Hopes $1.7B hospital boost flows to general practice

GP experts have cautiously welcomed a $1.7 billion boost to fund public hospitals across the nation, holding out hope the funding effects will trickle down to general practice.
 
The Federal Government announced on Wednesday it had struck a new deal with its state and territory counterparts to roll out the one-off payment, with differing pools of money going to each jurisdiction.
 
The extra money will see the Commonwealth’s contribution to state-run public hospitals increase by 12% in 2025–26, with hopes it will reduce the crippling pressure currently facing the healthcare
system.
 
Federal Health and Aged Care Minister Mark Butler said the funding comes at a time when the existing arrangements ‘simply aren’t fit for purpose’.
 
‘The states operate the public hospitals, but the Commonwealth must always be a reliable partner to ensure that core Medicare principle is always able to be enjoyed by every single Australian,’ he said.
 
‘Under existing arrangements, the Commonwealth share of public hospital funding is dropping and without intervention would drop substantially below 40% of the total hospital budget of our system.’

But Dr Michael Bonning, a member of the RACGP Expert Committee – Funding and Health System Reform, said he hopes to see this funding making changes on the ground, because ‘the backlog we’re continuing to see over time is structural’.
 
‘More money into the public hospital system helps to alleviate some of the challenges we face as GPs, and that is the long-term management of patients who are on waiting lists,’ he told newsGP.
 
‘What we are getting is increasing complexity presentations at a whole community level, and the majority of that complexity is being managed by GPs, and the access to specialist support through hospitals has, over time, broadly diminished.
 
‘We want to make sure the funding is used as much as possible to deliver effective patient care, to reduce waiting lists, to get people into specialist outpatient appointments, to ensure all of these things that can be done now.’
 
Through the extra funding, the Northern Territory will see the most significant boost, with a 30% jump.
 
The Australian Capital Territory will see 16% extra, 15% in South Australia, 14% in Tasmania, 12% in Victoria and Queensland, and 11% in New South Wales and Western Australia.
 
But in response, Dr Bonning said ‘we’re at a point where we need to endow the system with more funding to just manage the day to day’.
 
‘I’m a leading proponent of more funding to general practice, but I think you can do both,’ he said.
 
‘This contribution as a one-off to the hospital system is to alleviate what is critical system pressures across the country, but with an expectation that the future National Health Reform Agreements from next year, will actually bed in more funding.
 
‘There is very little upwards capacity in the system anymore – what we used to consider unusual surge activity is now business as usual, and because of that … we realise that our system is quite limited in its ability to accept even more demand.’
 
Log in below to join the conversation.

funding hospitals Medicare