NSW needs the Commonwealth to pay their fair share for public hospitals

AMA (NSW) is backing a new campaign that puts public hospital funding in the spotlight this Federal election and calls for a more equitable 50-50 funding agreement between the Commonwealth and states and territories.

The AMA launched the “Clear the hospital logjam” campaign today to highlight chronic underfunding which has contributed to ambulance ramping, emergency waiting times and delays in elective surgery.

“The health system is sick. For years, Governments have been applying band-aid funding solutions to address the symptoms, not the root cause. We need funding arrangements that expand capacity and improve performance, as well as meet the needs of the community,” AMA (NSW) President, Dr Danielle McMullen said.

“The blockage is occurring throughout the patient journey – from longer waits in emergency departments to difficulty accessing inpatient care. We need better solutions that allow people to move from hospital care to more appropriate settings, including aged care support services.

“Public hospitals were under pressure before the pandemic, but COVID really exposed the cracks in our system. Staff under-resourcing remains a difficult issue in NSW.

“The current funding formula for public hospitals is short-changing patients and the funding split between the Commonwealth and states and territories has resulted in a blame game that distracts from the real job at hand – creating a well-resourced, well-staffed hospital system that is integrated with a well-supported general practice sector,” Dr McMullen said.

The AMA campaign website allows Australians to share their own experiences of logjams in our public hospitals, whether in emergency departments, waiting for essential surgery, or a specialist appointment.

“Australians are sick of state and federal politicians blaming each other for inadequate hospital funding and so we are encouraging all Australians to elect candidates who understand the current funding arrangements are broken, and who are willing to go to Canberra to change them,” AMA President, Dr Omar Khorshid said.

The AMA’s Pre-Budget Submission calls for $20.5 billion across four years to create a more equitable 50-50 funding share between the Commonwealth and states and territories, and to remove the existing 6.5% cap on funding growth. It also calls for additional partnership hospital funding to be provided to improve performance, expand capacity, and address avoidable admissions.

“Public hospitals should be a vote-changer and we hope Australians will take that opportunity at the election,” said AMA President, Dr Omar Khorshid.

“I’ve raised public hospital funding with both major parties and while nothing has been committed yet, we’ll continue discussions.

“We want to see a pledge before election day from both sides that a Commonwealth government of either persuasion will commit to end the logjam in public hospitals, through better targeted, more equitable funding with states and territories to fix public hospitals,” Dr Khorshid said.

Share your logjam story on the new campaign website or email hospitals@ama.com.au. More on AMA’s hospital funding reform solution is here.

Further campaign action will be rolled out over the course of the Clear the hospital logjam campaign.

AMA (NSW) Media: 0419 402 955 

AMA Media: 02 6270 5478 | 0427 209 753