Boards best way to save public hospitals

October 3, 2007

Putting management back in the hands of the community by establishing regional hospital boards and providing additional resourcing would revive WA's ailing public health system, the AMA (WA) said today.

"The present system of centralised control through the Health Department's bureaucracy has not solved the crisis which the WA Government promised to fix when it came into office," said association President Prof Geoff Dobb.

"It's time for the Government to reinstate some transparency and accountability, resource health services appropriately and allow community and grass roots input."

Prof Dobb said hospital boards given both responsibility and resources had worked well in the past and the Federal Government was on the right track in wanting to reintroduce them as part of a plan to pump an extra $400 million into the public hospital system.

"The AMA would support regional boards that are based around major hospitals and integrated with input from all hospitals and health services in the same region," he said.

"Like any multi-million dollar organisation, these boards would combine the expertise of businessmen and experts in the health area with advice from leading citizens as well as doctors and other health professionals.

"Importantly, however, the boards would have to be accountable for their decisions and demonstrate they were making the best use of every health dollar."

Prof Dobb said the AMA had been advocating a return to health service boards since 2000 and had put forward models based on three major metropolitan health authorities, rural regional boards and state-wide Women and Children's Health Authorities.

"Indeed, when Labor came into office the Government commissioned a special reform agenda for health administration which specifically recommended boards," said Prof Dobb. "Despite that, nothing happened and we have continued to languish under the present centralised control system."

Prof Dobb said the AMA would welcome discussion with both the WA and Federal Governments on establishing hospital management systems which were common across enterprises.

"The association and the medical profession believe it is the best way - in tandem with more appropriate resources - to restore WA's public health system to address the needs of the community."

Media Contacts