Thursday 26 February 2009
HUGE HEALTH DEFICIT, MILLIONS IN UNPAID BILLS, TRUST FUNDS ABUSED: AUDITOR’S REPORT
The Auditor-General has delivered a scathing assessment of the way the State Labor Government is running the hospital system, with revelations of a huge health budget deficit, millions of dollars in unpaid bills and trust funds being abused, Shadow Minister for Health Jillian Skinner said today.
“This report paints an alarming picture of State Labor Government incompetence that is having a dire impact on our hospitals and frontline doctors and nurses,” Mrs Skinner said.
“The financial heart of our health system is broken, and it’s going to take a State Government transplant to fix it,” she said.
The report outlines that:
- Last years health budget was $380 in deficit [p24];
- NSW Health owed creditors $312 on top of that deficit, including $75.1 million that was overdue [p25];
- The State Labor Government listed unpaid bills as ‘in dispute’ because it “did not have enough funds to pay them” [p26];
- Trust funds were abused, with one area health service withdrawing $9.9 million in a single month, presumably to pay bills and wages [p69], and;
- The State Labor Government should adopt NSW Liberal/Nationals policy to automatically pay small businesses interest on bills that aren’t paid on time. [p25]
“This State Labor Government is simply financially irresponsible and reckless, and our hospitals are suffering as a result.
“A $380 million health budget deficit, more than $300 million in unpaid bills on top of that and donated money in trust funds being appropriated for recurrent expenditure instead of the hospital projects they were given to build – Labor’s reckless incompetence is jeopardising people’s faith in their local hospital.
“The dishonest use of trust fund money is a betrayal of the good people who donated money to fund local hospital projects – Labor has allowed that money to be used to pay their expanding army of spin doctors and bureaucrats.
“The State Labor Government even listed unpaid bills as ‘in dispute’ so they didn’t have to pay – the equivalent of telling small businesses ‘your cheque is in the mail’.
“The message for families from the Auditor-General today is clear: Labor is financially incompetent.
The Auditor-General stated today:
“From a financial point of view this is not a particularly good report card.”
“They are not paying their bills on time, they're not managing their budgets properly, they didn't get their annual statements in on time and they are using trust fund money for reasons they were not intended.”
“It would be fair to say there is considerable room for improvement.” (SMH online)
“One point from the Auditor-General’s report that is encouraging is his advice to the State Labor Government that they should adopt the NSW Liberal/Nationals policy of automatically paying interest to small businesses when their bills aren’t paid on time [p25].
“It’s unacceptable for the State Government to expect small business to wait months for bills to be paid - especially during these difficult times.
“Our mandatory code of practice will require public sector accounts with small business suppliers involving contracts of up to $1 million to be paid within 30 days.
“If the Health Department fails to pay a bill within 30 days, then small businesses will automatically have penalty interest added to their outstanding bill.
“Labor must better this pathetic performance because right now Health Minister John Della Bosca presides over a health system that is on financial life support,” Mrs Skinner said.