Friday 29 January 2010
PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION SAYS NSW HOSPITALS THE WORST: LABOR SPINS INSTEAD OF FIXING IT
Carmel Tebbutt’s attempt to spin the damning findings of the Productivity Commission report on health shows the problems in our public hospitals will not improve until there is a change of government in NSW, Shadow Minister for Health Jillian Skinner said today.
The Productivity Commission Report on Government Services 2010, found:
- Procedures involving the wrong patient or wrong body part doubled to 18;
- Cases of patients having instruments etc left inside them doubled to 19;
- Cases of patients getting the wrong medication leading to death increased by 466%, from 3 to 17;
- Sentinel events increased in NSW from 32 to 59;
- NSW employs fewer nurses per 100,000 people than Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and Northern Territory, and;
- NSW now employs fewer medical practitioners per 100,000 than the national average.
“This report is a damning indictment of the State Labor Government’s failed management of the NSW health system over the last 15 years,” Mrs Skinner said.
“Each of the last three annual Productivity Commission reports has been dismissed by Labor Health Ministers Reba Meagher, John Della Bosca and Carmel Tebbutt – is it any wonder the problems leading to these bad reports aren’t being fixed?
“Ms Tebbutt trots out the same tired old excuses that her predecessors have use but, like them, she has done nothing to deal with underlying causes.
“If she listened to the hardworking nurses and doctors she’d know the impact of her nurse redundancy program means there are fewer staff and those left are rushed off their feet and this is how mistakes occur.
“A NSW Liberals & Nationals Government will give doctors, nurses and local communities a much greater say in how their hospitals are run.
“We will abolish Labor’s failed Area Health Services and create smaller Health Districts with local boards that will be answerable to their community.
“A NSW Liberals & Nationals Government will deliver a health system that puts patients first and leads the nation, “ Mrs Skinner said.