Page 784 - Week 02 - Thursday, 25 February 2010
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throughput in the last year of the Liberal government. And I wonder why. Of course, we will do that work, just for the information of the Liberal Party as much as anything, so that they do understand the implications of their policies and the decisions they took. But it is worth again reflecting on that, to look at what the throughput was, to get a cost-weighted separation at the Canberra Hospital, say, in 2001 under the Liberal Party and to look at the throughput today and the cost-weighted separation today relative to that in 2001.
What did the Productivity Commission tell us about the overall level of expenditure in health in 2001 under the Liberals? It was 130 per cent—30 per cent above the national average. That is what the Liberal Party sat on. This is what one must focus on in any comparative analysis on health between the performance of the opposition when in government and the performance over the last eight years: a cut of 114 beds and a cost-weighted separation that was supported by a level of expenditure at 30 per cent above the national average in 2001, as against today. We have seen an increase, since coming to government, of 255 beds, making up the 114 that the Liberal Party closed; and, stunningly, whilst increasing the number of public hospital beds by 255, a reduction in the cost-weighted separation, a reduction in expenditure; efficiencies that reduced the overall level of expenditure against national benchmarks from 130 per cent, or 30 per cent above the national average, to 106.6 per cent now, 6.6 per cent above the national average.
That is, in anybody’s language and under any interpretation, an enormous achievement by this government—that we have created efficiencies worth 24 per cent in our time in government while maintaining the best healthcare outcomes in Australia; while planning for the future, achieving efficiencies, adding service upon service, increasing dramatically the number of specialties available and maintaining fantastic service for the people of New South Wales from the region—26 per cent of all occasions serviced the region, not residents of the ACT—while doing all of this, increasing dramatically the level of service, the quality of service, the number of specialists, the range of services both within the public hospital system and within the community, and doing it while continually reducing the overall cost burden and increasing efficiency. And it is vital that we do that because of the change in demographic.
This is a government and a party with a view to the future, the capacity to grasp any issues that we face and the determination to meet the challenges of the future. The fastest ageing population, all the demographic work and the assessment of health needs over this coming decade indicate to us, show us clearly, that, if we do not take the dramatic action that we have forecast, we have no capacity to meet the healthcare needs of this community without the major investments, the changes, the efficiencies and new technologies which we are pursuing as a government, which will be a hallmark of this government’s success in the delivery of healthcare—and doing it, of course, in the face of enormous opposition.
One of the most singularly significant issues in terms of the capacity to continue to deliver efficiencies is, of course, an integrated system across both public hospitals—an issue, of course, that was simply sunk in our first effort to produce the best outcome in terms of an integrated system, the purchase of Calvary hospital—actually
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