PM offers cash for outstanding hospitals

10 Mar 2010, 8:26 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has promised to stump up extra cash to hospitals that outperform national benchmarks as part of his health reform proposals.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has promised to stump up extra cash to hospitals that outperform national benchmarks as part of his health reform proposals.

And he has signalled the government is preparing to splash about the cash in a bid to get states to agree to the reform plan ahead of a Council of Australian Governments (CoAG) next month.

The prime minister is trying to win states over to his ambitious health and hospital reform program, which will be central to the Rudd government's federal re-election chances.

In a speech to doctors on Wednesday night, Mr Rudd promised performance incentives for hospitals that exceed new national standards of patient care.

Under the Rudd government proposal, hospitals will be marked on national benchmarks in areas like emergency department and elective surgery waiting times.

Mr Rudd told an Australian Medical Association (AMA) dinner at Parliament House the government planned to put money on the line to drive those standards.

"But consistent with the move to activity-based funding, we won't be handing over blank cheques," he said.

"Today I can announce that we will make additional investments, based on reaching and exceeding those tough national standards."

And he suggested the funding was just the start of the investment the government was willing to put into the health system.

"This will not be the whole of our extra investments - not by a long shot - but we believe it is crucial to recognise concrete improvements in a concrete way," Mr Rudd said.

The prime minister isn't the only government minister aiming to win over the doubters.

Treasurer Wayne Swan made a whistle-stop visit to Western Australian on Tuesday night to convince Premier Colin Barnett of the merits of the health reforms.

Mr Barnett told reporters the pair had a constructive discussion on the health proposals.

"I emphasised we should all be looking at the merits of the health proposals before we get into an argument about funding," he said.

However, the Rudd government could have a new problem on its hands if the government in South Australia changes at the state election on March 20.

South Australian Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond, who was attempting to be briefed by the federal government, told reporters she had "very serious concerns" about the policy.

"We want to make sure there is no adverse effect for country South Australia or South Australia in general in terms of the health for this proposal," she said.

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