Jillian Skinner MPMember for North Shore |
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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 ....
There has been a much bigger increase in admissions to private hospitals than to public hospitals since the Labor Government has been in office; only 38% of registered and enrolled nurses in NSW are choosing to work in the public health system; there are around 2,000 fewer beds in public hospitals ...
The State Government's health department annual reports show that between 1994-95 and 2005-06:
Admissions to public hospitals increase marginally while private hospital admissions nearly double |
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| 1994-95 | 1995-96 | 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-00 | |
| Total Admissions NSW Public Hospitals | 1,273,963 | 1,327,132 | 1,315,591 | 1,346,041 | 1,347,774 | 1,312,977 |
| Total Admissions Private Hospitals | 483,579 | 503,527 | NA | 560,211 | 582,916 | 614,691 |
| Total Admissions (Public + Private) | 1,757,542 | 1,830,659 | NA | 1,906,252 | 1,930,690 | 1,927,668 |
| % of all admissions using private hospitals | 27.5% | 27.5% | NA | 29.4% | 30.2% | 31.9% |
| Source: NSW Health Annual Reports Table "Key Performance Indicators For NSW Public Hospital Services" and "Private Hospital Activity Levels" | ||||||
Admissions to public hospitals increase marginally while private hospital admissions nearly double |
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| 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | Change since 94-95 |
% change |
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| Total Admissions NSW Public Hospitals | 1,320,415 | 1,323,403 | 1,347,625 | 1,364,453 | 1,415,422 | 1,481,632 | 1,523,369 | 249,406 | 19.6% |
| Total Admissions Private Hospitals | 660,513 | 712,444 | 728,612 | 750,506 | 785,269 | 805,013 | 821,963 | 338,384 | 70.0% |
| Total Admissions (Public + Private) | 1,980,928 | 2,035,847 | 2,076,237 | 2,114,959 | 2,200,691 | 2,286,645 | 2,345,332 | 587,790 | 33.4% |
| % of all admissions using private hospitals | 33.3% | 35.0% | 35.1% | 35.5% | 35.7% | 35.2% | 35% | 7.5% | 27.4% |
| Source: NSW Health Annual Reports Table "Key Performance Indicators For NSW Public Hospital Services" and "Private Hospital Activity Levels" | |||||||||
Admissions to Government Hospitals ....
Admissions to Private Hospitals ....
... only 38% of the Registered Nurses and Enrolled nurses in NSW are choosing to work in our public hospital system according to the 2005-06 department of health annual report.
| Number of Nurses in NSW | 2006-07 |
| Nurses – Enrolled | 17,084 |
| Nurses – Registered | 83,425 |
| Total Nurses in NSW | 100,509 |
| Employed in the NSW Public Health System | 38,101 |
| % of Nurses in NSW employed in the NSW Public Health System | 38% |
| Source: NSW Health Annual Report 06-07 pages 232 and 243 | |
And there has been little variation in the number of nursing vacancies advertised on the NSW Health website: http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/nursing/dohrs.html.
| Nurse vacancies being recruited in March 2007 | |
| Area Health Service | Total |
| Children's Hospital at Westmead | 7.8 |
| Justice Health | 12.7 |
| Sydney South West | 187.9 |
| South Eastern Sydney/Illawarra | 184.6 |
| Sydney West | 85.5 |
| Northern Sydney/Central Coast | 150.6 |
| Metro AHS | 629.1 |
| Hunter/New England | 97.1 |
| North Coast | 87.5 |
| Greater Southern | 122.1 |
| Greater Western | 142.1 |
| Rural Total | 449 |
| STATE TOTAL | 1,078 |
Public hospital bed numbers cut ....
... hospital bed numbers have been cut by 2,347 since the Carr Government was elected in 1995.
Average Available Beds in NSW Public Hospitals |
|
Year |
No. |
| 88/89 (first year of Coalition Government) [Source: NSW Health annual report1989] | 20,867 |
| 94-95 | 23,910 |
| Change 1988-98 to 1994-95 (Carr Government elected) | 3,043 |
| 95-96 | 23,536 |
| 96-97 | 22,496 |
| 97-98 | 21,965 |
| 98-99 | 21,222 |
| 99-00 | 21,513 |
| 00-01 | 20,044 |
| 01-02 | 19,976 |
| 02-03* | 19,739 |
| 03-04* | 20,087 |
| 04-05* | 20,808 |
| 05-06* | 21,563 |
| 06-07* | 22,050 |
| Change 94-95 to 06-07 | -1,860 |
| Source:1994-95 to 2000-01 figs from NSW Health annual report 2001 page 93; 2001-02 to 2005-06 figs from 2007 annual report page 242 | |
| ** cots and bassinettes were included from 1 July 2002. There are an estimated 1,000 cots and they have been subtracted from this data from this date to enable comparison. | |
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)
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)
Promoting good health &preventing ill health
Labor provides less public health funding per person than any other state
It has been suggested that 'to construct a healthy future, governments must achieve a more sensible balance' between funding for treatment of illness and for promotion of good health.
No-where is this more true than in NSW where there is a desperate need to correct the imbalance of health expenditure away from paying only for procedures and not paying to prevent people from getting sick or injured in the first instance.
From 1999-00 to 2005-06 NSW has outlaid the lowest total government expenditure on public health activities as a proportion of total recurrent health expenditure of all Australian states. In 2005-06 NSW spent just 2.37% of government expenditure from government funding sources on public health activities as a proportion of total recurrent health expenditure, compared to the Australian average of 2.66%
The Public Health Forum, chaired by Professor Stephen Leeder, was established by the NSW Government in June 2002 to advocate on behalf of public health. After a burst of initial enthusiasm, it appears the government has now lost interest as there is no reference to the Forum in health reports, on its website or in any speeches or press releases issued by the Minister.