Health Issues ...

This page provides an overview of some of the major health issues. There are numerous links to assist you move to specific pages for more details, or you can use the 'go' list above.

On this page you can view a summary of:

• What is happening in Hospitals:
  • Admissions to Hospital
  • Admissions to Government Hospitals
  • Admissions to Private Hospitals
  • Shortage of nurses
  • Public Hospital beds cut
  • Emergency Departments
  • Waiting Lists
• Health Budget
  • Recurrent
  • Infrastructure
    • Lowest share ever

What is happening in Hospitals ....

Since the Labor Government has been in office there has been a much bigger increase in admissions to private hospitals than to public hospitals ; only 32% of registered and enrolled nurses and midwives in NSW are choosing to work in the public health system and there are around 2,500 fewer beds in public hospitals ...

Admissions to Hospital ....

The State Government's health department annual reports show that between 1994-95 and 2008-09

• Total Admission to hospital rose by 42%
• Total Admissions toNSW Public Hospitals rose by 22%
• Total Admissions to Private Hospitals rose by 93%

Admissions to Government Hospitals ....

Admissions to Private Hospitals ....

Shortage of nurses....

... only 32% of the Registered Nurses and Enrolled nurses in NSW are choosing to work in our public hospital system according to the 2007-08 department of health annual report.

The government is advertising nursing vacancies on the NSW Health website, despite offering experienced front-line nurses voluntary redundancies. The figures below were downloaded on June 14th 2010 from NSW Health website: http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/nursing/employment/dohrs.asp

Note* RN, EN and other nursing positions being actively recruited.

Public hospital bed numbers cut ....

... hospital bed numbers have been cut by 2,599 since the Carr Government was elected in 1995.

Emergency Departments .....

Ask anyone what they regard as the most important aspect of health care and they'll tell you the ability to get emergency treatment when they need it.

Yet our Emergency Departments are failing to cope, many of them being gridlocked. Critically ill people are waiting longer than they should to be seen by doctors (or even being taken off Ambulance trolleys), they are having to wait in corridors, they can't be admitted to hospital wards because there aren't enough beds and sometimes it takes days for medical treatment.

There has been a marked deterioration in Emergency Department benchmarks (the measures the government uses to see how they are performing) since the LaborGovernment came to office, not because medical staff are not doing their best, but primarily because of a shortage of ward beds to receive patients that must be admitted to hospital. (see Emergency Departments for details)

Waiting Lists ....

Record numbers of people are waiting for elective treatment in our hospitals despite the Labor Government being elected in the first place on a promise to half them. And even worse, there are many more people on those lists who have been waiting for more than a year. (see Waiting Lists for details of metropolitan, regional and rural waiting lists and waiting times)

Health Budget ....

Recurrent spending .....

The NSW government again painted a rosy picture for NSW Health following release of it's 2010-11 budget on June 8th. But the reality is that although the budget increased by 6.8% this will largely be swallowed up by increased cost of salaries, goods and services.

Health expenses increased by 5.52% in 2009 according to the 2008-09 NSW Health Annual Report Three year comparison of key items of expenditure p 232. Applying a 5.52% increase to the operating expenses budget in 2009-10 and comparing it with the funds budgeted this year, it is evident that the extra money amounted to $217.579 million, a mere 1.43% increase.

And $189 million of this money has been provided from Canberra as part of the COAG reforms.  This money will enable the hospital system to operate for five and a half days.

Surprisingly, given Premier Keneally's claim she would focus on providing care for the most vulnerable, the two health programs in which funding was not fully spent in 2009-10 were Aboriginal Health Programs and Mental Health Programs.

The Aboriginal Health Budget was underspent by $4.6 million (5%). Factoring CPI, the 2010-11 Budget versus the 2009-10 Budget is actually a decrease of 0.25% or $205,000.  See the figures below which are from page 5-24 Budget Estimates 2010-11.

The Mental Health Budget was underspent by $15.5 million (1%).  See figures below from page 5-28 Budget Estimates 2010-11.

And this year's budget papers have failed to report important performance measures highlighted in last year's budget papers including:

1. Fall injuries (hospitalisations for people aged 65 years and over) - Forecast to be 2,334 for males and 3,173 for females the year.
2. Unplanned and unexpected hospital re‑admission within 28 days - Forecast to be 6.1% this year.
3. Emergency Admission Performance (% treated within 8 hours) - Forecast to be 75% this year.
4. Unplanned and unexpected hospital readmission within 28 days of separation - Forecast to be 6.1% this year.
5. Low birth weight babies (< 2,500g) - Forecast to be 11.5% for Aboriginals and 6% for non-Aboriginals this year.
6. Postnatal home visits (offered a visit within 2 weeks of birth) - Forecast to be 95% this year.
7. Age standardised mortality rate in females aged 50- 69 for breast cancer per 100,000 - Forecast to be 43% this year.

Investment in Infrastructure ....

Last year saw a record low in funding for health infrastructure projects, but despite this there was a 22 year blowout in infrastructure between 09/10 and 10/11 budget and a $77.123 million blowout in infrastructure between 09/10 and 10/11 budget.

And despite announcing the start of many hospital upgrades promised years ago, the amount of funding allocated to the projects this year is minimal.

For example:

The last time the NSW Liberal/Nationals were in government it was 11%.