Catholic Health Australia (CHA) has welcomed today's announcement of a new public hospital funding agreement, including an additional $25 billion in Commonwealth funding over five years to help address growing pressure across the health system.
CHA said the commitment represents a significant and necessary step toward strengthening public hospitals as they face rising demand, workforce shortages and increasingly complex care needs.
"Public hospitals are under significant and growing pressure, and today's agreement acknowledges the urgency of the task ahead," said Dr Katharine Bassett, Director of Health Policy at Catholic Health Australia.
"CHA has consistently called for increased public hospital funding to better meet community need, support the workforce, and ensure patients receive timely care. This investment is an important step in the right direction."
CHA particularly welcomed the $2 billion aimed at reducing the number of patients occupying hospital beds while waiting for aged care, investment it had advocated for.
"Older Australians stuck in hospital beds because they cannot access aged care is a major system failure that affects patients, families and hospital capacity," Dr Bassett said.
"Addressing this bottleneck is critical to ensuring hospital beds are available for acute care and older Australians receive care that best meets their needs".
CHA is calling on state governments to reduce their burgeoning hospital waitlists by using private hospitals which have excess capacity.
