Page 187 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 10 February 2010
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In terms of where we currently find our health system, the picture is certainly mixed. We have some great strengths in our health system, and I acknowledge those, but we are also failing in key areas. Probably the biggest issue confronting the patient is one of access. Although our doctors, our nurses and our allied health professionals are the best in the world, it is clear that accessing our health system is becoming increasingly difficult. It is difficult to see a GP, and waiting times for elective surgery and our emergency departments have grown alarmingly in the last eight years. This is only going to get more difficult in the face of a growing and ageing population.
As an example, GP numbers in the ACT are the lowest per capita in Australia. Our GP numbers are so low that we need an additional 70 full-time GPs. Our GP numbers have actually been declining while across the rest of Australia they have been increasing at about eight per cent per annum. We also have the lowest GP bulk-billing rates in the nation. We are also short of nurses, particularly specialty nurses in areas such as mental health, and we are short a number of allied health professionals. We have the lowest number of public dentists per capita in Australia.
A flow-on effect from the shortage of GPs that we face is that many more people present at our emergency departments than is otherwise necessary. Our emergency departments in the ACT continue to fail to meet target rates for urgent treatment and semi-urgent treatment, with only 53 per cent of patients being seen in the required times. I note that when the Labor government took office in 2001 the percentage of patients seen on time for that category was 97 per cent.
The picture for elective surgery is equally grim: the median wait for elective surgery in the ACT is twice the national average and has doubled during the time of the ACT Labor government from 40 days to 72 days. Access block and high bed occupancy continue to be problems. Indeed, our bed occupancy rates are 91 per cent, although 85 per cent is considered dangerous.
The ACT has the highest rate of mental and behavioural problems in Australia and has not been adequately supported by investment in community programs. We are also still waiting for the secure mental health facility that was promised years ago. The Capital Region Cancer Service is also facing ever-increasing demand for services. There is inadequate provision of practical preventive health initiatives in the ACT. That is evidenced by the ACT’s high rates of obesity and high number of long-term health conditions.
Despite relatively high levels of private health insurance per capita in the ACT, the ACT has comparatively high levels of public hospital use per capita, about 18 per cent above the national average, resulting in additional demand on our already stretched public hospital system. The ACT suffers from a lack of community aged-care services and, given our ageing population, is poorly positioned to cope with a significant increase in demand without overloading our already stretched systems.
Despite the poor performance outcomes I have articulated, the ACT is spending more tax dollars on health per capita than any other jurisdiction in Australia except the Northern Territory. Our health costs in the ACT are increasing at 11.1 per cent
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