6 years ago
TURNBULL’S 2025 HOSPITAL CUTS AN INSULT TO AUSTRALIANS
CATHERINE KING MP
Malcolm Turnbull’s secret plan to lock in seven years of public hospital cuts is an insult to Australian patients and more proof his Government cares more about defending a big business tax cut than properly funding our nation’s health.
This Government is so out of touch that they are calling a deal which offers no new money a “generous offer”.
There is no clearer sign that the Liberals need to get out of the boardroom of big business and into a public hospital ward than the Health Minister thinking that an offer which locks states into inadequate funding arrangements “generous”.
Elective surgery waiting times under Malcolm Turnbull are the worst they've ever been since records have been kept.
Patients presenting to emergency departments requiring urgent medical attention are being left in emergency departments for longer, with only 66 per cent of urgent emergency department patients in 2016-17 seen within the recommended 30 minutes – another consecutive decline under the Liberals.
And more than 50 percent of public hospital doctors are working unsafe hours that put them at significant risk of fatigue – including 75% of intensive care specialists, with the Australian Medical Association saying “the strain and the pressure on our public hospitals is having a detrimental impact on the health of our doctors”.
Despite all the evidence, Turnbull is ignoring the pleas of experts and putting health and hospitals last:
“The AMA calls on the Government to... lift public hospitals out of their current funding crisis, which is putting doctors and patients at risk.” [AMA 2018-19 BUDGET SUBMISSION]
“‘Do we really want the same overcrowding in public hospital emergency departments, the same lengthy waiting times for public elective surgery, escalating out-of-pocket costs, and the same fights about private hospitals and private health insurance premiums?’] AUSTRALIAN HEALTH AND HOSPITALS ASSOCIATION, 8 FEBRUARY 2018]
Ahead of tomorrow’s COAG, the states have made it clear that this deal isn’t good enough for hospitals:
(This plan) “double(s) down on cuts to hospitals". [JAY WEATHERILL, THE AGE, 8 FEBRUARY 2018]
"Time and time again, Malcolm Turnbull has put Victorian patients, doctors and nurses last." [JILL HENNESSY, MEDIA RELEASE, 8 FEBRUARY 2018]
(The Turnbull Government) "needs to pay what they owe for Queensland public hospitals". [ANNASTACIA PALASZCZUK, THE AGE, 8 FEBRUARY 2018]
The fact that Malcolm Turnbull doesn’t think our public hospitals deserve to be properly funded but he thinks big business deserves a tax cut says it all about his priorities.