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GOVERNMENT’S HEALTH REFORM REPORT WON’T FIX HOSPITAL CRISIS
The three-hundred page reform ‘blue print’ from the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission has endorsed a range of health reform measures that will not solve the hospital crisis in this country, says a new report being released tomorrow.
Despite the billions of taxpayer dollars poured into the public hospital system each year, public bed resources are only two-thirds of the OECD average and well below international par in every state.
The report, Why Public Hospitals Are Overcrowded: Ten Points for Policymakers, by Jeremy Sammut argues that public hospitals do not have enough beds to provide a safe standard of care for acutely ill patients who require emergency admission.
‘Governments claim that acute bed numbers in Australia are ‘internationally comparable.’ This is untrue,’ says Sammut. ‘The OECD average is four beds per 1,000 population. There are only 2.5 public hospital beds per 1,000 in Australia.’
‘The Commission claims that 10% of public hospital admissions are could be prevented with better coordinated primary care for chronically ill and elderly patients. Yet studies, including the NHHRC’s own discussion paper, have shown that trials of coordinated care programs have failed to keep people out of hospitals.’
‘The 15% one-off boost in acute public hospitals bed numbers recommended by the Commission is a step in the right direction. But this is not a long-term solution and does not remedy the current funding arrangements which permit vast sums of taxpayer dollars to be wasted on bureaucrats rather than on beds,’ says Sammut.
‘Hospitals are facing a tsunami of demand for unplanned admission and beds from ‘very old’ patients.’
‘In the last five years, public hospitals patients aged 75–84 and 85+ have increased by 25%. These ‘frequent flyers’ in emergency departments are set to double over the next five years and bed numbers must increase to accommodate this rising demand.’
‘GP Super Clinics or preventive measures will not alleviate the demand for hospital care by elderly patients. Older and sicker people need the bed-based medical and nursing care that is only available in a hospital.’
The Federal government should takeover hospital funding provided they introduce a flexible voucher system for patient care and take hospital administration out of the hands of area health bureaucrats and give it back to local community boards.
Dr Jeremy Sammut is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies
The report is available online at http://www.cis.org.au/policy_monographs/pm99.pdf
