COAG Can End Patient Pain - Australian Medical Association

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 01 Oct 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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AMA President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua, issued a plea to Australian governments to care for Australian patients by boosting public hospital funding by at least $3 billion as a matter of urgency.

On the eve of COAG's meeting in Perth, Dr Capolingua said patients would continue to suffer the pain and indignity of long waits in hospital emergency departments and delays in elective surgery until governments funded at least 3,750 new beds and the staff and infrastructure to support them.

"Up-front funding of $3 billion was needed urgently, indexed annually to meet rising costs and demands in the years ahead," Dr Capolingua said.

"Emergency departments around Australia are struggling to care for patients who need to be admitted to hospital.

"We know that there are 1,500 unnecessary deaths in Australia due to access block. That is more than the road toll. Governments do not want to hear it. They cannot bear to acknowledge it but that is the reality.

"Patients are forced to wait for too long. It can put their clinical status at risk. They are often anxious and in pain, and suffering because there are simply not enough beds.

"The teenage girl with appendicitis whose protracted wait in the emergency holding area leads to a ruptured appendix, peritonitis and ongoing complications deserves better.

"Commonwealth and State governments can end this unnecessary suffering right now, by agreeing at COAG tomorrow to immediately fund 3,750 new public hospital beds, and the staff and infrastructure to care for the patients who occupy them," Dr Capolingua said.

Australian Medical Association