Tender issued to fix budget blowouts at Central Adelaide Local Health Network and cut $264m
A PUBLIC tender has been issued to begin the State Government’s plan to control hospital overspending, prompting accusations it will compromise patient care.
- Consultants paid $100k to investigate whistleblowers claims
- KordaMentha called into to sort out finances at RAH, health network
- Less than a month after the election and budget scandal hits RAH
- Hospital budget blowout due to hit $303 million this year
A PUBLIC tender has been issued to begin the State Government’s plan to control hospital overspending, prompting accusations it will compromise patient care.
Corporate advisers KordaMentha were last month called in to work out how to erase a ballooning deficit in the budget of the Central Adelaide Local Health Network, which runs the Royal Adelaide and Queen Elizabeth hospitals, as well as statewide services such as SA Pathology.
But the Opposition issued a “please explain” to the State Government over the resulting tender to put the plan into action, which requires the hospitals “reduce length of stay”, “reconfigure the bed base” and “increase patient revenue”.
“When a person enters public hospital, the government should see a patient needing care, not a big dollar sign,’’ Opposition health spokesman Chris Picton said.
“All of this highlights a Liberal Government putting budget cuts ahead of patient care.’’
The amount to be cut from the budget specified in the tender documents is $264 million over three years.
An Auditor-General’s report, tabled in state parliament last month, showed CALHN was at risk of blowing its budget by $303 million in 2018/19.
The tender document also states that the tenderer must look for other “efficiencies” and “rationalise services”.
“CALHN is currently operating significantly above the nationally agreed efficient price for acute inpatient hospital services,” the document states.
“It needs to address this issue urgently before it is able to become a fully independent statutory authority.”
Health Minister Stephen Wade said the reference to patient revenue was only for private patients being treated in the public system and accused Mr Picton of trying to “scare patients’’.
“No doctors or nurses will be sacked as a result of any plan to rein in spending,’’ he said.
The budget deficit has been blamed largely on costs associated with the move to the $2.4 billion new RAH.
“The RAH is bleeding money as a legacy of the former government and we are committed to delivering first-class health services and getting control of the budget,’’ Mr Wade said.
“We have important decisions to make after inheriting a financial mess from Labor.’’
KordaMentha has been scathing of CALHN’s management, reporting in September that there was “systemic and widespread breakdown and lack of respect for financial control and performance’’.