DOCTORS REFORM SOCIETY

Media Release

Sunday, 5 March 2006

HOSPITAL CRISIS: A LEGACY OF 10 YEARS OF HOWARD’S CARE

“Reports today of a patient with severe pain being forced to sit in her car despite having a drip in her arm and of a quarter of patients in NSW having to wait over 8 hours for emergency treatment are a sad reflection of 10 years of denial by the Federal Government of its responsibility for the problems in our hospitals,” said Dr Tim Woodruff, President, Doctors Reform Society

“In emergency departments throughout Australia doctors struggle to get sick patients into empty beds because there are none,” said Dr Woodruff. “Instead the beds are taken up by patients in hosopital waiting for Aged Care places (a Federal Government responsibility) and patients who should have been treated in the community but couldn’t get a doctor and became too sick (a Federal Government responsibility). This access block cannot be solved by State Governments.”

“To make the public hospital situation worse, the Howard Government has devoted $2.5 billion in taxes to expand the private hospital industry (the PHI rebate), which takes doctors and nurses from an understaffed public system to work in the private system,” said Dr Woodruff. “Then they have underfunded the States for their share of the public hospital costs under the Australian Health Care Agreements.”

“The agenda of 10 years of Howard policies is clear,” said Dr Woodruff. “Convince people that the public hospital system is second rate, and more will understand that they must work harder and earn enough to make the choice of private health care. Then the public system can become the ‘safety net’ for second class citizens.  The problem is that currently 56% of Australians are second class citizens when it comes to accessing health care” 

“A divided Australia, the Howard legacy.”

Dr Tim Woodruff

President

Doctors Reform Society