New Health chief must not be bullied by Treasurer

Media release from the AMA (WA)

Acting Director General of WA Health, Kim Snowball

The AMA (WA) welcomes the appointment of Kim Snowball (pictured) as Acting Director General of WA Health, but says he should not be subjected to the same level of interference that forced Dr Peter Flett to resign.

"As long as there remains inappropriate and uninformed interference from Treasurer Troy Buswell, managing health in this State will remain a very difficult – if not impossible - task," said association President Prof Gary Geelhoed.

"It requires firm leadership from both the Health Minister and the Premier to put an end to the funding fiasco that triggered Dr Flett's departure.

"If that leadership is lacking, then hospital patients will suffer the consequences of this dysfunctional system – and Mr Snowball will experience the same frustration and disillusionment as his predecessor."

Prof Geelhoed said Health Minister Dr Kim Hames and WA doctors were committed to appropriate reform which genuinely improved health, however this was largely on bypass – threatened by the current slash-and-burn approach imposed by Treasury.

"Mr Snowball is a very experienced administrator who has been highly regarded for his work with rural health in WA," he said.

"However, if like Dr Flett he finds he can only keep within budget by having to sack staff, then he literally doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell.

"Hopefully, some lessons have been learnt from the unacceptable restraints imposed on Dr Flett and common sense will prevail.

"The undeniable truth is that Health is not coping with WA's growing and ageing population and desperately needs appropriate funding."

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