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Doctors welcome Brumby health promises
08 November 2010
AMA Victoria today welcomed the Brumby Government’s election health pledges to treat more public hospital patients on time and to strengthen the medical workforce by training more doctors and supporting rural clinicians.
“The Brumby Government has made some solid commitments to improving the health system today. Our public hospital system has been under enormous pressure treating more patients than ever before.
“The bulk of the Brumby Government’s funding commitment is to treat more patients in emergency departments, to undertake more elective surgery procedures and to fund more outpatient appointments for patients’ initial consultation with specialist doctors. Increased funding in these areas is sorely needed to serve our growing population.
“Today’s announcement also includes measures to strengthen the medical workforce to ensure we have enough doctors to treat our growing population in the future.”
Dr Hemley said he was particularly pleased the Victorian Government had backed a number of proposals AMA Victoria had put forward. These include:
- a rural rescue package to attract and retain country doctors;
- an iPad for every public hospital doctor so they can access patient information at the bedside;
- doubled penalties for assaults on health workers;
- 300 new specialist/GP procedural training positions; and
- funds to attract retired doctors back to the public hospital system in training and mentoring roles.
“Our rural communities have really been struggling to replace retiring doctors so it’s great to see a raft of measures to encourage doctors to work and stay in the country.
“With so many new medical graduates entering the system over the next few years, the government’s commitment to extra specialist training places is essential. As we had suggested, bringing retired doctors back into the system is an excellent way to overcome the shortage of senior doctors to train the next generation of specialists.”
Dr Hemley said a commitment to extra beds was absent in today’s announcement. “There are funds to treat more patients in emergency departments and to undertake more elective surgery but a commitment to increase the number of beds is missing,” Dr Hemley said.
“I hope the Brumby Government will make an announcement on beds soon, which will complement today’s announcements and ensure that the extra services are delivered. However, today’s policy announcement is a great start to the longer-term health plan needed in Victoria.”
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