National Health Reform Continues to Deliver
A new national watchdog for Australia’s health system will soon be formed after legislation to establish the National Health Performance Authority passed the Senate on 19 September.
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19 September 2011
A new national watchdog for Australia’s health system will soon be formed after legislation to establish the National Health Performance Authority passed the Senate today.
Acting Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler welcomed the news and said the National Health Performance Authority is a key part of the Gillard Government’s commitment to provide patients with better information about the performance of public and private hospitals and Medicare Locals through tools like the MyHospitals website.
“Providing better information about local health and hospital services is essential to improving local services for Australians,” Mr Butler said.
“Importantly, the Authority will help Australians better understand their health system, including information on their local public and private hospitals, primary health care and community health services.
“We all know that the very successful MySchool website is helping to drive improvements in schools around the country. Similarly the MyHospitals website, which is set to be expanded by the Authority, is working to drive improvements in local hospital services.”
Mr Butler noted that Tony Abbott continues to send mixed messages on transparency in health reporting, reflecting his party’s overall lack of vision for national health reform. Mr Abbott has previously supported transparency when he was Health Minister, but then ordered his party to vote against the Authority in the House last month. In a final confusing step, Mr Abbott’s Coalition supported the legislation as it passed through the Senate today.
“I’d like to think this is a sign Mr Abbott is supporting Labor’s national health reform agenda but his performance to date does not fill me with confidence.”
Ms Patricia Faulkner AO and Mr John Walsh will be the Chair and Deputy Chair of the new Authority, after their appointments were agreed to by COAG in August.
The National Health Performance Authority is being established without any net increase in the number of bureaucrats.
For more information, please contact the Minister's Office on (02) 6277 7280
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