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Hospital funding boost for long-term quality improvement
04 June 2010.
AMA Victoria welcomes the State Government’s $20 million commitment to drive continual improvements in Victoria’s public hospitals by allowing senior doctors to dedicate more time to research, training and quality assurance activities.
Local hospitals will be receiving the new funding following an enterprise bargaining agreement between AMA Victoria and the Victorian Government last year. The agreement provides $20 million per annum to ensure senior medical staff have a proportion of their time set aside for clinical support duties.
AMA Victoria President Dr Harry Hemley said, "Doctors need to be both looking after patients now and looking after future patients’ needs by improving quality of care. That’s what clinical support time is all about — improving quality."
"AMA Victoria, the Department of Health and individual hospitals are committed to working towards achieving 20 per cent clinical support time for doctors within each speciality. That time will be used for quality improvement meetings, continuing medical education, clinical audits, teaching and research.
"Some hospitals have been so busy seeing patients that the longer term improvements have been neglected," Dr Hemley said. "This new funding that AMA Victoria has negotiated will help ensure that hospitals not only treat current patients well, but undergo continuous quality improvements necessary to ensure the best possible care now and into the future."
Doctors will be working with hospitals to ensure that each medical speciality group is able to spend at least 20 per cent of their time on quality initiatives. The distribution of the funding pool is based on the number of full time senior doctors at each hospital.
"Everyone needs to get better at what they do," said Dr Hemley, "including doctors. We are pleased that the Victorian Government and hospitals have recognised that quality improvement is a vital part of medical practice. This funding will go a long way to ensure that doctors have the time to dedicate to improving the quality of care for all Victorians."
Background – Funding per hospital
|
Alfred Health |
$2,064,000 |
|
Austin Health |
$1,850,000 |
|
Bairnsdale Regional Health Service |
$21,000 |
|
Ballarat Health Se rvices |
$478,000 |
|
Barwon Health |
$887,000 |
|
Bendigo Health Care Group |
$371,000 |
|
Calvary Health Care Bethlehem Limited |
$45,000 |
|
Central Gippsland Health Service |
$127,000 |
|
Eastern Health |
$1,457,000 |
|
Goulburn Valley Health |
$190,000 |
|
Latrobe Regional Hospital |
$252,000 |
|
Melbourne Health |
$2,013,000 |
|
Mercy Public Hospitals Incorporated |
$478,000 |
|
Mildura Base Hospital Pty Ltd |
$60,000 |
|
Northeast Health Wangaratta |
$47,000 |
|
Northern Health |
$592,000 |
|
Peninsula Health Care Network |
$668,000 |
|
Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute |
$738,000 |
|
Royal Children's Hospital |
$1,259,000 |
|
Royal Victorian Eye & Ear Hospital |
$202,000 |
|
Royal Women's Hospital |
$584,000 |
|
South West Healthcare |
$112,000 |
|
Southern Health |
$2,868,000 |
|
St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne Limited |
$1,332,000 |
|
Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health |
$188,000 |
|
Western Health |
$991,000 |
|
Wimmera Health Care Group |
$51,000 |
|
Wodonga Regional Health Service |
$75,000 |
|
TOTAL |
$20,000,000 |
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