AMA calls for $2 billion budget boost to help reform the nation’s public health system

Public hospitals are operating at breaking point with a $2 billion federal budget boost needed to end the crisis, doctors have warned.

The Australian Medical Association has called for reforms targeting five areas including general practice, public hospitals and private health.

In a pre-budget submission, the medical body wants the federal government to provide $2.06 billion over two years to help clear an elective surgery backlog, which has worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chronic underfunding between federal and state governments has led to declining performance in public hospitals, the association said.

“We have increasingly heard stories of people dying waiting to be seen in public hospitals that are operating at breaking point, patients waiting years for essential surgery, and ambulances ramping outside hospitals because there are not enough beds and staff to cope with demand,” it said.

Planned surgery wait lists blew out in the last financial year, with 63 per cent of patients treated within the recommended 90 days.

An extra $55.44 million should also be set aside over four years for exit block, which is where patients receiving treatment in a hospital are able to be discharged but have no safe place to go.

“Exit block means there are less beds for inpatient services, which ultimately results in increased waiting times for ambulance services, emergency department services, and essential elective surgeries,” the association said.

Access to general practice remains a key issue, as workforce shortages and the increasing cost of delivering high-quality care have resulted in many GP clinics struggling to remain viable.

AMA president Steve Robson said the government needed to ensure general practice trainees were offered equitable employment conditions in comparison to their hospital counterparts.

“The upcoming budget is an opportunity for the federal government to commit to funding equitable conditions for all GP trainees,” Professor Robson said.

“While there will be an up-front cost, patient access to care will be significantly improved over time and we know that this will help keep patients healthier and out of hospital and save health dollars in the long term.”

Leaders from the nation’s medical colleges and associations met in Canberra on Monday to call for reform in Australia’s health system.

More than 500 psychiatrists across the country have signed an open letter by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, calling on Health Minister Mark Butler to address mental health workforce shortages.

College president Elizabeth Moore said too many people missed out on life-saving mental health care because it was out of reach.

“It is either too too far away, too expensive or for those in the remotest corners of the country, simply unavailable,” she said.