Better health and ageing for all Australians

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It's time for states to act and not buckpass

The Federal Government had provided the States and Territories with record funding of $31.7 billion for their public hospitals and the opportunity to improve services by providing money for quality and improve services for patients as they leave hospital by allowing them to access the Commonwealth's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

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It's time for states to act and not buckpass

The Federal Government has given the States the money and opportunities for the State Health Ministers to act on many of the issues they identified at their meeting in Melbourne today.

I do not know why they have failed to act. It's time they lived up to their responsibilities and stopped trying to buck-pass.

The Federal Government had provided the States and Territories with record funding of $31.7 billion for their public hospitals and the opportunity to improve services by providing money for quality and improve services for patients as they leave hospital by allowing them to access the Commonwealth's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Unfortunately, nearly five years down the track only three States have taken up this opportunity.

It is disappointing that the States continue to engage in political grandstanding and points-scoring - particularly in the lead-up to the New South Wales election - without getting on and doing what they are required to do.

For example, New South Wales and the ACT are not even meeting their commitment to provide the minimum level of public hospital services they agreed to provide under the current agreements. To date no explanation for this has been forthcoming.

The States today have outlined other areas that they claim need urgent action by the Commonwealth:

Medical Indemnity - The Prime Minister announced a comprehensive package last year to ensure the continuation of important medical services by placing medical indemnity insurers on a sound commercial footing and introducing reforms to improve the affordability of medical indemnity insurance for doctors.

More money for technology - Under the current AHCAs, the Commonwealth has provided $250 million to the States to be spent on virtually anything of their choosing, including improving their IT systems. All the States had to do was write to me and tell me how they wanted to spend the money yet letters from some States are still arriving some four and half years after the money was made available.

Quality and Safety - The Commonwealth's commitment to safety and quality in State public hospitals has been underwritten by $682 million to the States. The Commonwealth has also taken a leadership role in establishing the Australian Council for Safety and Quality and the National Institute for Clinical Studies.

Joint planning for the need for nursing home and hospital beds - While the States have closed 14,000 hospital beds in the past decade, the number of Commonwealth funded operational aged care places has risen by 29,000. There are now nearly three times as many residential aged care places as public hospital beds.

We have shown we can work together in the past and I am sure we will in the future to get better health outcomes for all Australians.

Today's meeting was not the time or place for a meeting. It was hastily convened in mid-January while I was away on official leave. I only learned of the attendance of the clinicians yesterday.

The State Ministers who convened the meeting did not even bother to tell me they have invited the clinicians. This just adds further weight to the fact that today's meeting was a political stunt.

Media inquiries, contact Sarah Higginbottom, Media Adviser, Senator Patterson's office, 02 6277 7220.