State Budget best chance to finally 'fix' health

April 18, 2008

A new, state-of-the art children's hospital, 400 more staffed hospital beds and increased training places for medical graduates should head the list of health priorities when the WA Government delivers its State Budget next month, the AMA (WA) said today.

"The Government's huge cash surplus should enable it to finally meets its commitment to the 2004 Reid Report, which recommended co-locating Princess Margaret Hospital and King Edward Memorial Hospital on the same site," said Association President Prof Geoff Dobb.

"With public opinion on the state of WA health waning – and an election looming – the Government has all the incentive it needs to deliver on its promise nearly eight years ago to 'fix health'.

"Infrastructure at PMH and KEMH has been rapidly falling into ruin and the children's hospital in particular has serious problems with aging clinical infrastructure, attracting and retaining top-quality staff and parking."

Prof Dobb said a national audit of public hospital beds carried out by the Federal AMA last year showed that WA required a minimum of 400 extra ward beds to maintain a best-practice occupancy rate of 85 per cent.

"A 2005 WA Health Department Clinical Services Consultation document recommended 85 per cent capacity for most multi-day procedures and 90 per cent for tertiary hospital/surgical cases and mental health and rehabilitation," he said.

"Unfortunately, much of the time our major public hospitals operate at 100 per cent capacity resulting in many people dying needless in our emergency departments.'

(A 2006 report published by WA emergency medicine specialist Peter Sprivulus revealed about 120 people died each year because Perth's major public hospitals were forced to operate above recommended capacity preventing patients from being admitted to a ward bed when clinical ideal).

Prof Dobb said the AMA (WA) also wanted the May Budget to provide:

- Increased recurrent spending, particularly for staffing, nurses and equipment replacement.

Currently when old equipment wears out, medical staff are forced to undergo a time-consuming business case as to why an item must be replaced, leading to significant hold-ups in the health system for items such as MRIs. If WA had sufficient staff to open all hospitals to capacity, there could be an additional 70 beds opened immediately.

- More training places for graduates

The number of medical students to graduate from Perth universities has trebled in recent years but the corresponding training places have declined as mid-level doctors have gone in to private practice. As a result, WA could be facing a similar situation to the UK where students are graduating with medical degrees but with no place to continue their careers.

"WA has one of the biggest health budgets in the nation but we also face some of the biggest challenges associated with our isolation and booming population," said Prof Dobb.

"Health Minister Jim McGinty should be given the funding to make WA's health system one of the best in the world.

"With the state enjoying unprecedented levels of economic prosperity, it's the very least the community deserves."

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