For public patients, patience with Rudd Labor has run out
14th October, 2009
A terrible diagnosis has been made and it is no surprise - Australia’s public hospital system has deteriorated since the election of the Rudd Government.The release today of the Australia’s Medical Association’s Public Hospital Report Card 2009 confirms that instead of “fixing” public hospitals as promised, Federal Labor has actually made them worse.
The Leader of The Nationals, Warren Truss, said on every measure available, patient services had declined.
“Mr Rudd pledged before the election that the buck would stop with him on public hospitals,” Mr Truss said. “Unless the states and territories improved the system by June 30 this year, he’d take them over.
“That deadline has come and gone. Reckless spending elsewhere means the options to pay for much-needed changes have dried up. Cuts have been made to existing programs and attacks on private health insurance will force more people onto the public hospital system.
“Just yesterday, the Prime Minister said the health system was a ‘dog’s breakfast’ and swore he would stop the ‘blame shifting’ and ‘cost shifting’ between jurisdictions.
“Mr Rudd was elected two years ago on a promise to do just that. But he is still talking about what he will do, without actually doing anything.
“As his thought bubbles mount, patients are dying as they wait for beds, the waiting periods for elective surgery have hit new highs and well publicised band-aid measures have not even stemmed the bleeding.
“The state public health system is in diabolical shape, but Mr Rudd should never have made sweeping promises unless he had a genuine plan to fix things.
“The Nationals have released a policy on health which offers real hope and concrete measures. It includes a targeted fund for regional health infrastructure, establishing targets for regional health performance, and local hospital boards for public hospitals.
“The diagnosis is in, and Mr Rudd must finally act. Otherwise he should give it all away and let us get the job done,” Mr Truss said.
