Australian Medical Association warns hospital system will crumble without support as restrictions ease

The head of the Australian Medical Association has told the Prime Minister that the hospital system will collapse as health restrictions ease.

The Prime Minister has been issued a terrifying warning about the future ability of the nation’s hospital system to save the lives of Covid-19 victims.

In a letter addressed directly to Scott Morrison, Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid said Australia’s hospital system would not be able to cope with the easing of public health restrictions – even with increased vaccination rates.

“If we throw open the doors to Covid we risk seeing our public hospitals collapse,” Dr Khorshid said.

“Even pre-Covid, emergency departments were full, ambulances ramped, and waiting times for elective surgery too long.

“We have the lowest bed-to-patient ratio in decades, our emergency and elective performance continues to decline, and our doctors and nurses continue to barely cope with their workloads and the constraints of the system.”

Dr Khorshid called on the Prime Minister to force national cabinet to “urgently commit” additional funding to Australia's hospitals to help them prepare for the peak number of serious cases of Covid-19 following the relaxing of restrictions.

But the PM played down Dr Khorshid’s funding concerns when asked about the letter during question time, stating the federal government had already allocated an additional $6bn in resources to help states and territories cope with the health demands of Covid-19.

AMA President Dr Omar Khorshid said Australia’s hospital system would not be able to cope with the easing of public health restrictions – even with increased vaccination rates. Picture: Olga Maltseva/AFP.

“This is not a new item. This is something that has been done by the Secretary of the Department of Health for many months,” Mr Morrison said.

“From the start of the pandemic, it has been the most regular matter that we've continued to investigate and review to ensure the system capacity.”

The PM said public hospital services had already received a “substantial” increase in funding, with billions extra since the Coalition came to power.

But Dr Khorshid was adamant the current infrastructure and funding was simply not enough for Australia’s hospital system to cope with the high-speed spread of the Delta variant.

The Prime Minister told parliament that public hospital services had already received a “substantial” increase in funding since the Coalition came to power. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman.

NSW is set to experience their highest peak in ICU admissions in late October due to Delta’s increasing rampage across Greater Sydney.

“Without a commitment to a new reform agreement – one that provides the increased beds, the extra staff, addresses avoidable admissions and readmissions and supports performance improvement – we will lock our hospitals and those who need them into a permanent cycle of crisis,” Dr Khorshid said.

The top doc warned Mr Morrison that without immediate additional healthcare funding, Australians would fall victim to an increasing number of preventable deaths within an overworked hospital system.

“Too often we hear tragic stories of late-stage cancer diagnosis, emergency treatment delayed and sadly, avoidable deaths,” he said.

“This is only going to get worse with Covid and we cannot afford to wait any longer.”

Dr Korshid said Australia’s doctors and nurses were “barely coping” with their workloads and the constraints of the health system. Picture: Nic Coury / AFP.

Dr Khorshid urged the government to wait until the vaccination rate was above 80 per cent before fully easing restrictions.

“The AMA believes a vaccination rate higher than 80 per cent of the adult population is likely to be required to avoid repeated lockdowns given the existing constraints on hospital capacity and staffing,” he said.

The federal government has not yet indicated what the vaccination target will be for Phase D (fully eased restrictions) of the national transition plan out of the pandemic.

Mr Morrison said the government's funding and management of Covid-19 would continue to evolve with the changing nature of the health crisis.