‘Problem for All Health Ministers’: Australia’s Peak Medical Body Calls for Urgent Public System Overhaul

Victoria Ambulances are seen at the St. Vincent Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 11, 2022. (Diego Fedele/Getty Images)

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has called for an urgent overhaul of the nation’s public health system following a report that found hospital performance to be at its lowest level since the 90s.

Bed availability, emergency wait times, “planned” surgery wait times and access to specialists in the public health system were among the performance indicators that showed significant problems across all states and territories, according to the AMA’s 16th annual report card.

This comes as the national cabinet agreed to a number of health measures to make medical services more accessible for Australians.

AMA President Stephen Robson said while wait times continued to increase, the solutions put forward by the peak medical body have been ignored.

“In just over 10 years, Australia is expected to have more than 1 million people who will be over 85 years of age, and we know older patients are more likely to require an admission to a public hospital. We should be planning for this. But we will remain on the path to failure if we keep doing the same thing over and over and over again,” Robson said.

“The numbers paint a grim picture for the future of our public hospitals and, with them, our patients if no action is taken.

“Let me be clear—this is a problem for all health ministers.

“We need a new funding agreement to support hospitals to expand their capacity and improve their performance—to clear the hospital logjam.”

Federal Health Minister Set on Alleviating Hospital Pressures

Meanwhile, Federal Health Minister Mark Butler told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on April 27 that his government was focused on relieving hospital pressures across the country.

“If you look at all of those developed country health systems, COVID has really hit them hard. It’s hit the workforce hardest, and it’s meant that people weren’t able to get the care they needed during COVID because of lockdowns, because of restrictions on general practice. So, they’re now turning up at hospitals, much more unwell than they otherwise would have been.”

Australian Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler speaks at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on July 28, 2022 . (Martin Ollman/Getty Images)

But Sarah Whitelaw, the AMA’s Emergency Medicine Representative, said while the pandemic has impacted hospitals’ ability to respond, the impact of emergency departments in public hospitals has been worsening for a decade.

For instance, the AMA report card found that for the past 30 years, bed availability for people aged over 65 has dropped by more than half—dropping from 32.5 beds per 1,000 people to only 14.7. Bed availability, or lack thereof, has resulted in one in three patients staying longer for more than four hours in an emergency.

Robson said that the federal government would be rolling out “Urgent Care Clinics”—an alternative for people who require medical attention that is urgent, non-life-threatening, but does require the services of an emergency department—in order to alleviate the logjam.

Doctors Launch Campaign to Alleviate Logjam While Federal Labor Unveils New Healthcare Programs

The AMA has published four points for health ministers’ consideration as part of its “clear the hospital logjam campaign.”

These four points are: improving performance, expanding capacity, addressing the demand for out-of-hospital alternatives, and increasing funding and removing the funding cap.

For example, the medical body wants the federal government to contribute half of the hospitals’ activity costs.

“This represents an investment of $12.7 billion over four years between 2022-23 and 2025-26,” the AMA said.

The AMA also seeks an overhaul of the Nat­ional Health Reform Agreement between states, territories, and the federal government. This agreement is currently being reviewed in the middle of its five-year term.

Meanwhile, prime minister Anthony Albanese told the national cabinet on April 28 that his government will commit $2.2 billion of the budget to deliver “Strengthening Medicare” measures.

This comes just weeks before federal Labor hands down its federal budget.

In February, state and territory leaders, along with the prime minister, considered the recommendations outlined in the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce Report (pdf), which included improving healthcare affordability and accessibility for Australians, providing support for people with chronic health conditions, and easing pressure on the strained hospital system.

Health Minister Mark Butler has said that Medicare—Australia’s primary healthcare system—as the “worst shape” in 40 years.

Among the measures that were agreed to by the health ministers were: supporting the workforce to work at the top of their scope; expanding the nursing workforce to improve primary healthcare; improving access to and delivery of after-hours primary care; introducing MyMedicare, a new payment model for patients registered with their local GP; flexible funding for multi-disciplinary team-based models; and investing in digital health to improve health outcomes.

“One of the things identified is patients who will regularly turn up at emergency departments. We want to make sure that there is registration there so we can reach out,” Albanese told reporters on April 28.

The national cabinet also discussed the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and committed to ensuring the scheme’s financial viability.

More than $720 million has been committed to boosting the capability of the agency in charge of the scheme.

“We need to have a sustainable growth trajectory for the NDIS in order to support equity and fairness for all Australians who are living with disability, including those not eligible for the NDIS,” Albanese said.

“We want to make sure that the promise of the NDIS is fulfilled.”

Deputy Liberal Leader Sussan Ley earlier said the Medicare system needed more support.

“Wrangling the state premiers has become a bit of a national sport,” she said.

“People need access to doctors, and absolutely, that discussion today is a vital one. We do need to have our healthcare system back where it was.”