15 February 2010
Tony Abbott's plan for public hospitals risks will waste money, result in the duplication of services
between public hospitals and entrench existing divisions in an already fragmented health system,
according to the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA)
"AHHA welcomes the Opposition's input into the healthcare debate but warns against ‘easy answers’
when it comes to reforming the governance and funding of hospitals and the health system as a
whole," Prue Power, AHHA Executive Director, said today.
"Tony Abbott’s proposal to ‘return’ decision-making to clinicians in a selection of hospitals through
politically-appointed Boards risks entrenching the current fragmented approach to health care with
hospitals becoming fiefdoms, isolated from the rest of the health system.
"This plan ignores the reality that health services and demand for these services are changing in light
of constantly increasing chronic disease and the ageing of the population. There is a fundamental need
for care to be more integrated and for patient journeys to be clearer and smoother across different
services. Cancer care and diabetes are prime examples of where coordinated and integrated services
will result in better outcomes for patients.
"Real reform to meet these ends will only occur at the local level when clinicians can develop innovative
models of care across the continuum of health services. To achieve this, there are several pre-
requisites that the Coalition's plan leaves untouched.
"First, clinicians need to be backed up through their initial and ongoing training to have the capacity to
innovate in their daily practice. Secondly, clinicians cannot exercise their professional judgement in
developing better models of care without adequate resourcing. This means time to plan and evaluate,
and the flexibility of funding mechanisms to allow local innovation within nationally agreed and
benchmarked standards.
"In addition, the funding mechanisms developed must ensure that population-based planning can
occur. This does not happen at the individual hospital level, rather at a higher regional level so that
there is no duplication of service and ultimately to ensure the safety and quality of services provided.
The naturally limited (though still insufficient) level of funding for public hospitals means that decisions
must be made with a broader view of a region's health needs.
"The Coalition's proposal has no detail on any of these critical factors. It cannot justify applying one
form of national control in only two of eight state jurisdictions. This will mean only further
fragmentation of a system that is endeavouring to achieve more consistency. Surely we learnt
something from the failure of the Mersey Hospital 'experiment'?
"The plan will also result in untenable competition between public hospitals and likely duplication of
services that will waste more money rather than save it. Hospitals will become fiefdoms and will revert
to silos, with Boards legally accountable only to that hospital, not to the best health outcomes for the
whole region.
"Communities and clinicians must be involved in planning and decision-making, but Government-
appointed Boards will be far riskier to the long-term viability and quality of hospital care than any
bureaucracy," said Ms Power.
For further information/comment:
Ms Prue Power 0417 419 857
Abbott's hospital plan will
waste resources and divide
health system
NEWS 
