QLD:Hospitals reform a big deal for Qld: Bligh

AAP General News (Australia)
02-14-2011
QLD:Hospitals reform a big deal for Qld: Bligh

GOLD COAST, Feb 14 AAP - Queenslanders can expect to see a "dramatic difference" in
the health system as a result of a new deal on hospitals funding, Premier Anna Bligh says.

The $20 billion deal, which ties funding to hospital performance, was brokered by Prime
Minister Julia Gillard with state and territory leaders on Sunday.

A national pool of combined commonwealth-state money will now be used to fund local
hospital networks for each procedure they perform from 2012.

Ms Bligh said Australia's fastest growing state was right to sign up to the deal.

Over the next four years, Queensland will get an extra 270 hospital beds, more money
for emergency departments and more dedicated money for elective surgery.

For the first time ever, the Commonwealth will also take 50 per cent responsibility
for growth funding, Ms Bligh said.

"We know that people come across our border, we pay for their hospital care and the
Commonwealth has not matched that money," she told reporters on the Gold Coast on Monday.

"For the first time, we will get matching of those dollars.

"That will revolutionise the way that we can run health, and that's why it was worth
entering in this deal."

Patients could expect to see a "dramatic difference" in the health system over the
coming years, with the deal freeing up funds to invest in nurses and doctors, Ms Bligh
said.

"There's no such thing as a perfect health system anywhere in the world," she said.

"But when you see this kind of new money, these additional beds, and this kind of commitment
to population growth, you can really look forward to significant improvements that mums
and dads and families and older people will feel in their health system."

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) Queensland has welcomed the agreement but
president Dr Gino Pecoraro said the funding split was a worrying step back from the originally
proposed 60/40 split.

The lack of a single funder meant there would still be no real accountability for patient
care, he said.

And while the agreement set some ambitious targets, it was hard to see how these would
be met if staffing and bed shortages were not properly addressed, he said.

"Despite acknowledging there are shortages in the number of beds, doctors and nurses
needed in Queensland, the plan is unclear on how it will resolve these issues," Dr Pecoraro
said.

It was also disappointing that mental health, aged care and dental health had been
sidelined, he said.

The Rural Doctors Association of Queensland (RDAQ) said it was concerned "local" hospital
networks would not live up to the title.

"We have been concerned that local doesn't necessarily mean local - for example Goondiwindi
will still be controlled by Toowoomba," RDAQ president Dr Dan Halliday told ABC Radio.

"... We are concerned that it hasn't bought the benefits that we thought it might."

The group had been pushing for a set of minimum standards to ensure adequate services
in country areas and new measures to improve recruitment and retention of staff but said
neither of those issues had been addressed.

AAP jmm/crh/msk

KEYWORD: HOSPITALS QLD WRAP

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