Once again, the AMA Public Hospital Report Card shows that ACT Public Hospitals are performing below the standard our community should expect. This is happening despite the tireless efforts of our hospital staff and the highest proportion of public hospital funding coming from any State or Territory Government.
The ACT continues to struggle under the ‘four-hour rule’, with only 48 per cent of emergency department presentations being completed in less than the requisite four hours. This result has been in decline for almost a decade now. ACT residents deserve better. While it’s little comfort to know that public hospital performance is down across the country, it does show just how much pressure all our public hospitals are under.
On a more positive note, the integration of North Canberra Hospital into Canberra Health Services presents an opportunity to better coordinate our public hospital services, and that prospect gives some hope that better, more streamlined services will result. While this has not yet materialised in the Report Card data, we will be watching closely to see any resultant impact on care from better integrated hospitals.
2024 is an election year in the ACT and we look forward to a vigorous and policy-driven debate about our local healthcare system. However, one thing we do know, is that a decade of Walk-In-Centres has not improved the ACT’s public hospital emergency waiting times, and change is needed.
Disappointingly, the ACT Government does not seem to appreciate that the continued funding of fragmented care, and the imposition of a payroll tax on medical practices will result in increased utilisation of emergency departments, as the cost of care in the community for those with chronic diseases increases. In turn, this will result in more pressure on our hospitals, and an increase in high-cost, hospital-based care that should have been provided earlier and at a lower cost in the community.
The long-term solution must include better integration of care for patients with chronic diseases so that higher value care can be provided in the community. The challenge for all of us is that this will require a re-organisation of the Territory’s fragmented healthcare resources in order to better support general practice.
The lead up to this year’s election will also see the opening of the Canberra Hospital Expansion with all the excitement and challenges that go with it. It’s to be hoped that the new facility will provide a much needed boost to our hard-working staff and play an important role as the ACT seeks to turn around its public hospital performance.