AMA calls for $34.7bn funding fix to help public hospitals stretched to ‘breaking’ point

The peak body representing doctors has called for an urgent $34.7bn funding fix or risk ballooning elective surgery and ER wait times.

The peak body representing doctors has called for an urgent $34.7bn funding fix or risk ballooning elective surgery and ER wait times. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Hospital spending needs to be fast-tracked over the next five years to ensure there are enough beds needed for Australia’s growing population and ensure patients can access elective surgeries within safe, clinically-recommended wait times.

Ahead of next year’s federal budget, the Australian Medical Association, the peak doctor’s body, says $34.7bn of hospital spending should be brought forward over the next five years to ensure hospitals are equipped to deal with community demand.

This would result in Commonwealth funding public hospitals to 45 per cent, higher than the figures currently being debated in the funding stoush between state and federal governments.

Key emergency room metrics cited in the body’s pre-budget submissions reported the 2023-24 financial year the worst on record with 61 per cent of emergency room patients waiting more than the clinically recommended 30 minute time frame to receive urgent care.

The number of patients requiring attention for either immediate or imminently life-threatening conditions also nearly doubled to 1.6 million, up from 832,500 a decade earlier.

More than one in three patients requiring serious elective surgeries like heart valve replacements, coronary artery bypass surgery or cancer removal were also waiting more than the recommended 90 days.

AMA president Dr Danielle McMullen said the public hospital system had been “stretched beyond the point of breaking”.

The funding call comes as federal and state and territory governments are at logger heads over public hospital funding. Picture: Ian Currie

“The reality is that we will see patients waiting even longer, getting sicker and sometimes then being not eligible for the care they need because their illness has just progressed too far,” she told The Daily Telegraph.

States have to date lashed the Commonwealth for walking back its promise to fund public hospitals to 42.5 per cent by 2030, with that figure increasing to 45 per cent by 2035.

Speaking about the hospital funding agreement deal, Dr McMullen said that despite negotiations starting prior to December 2023, the agreement is still being debated “five minutes to midnight”.

“Here we are still without a deal signed but in the meantime, we’ve got patients waiting long for planned surgeries, waiting in ambulances, unable to get into emergency departments, and stuck in hospitals, unable to get beds in aged care or with NDIS supports,” she said.

Health Minister Mark Butler said he remained optimistic a deal could be reached by the end of 2025, and is set to convene a meeting with state and territory health ministers on Friday.

“It is crucial that all governments work to address the growing pressures in the public hospital system,” he said.

“In their system manager roles, states and territories are responsible for planning and funding the capital and infrastructure necessary to support the effective delivery of their public hospital services.”

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Originally published as AMA calls for $34.7bn funding fix to help public hospitals stretched to ‘breaking’ point