Page 1634 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 18 May 1994
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Private hospitals have really lifted their game in the area of day surgery as well, and now over 40 per cent of all their operations are performed on a same-day basis. Another indication of the complexity of conditions being treated by private hospitals is the fact that in 1989 there were only 30 approved intensive care units in private hospitals and that now there are 51 units. This represents 16 per cent of all private hospitals and compares with the public sector, where only 14 per cent of hospitals have intensive care units. Of course, we would all be aware that John James has an ICU. It is interesting to note that 64 private hospitals also have high dependency care units. Accident and emergency treatment was something that certainly was not the province of private hospitals in the early 1980s, but now 45 private hospitals actually have accident and emergency services.
Other specialist services which have for some time been perceived to be the sole domain of the public sector are now provided by the private sector through eight cardiac surgery units, eight renal dialysis units, eight oncology units, 13 alcohol and drug units and, interestingly, nine hospice and palliative care units. The new Health Minister might look at the possibility of contracting out the running of the proposed hospice in the ACT to ensure that we do not end up with another bottomless pit in the ACT health budget.
It is interesting, too, to look at the cost of private health care. This is something that has often been debated in this place, definitely without proper facts. It is perceived generally that the cost of private hospital care is somehow very high. Possibly that is because the cost of treating public patients in public hospitals is hidden from the user. Some of that cost is paid for by the Medicare levy, but the vast majority comes from general taxation. The average cost per occupied bed day in private hospitals in Australia in 1992 was $400. In New South Wales public hospitals during that same year the cost was $447. So in New South Wales the cost per bed day in a private hospital was actually lower than the cost in a public hospital. In the ACT the situation is even worse. As we know, the average cost per bed day at Woden Valley Hospital is in excess of $600.
Mr De Domenico: How much?
MRS CARNELL: It is $600 per occupied bed day. These statistics do not come from the private sector. These statistics actually come from the national health strategy issues paper No. 2 called "Health Services in Australia: Access and Financing", which provided an analysis of cost comparison data between public and private hospitals.
Mr Kaine: I bet Mr Berry does not believe those figures.
MRS CARNELL: I am sure he does not. The analysis made adjustments to compensate for the different accounting methods in both sectors, and also for services provided in only one sector, in order to establish a basis for comparison. The results show that private hospital costs are lower than those incurred in public hospitals. The analysis also indicated that the relative cost efficiency in private hospitals was greater than that in public hospitals. This is despite the adverse effect, of course, that lower occupancy rates and shorter lengths of stay cause in private hospitals. We could go into the reasons for that, but I do not think that is terribly appropriate here.
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