2 December 2009
Public hospitals cannot continue to cope with rising demand with capped and severely
constrained budgets according to the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association
(AHHA).
“One of the fundamental problems with our public hospital system is that we expect
them to cope with unpredictable and potentially unlimited increases in demand within
tightly controlled and capped budgets,” Ms Prue Power, AHHA Executive Director said
today.
"This is simply unrealistic. It is as if we asked a family to manage each week on a fixed
grocery budget without telling them how many additional friends and guests they could
expect for each meal.
"In recent years, demand for care has increased more steeply while budgets have not
risen proportionally. This has placed public hospitals under severe stress which must be
addressed if our public health system is to be sustainable into the future.
"The private hospital sector has not had to deal with a similar increase in demand.
Recent research by eminent health economist Dr John Deeble has revealed that over the
12 years to 2008, public hospitals have increased their public patient admissions per
person covered by about 47% while the admission rate of privately insured people has
hardly changed at all.
"Public hospitals cannot continue to operate within this environment. They need a
funding system which responds to changes in community demand, which are often
unpredictable and outside of hospitals' control.
"It is also important that the public hospital system retains some excess capacity so that
it is prepared for emergencies, such as natural disasters, epidemics and other such
catastrophes. If hospitals are already stretched to breaking point they will not be able to
respond to unexpected events such as these and provide the care that Australians
expect in an emergency situation.
"To work effectively the public hospital system requires a secure and flexible funding
base which is based on realistic resourcing and planning. This is more important that
looking at radical restructuring which will not address these fundamental problems.
“AHHA calls on COAG to find a solution to the ongoing funding problems in Australia's
health system,” Ms Power said.
For further information/comment:
Ms Prue Power 0417 419 857
COAG must fix hospital
budgets
NEWS 
