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The Rudd Government is committed to delivering better health outcomes for Australians through our health and hospital system.
The Government is investing $2.5 billion in a National Health and Hospitals Reform Plan to systematically reform our public hospitals and the broader health system, end the blame game between the Commonwealth and State and Territory governments, and deliver practical improvements to health services for individual Australians and the community.
The Government is working in partnership with the States and Territories to deliver this reform agenda. Key priorities for the Government include:
- reducing waiting lists for elective surgery at our public hospitals;
- doubling the number of transition care places available for older Australians who no longer need to be in hospital but who require more time and support before returning home or to residential aged care;
- focussing on preventative health care and health promotion, to help keep Australians healthy and out of hospital;
- improving the health of our kids;
- reducing waiting times for public dental treatment and assisting 1 million teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 with the cost of an annual preventative dental health check; and
- improving indigenous wellbeing by ensuring that health and ageing programs and initiatives address the needs of indigenous Australians living in urban, regional and remote areas of the country.
Fixing our hospitals
The Government has started work on implementing the National Health and Hospitals Reform Plan to improve health outcomes for patients in Australia’s health and hospital system.
An upfront investment of $150 million has already been provided to the States and Territories for an immediate blitz on elective surgery waiting lists, as part of a $600 million package to dramatically increase the number of elective surgery procedures completed within the clinically recommended time.
Later this year, COAG will consider State and Territory government implementation plans for more systemic improvements to the hospital system and further reductions to elective surgery waiting times.
The Government is establishing a National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, to be chaired by an eminent Australian, which will consult on the reform plan with health experts, professionals and consumers.
The Government is providing financial incentives to State and Territory governments that commit to clearly defined health outcome targets, and will invest additional funds for community-level health services delivered outside of hospitals.
The next Australian Health Care Agreements (AHCAs) will be negotiated this year. These Agreements are the means by which the Commonwealth contributes funds toward the operation of State and Territory public hospital systems. The Government will expand the scope of the AHCAs to ensure they include specific reform benchmarks for States and Territories.
The Rudd Government is committed to achieving national health care reform in partnership with State and Territory governments. However, if significant progress toward the implementation of the reforms has not been achieved by mid-2009, the Government will seek a mandate from the Australian people at the following federal election for the Commonwealth to take financial control of Australia’s 750 public hospitals.
Care for older Australians
The Rudd Government is committed to improving the support that is available for older Australians, particularly those who need residential aged care.
The Government is increasing the number of operational aged care beds, and improving the transition between home, hospital and aged care services, by:
- providing $300 million in zero real interest loans to aged care providers before July 2008 to help them build or expand facilities in areas of need;
- fully funding an additional 2,000 transition care places, to be rolled out over four years;
- improving the efficiency of the aged care approval process, so that newly allocated beds become operational more quickly; and
- reviewing the current aged care planning ratios to take account of our ageing population.
The Rudd Government will carry its commitment to improving support for older Australians into this year’s negotiations for the Australian Health Care Agreements, by prioritising measures to reduce the number of people waiting in hospital for a residential aged care place, and committing the States and Territories to concrete health outcomes for the benefit of the older members of our community.
TopPreventative health care
The Rudd Government believes that keeping people well and preventing disease is every bit as important as managing and caring for those who are sick. The Government is committed to making preventative health care and health promotion a major focus of our health system by:
- developing a National Preventative Healthcare Strategy to provide a true preventive health focus to the health system and provide incentives for doctors to focus on preventative health care;
- developing a National Cancer Plan to improve diagnosis and treatment of cancer;
- making obesity a national health priority and working with States and Territories to tackle Australia’s obesity epidemic; and
- improving the health of our children by bringing in a Healthy Kids Check to test the health and wellbeing of all our kids in the first year of school, and creating a Healthy Habits for Life guide for parents, to help their children develop healthy habits and tackle childhood obesity.
Dental care
The Rudd Government recognises the importance of having healthy teeth to a person’s overall health. The Government is taking a two-pronged approach to ensure more Australians can access dental treatment.
Firstly, a new Commonwealth Dental Health Program will provide $290 million over three years to States and Territory governments so that they can deliver one million additional public dental consultations and help clear the backlog of people waiting for public dental treatment. In return the Government will require the States and Territories to meet new national standards in dental care.
Secondly, the Government’s Teen Dental Plan will help keep our kids’ teeth in good health. The plan will provide $150 towards an annual preventative check for teenagers aged 12 to 17 in families receiving Family Tax Benefit (FTB) A or who are eligible for Youth Allowance or Abstudy. Over one million teenagers will be eligible for assistance under the program.
For further information, visit the Department of Health and Ageing website at www.health.gov.au