Australian Medical Association

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, today said it was vital that Australia had strong, highly performing, public and private hospital systems, after the Productivity Commission released a draft discussion document comparing the two systems.

Dr Pesce said the Commission had highlighted the immense difficulty and statistical challenges of comparing the performance and costs of public and private hospitals.   

“Hospital systems are complex but we need both public and private hospitals working well to support our Australian health system,” Dr Pesce said.

“Unfortunately the AMA Public Hospital Report Card 2009, which was released yesterday, shows that public hospitals are under-funded and failing to meet key performance targets, and growing demand for their services.

Sydney Wednesday 14 October 2009

DR PESCE:  Well, thanks for coming. Well, here we go again. This is the first time I'm delivering this report card as the AMA President. But every year the AMA President gets here, delivers the Public Hospital Report Card, and every year the message is the same: things are getting worse.

The governments aren't up to the task of improving the ability of our public hospitals to meet the demands. And our report card shows that once again things are slowly getting worse. Every year governments meet, they have their agreements, but every year things get worse.

Our report card shows objectively that slowly things are deteriorating. Access in emergency departments is worse. Waiting times for elective surgery are worse. On all measures, public hospitals are gradually getting worse.

The AMA Public Hospital Report Card 2009 is an analysis of the most up-to-date national data on public hospital performance plus more recent feedback from doctors working in public hospitals in all States and Territories.

It shows that Australia’s public hospitals continue to be seriously under-funded and are struggling to meet growing public demand for their services.

People still experience excessive waits in emergency departments and excessive waits for admission to a hospital bed. Waiting times for elective surgery have been getting longer.

AMA Public Hospital Report Card 2009

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that Australia’s public hospitals continue to be seriously under-funded and are struggling to meet growing public demand for their services.

The AMA Public Hospital Report Card 2009 is an analysis of the most up-to-date national data on public hospital performance plus more recent feedback from doctors working in public hospitals in all States and Territories – and the results aren’t good.

Dr Pesce said the report shows that the public hospital system is continuing to decline and, despite the best efforts of a dedicated and hardworking health workforce, quality and safety are being put to the test.

Public hospitals in decline nationally

Launch: 2009 AMA Public Hospital Report Card

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce will tomorrow release the 2009 AMA Public Hospital Report Card on Wednesday 14 October 2009.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce
[Also attending: AMA Executive Council members and hospital doctors]

WHEN:

11am, Wednesday 14 October 2009

WHERE:

Gore Hill Park
Cnr Reserve Road and Pacific Highway
St Leonards NSW (Adjacent to Royal North Shore Hospital)

AMA President Dr Rosanna Capolingua today welcomed the Federal Government’s recognition of the AMA’s target of 3,750 new beds needed for public hospitals.

AMA Public Hospital Report Card 2008

An AMA analysis of Australia's public hospital system.

AMA Public Hospital Report Card 2007