Although the AMA supports the Federal Government's review of the hospital funding agreement, urgent action to address a system in crisis is long overdue and further delays risk catastrophic collapse.
The AMA welcomes the Federal Government's review of the National Hospital Funding Agreement, however, it says urgent funding is needed now to stop the health system crumbling beyond repair.
AMA President Professor Steve Robson said Australia's public hospitals have been in crisis for years with cracks starting to show even before the pandemic and they are in dire need of more support.
"It should be clear to anyone following the news; anyone waiting for surgery; anyone who can't get in to see a specialist; anyone who ends up waiting for hours in the back of an ambulance outside a hospital - it should be clear, in fact, to everyone, that our hospitals are at crisis point," he said.
The Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler, said the five-year agreement on hospital funding between the Australian Government and the States and Territories would be independently reviewed.
The review would include considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the demand for hospital services and flow-on effects.
Professor Robson said, "The AMA has been campaigning on this issue since before the last election to ensure it gets the attention from governments it deserves.
"We must move to shared 50-50 Commonwealth-state funding for public hospitals, and remove the artificial cap that stops our system meeting community demand.
"For their part, the states and territories need to commit to improve hospital performance by re-investing that extra five per cent.
"And both need to fund additional ongoing performance improvement, capacity expansion, and ways to reduce avoidable admissions.
"The next agreement must also be designed to ensure that we fund the expanded capacity, improved performance and a focus on avoidable admissions that we know we will need in the future.
"We need a plan now to tackle the current backlog and get those hundreds and thousands of Australians out of pain. That plan can't wait. We need May's federal budget to be a health budget to address the issues happening now."
