 billion over five years – is not enough and does not meet the increase needed to meet the target set two years ago.
“This will not meet the increasing pressure and demand felt by our hospitals and dedicated workforce who care for Australians every day,” they said in a joint statement.
Stephen Parnis, former vice-president of the Australian Medical Association, said balancing budgets without compromising the standard of care was like “trying to stop the tide”.
“It’s quite a stressful situation, I have to provide patients with the standard of care that I would want for my family, but it becomes difficult when waiting rooms are packed, there are ambulances queuing,” Dr Parnis told AAP.
“Demands on the system increase year by year, remain the same and continue to increase.
“I’ve never seen a request like this before. There are literally no outages in public sector emergency services anymore, even at 3 in the morning.”
The senior emergency room doctor said the system must continue to look for better ways of doing things but called on all levels of government to work together.
“That doesn’t mean we can ever give up. It just means that this is a constant process of pushing back against demand and looking for better models for doing things,” he said.
“I always worry a little bit when governments point fingers at each other rather than trying to be collaborative and take equal responsibility on these issues.”
A report commissioned by the states and territories finds one in 10 public hospital beds are taken up by “stranded” patients needing alternative accommodation in aged care.
State and territory health ministers say they have raised concerns with their federal counterparts that thousands of older Australians are languishing in hospital beds with nowhere else to go.
Opposition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston said the Albanian government had failed to negotiate in good faith.
“The holiday season, which we know is the busiest time of year for emergency departments, has now left our hospital systems in unacceptable limbo.”
