The AMA has today sent an urgent request to the state and territory leaders forum to place public hospital funding firmly on the agenda for tomorrow's meeting of the Council of Australian Governments.

The leaders' forum, consisting of state and territory premiers and chief ministers, will meet in Canberra this afternoon prior to tomorrow's COAG meeting.

AMA Federal President, Dr Kerryn Phelps, said that the only health item on the COAG agenda appeared to be food standards.

"If they can have food standards on the table, why not public hospital funding? As the Senate report on hospital funding said in July, public hospitals are "seriously under-funded". In the past few days, we've seen:

• elective surgery in Perth public hospitals cancelled after overcrowding forced four emergency departments to turn away ambulances - an unprecedented crisis;
• bed shortages and ambulance diversions in Adelaide. An emergency department director has written to the Health Minister saying the crisis in the state's public hospitals was the worst in Australia and could lead to patients dying; and
• NSW and other states are facing a major aged care accommodation crisis, causing 'access block' in hospitals because older patients cannot be moved out to appropriate aged care facilities.

"Public hospitals are seriously under-funded for the treatment of their caseload. Infrastructure also remains seriously under-funded.

"Major expenditure is needed to bring our public hospital infrastructure up to scratch. That means decent, functional facilities able to meet the demands of modern medicine and high quality patient care throughout the country.

"Just to tread water, public hospitals need additional spending of around 5.5% to 6% a year. That will cover factors such as population growth, the ageing of the population and real growth in costs.

"These issues must be on the COAG agenda if we are to make any real progress," Dr Phelps said.