'More policy, less politics' plea

24 Mar 2010, 6:00 am   -   Source: AAP/SBS
1 Comments
Share This
+ Comment
1

Doctors believe both the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader made important announcements during Tuesday's health debate that will enhance patient care.

RELATED

Doctors believe both the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader made important announcements during Tuesday's health debate that will enhance patient care.

Australian Medical Association president Andrew Pesce - who wanted Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott to focus more on policy and less on politics - believes both delivered.

Mr Rudd promised alternative funding for rural and regional hospitals, while Mr Abbott pledged to provide an additional 3,500 beds.

YOUR SAY: Who won the healthcare debate?

"From the prime minister's point of view, I believe he did announce there would be alternative funding for country hospitals which were too small to rely on case-mix funding," Dr Pesce said, after the nationally-televised debate.

"That gives us much more reassurance that there'll be appropriate funding so those small rural hospitals can continue to deliver the services their communities require."

Case-mix funding, also known as activity-based funding, will see hospitals paid for each service they deliver rather than via block grants.

'More hospital beds'

Federal Labor wants to roll out activity-based funding across the country. But smaller hospitals argue they will be disadvantaged under the plan because they do not deliver as many services as metropolitan hospitals.

Dr Pesce also welcomed Mr Abbott's vow to provide more hospital beds.

LISTEN to Dr Pesce's verdict on the healthcare debate by clicking below

Listen!

"Mr Abbott, I believe, has committed to funding 3,500 extra hospital beds," the AMA president said.

"That's a good thing and something the AMA has been calling for for some time."

However, Dr Pesce said there was still not enough detail from either side to determine whose vision for the future of healthcare was better.

'Not enough detail'

"The government has announced more but it's had a head start," he said. "I encourage the opposition to develop their policy and put it out for scrutiny as well."

During the debate, Mr Rudd said Labor's activity-based funding would take into account all the local costs in rural areas "to make sure it works".

"But if that doesn't, then of course we'd look at a form of national block funding which was able to underpin the continuation of smaller rural hospitals in the future," he said.

Mr Abbott said the coalition was considering "effective ways" to give public hospitals the extra 3500 beds that experts say they need to clear emergency departments and to shrink waiting lists.

 

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube

Your Comments

?????

Mark - from Newcastle, 2 years ago

What annoys me more is that the only people interviewed otherwise is the AMA...they will always say that we need more beds. The predominant complaint I've heard from the majority of doctors is that they don't get paid enough to work in public hospitals, so for me the AMA is really just an upmarket specialised trade union. If you ask any of the nurses or other health professions the reality of our current situation is, it is OK, give us more money, but put it into more beds and more nurses!

Join the Discussion

Name
City / Suburb E.g. Artarmon, Sydney
Title
Comment
You have characters remaining.
Validation
What's this?
This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots.
All submitted comments become the property of SBS. They are moderated, so we reserve the right to edit comments and remove HTML tags. Not all submitted comments will be published. Publication does not mean we endorse the opinions expressed. Please read our terms and conditions for more information.