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Budget begins to move health system forward
4 May 2010.
AMA Victoria says the State Budget will make a start towards improving patients’ access to timely health services but lacks the key ingredient for real reform: a comprehensive plan of growth, innovation and reform to meet rising demands.
"Our public hospital system is under significant pressure and our nurses and doctors are struggling to keep their heads above water," said AMA Victoria President Dr Harry Hemley. "This Budget helps out with extra capacity; but it doesn’t deliver the life raft our hospital system needs.
"We need a vision for Victoria’s health system to meet the challenges of a growing and ageing population. We need more hospital capacity, we need to drive innovation, and we need to connect our health system to improve quality and patient outcomes.
"As Victoria's population grows, develops higher levels of chronic disease and ages, shortages will become critical and plugging holes will no longer be an option. We need a plan with a vision for a sustainable health system that meets the needs of Victorians well into the future.
"This Budget contains a couple more big projects, with the additional beds promised in the COAG reform plan, the new Bendigo Hospital, and the new paediatric services at Monash. These are good initiatives, particularly with 165 new beds at Bendigo.
"Going forward, we will need an extra 187 hospital beds each year just to maintain the current level of service. But first we need a boost of almost 600 beds just to get us back to 2003 capacity levels. This Budget goes more than half way towards this goal over the next four years, and is the biggest increase in capacity that we’ve seen in many years.
"The Bendigo Hospital redevelopment — first promised four years ago — will allow regional health services to grow significantly. The Monash expansion is needed to serve the growth corridor in our southeast. Likewise, the announcement to secure land for a new hospital in Barwon South is most welcome," said Dr Hemley.
"However, it’s hard to see how it all fits together. We are still waiting for a visionary plan for the future health needs of Victorians.
Dr Hemley said the Budget was most notable for what it didn’t include. "It doesn’t include a rural workforce rescue package to ensure that hospitals have medical staff available to provide care to country Victorians," he said. "This Budget won’t deliver a health IT system which improves medication safety and links hospitals with community-based care. It doesn’t pick up doctors’ suggestions for better care for our elderly, nor will it provide transparency on waiting times for outpatient hospital clinic services."
"Building new hospitals is important, but it needs to be part of a plan for the future. That plan must also include innovation and reform. We need to provide more care options to the elderly. We need IT systems that connect health care and make it safer. We need to improve access so more Victorians can be treated within a clinically appropriate timeframe."
Dr Hemley said that the Budget helped plug some holes, but he hoped that the Victorian Government would address real health reform before the upcoming state election in November. "There is a real opportunity to use the momentum for health reform to make some real and significant changes that will improve patient care. This Budget is a good start."
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