COAG Reform Council

Media Release

Mixed results for COAG in hospital care

8 June 2011

Today’s report on COAG’s health agreement shows governments have achieved mixed results in improving hospital care for all Australians.

Speaking at the launch of the National Healthcare Agreement: Performance report for 2009–10, COAG Reform Council Chairman, Mr Paul McClintock AO, reaffirmed the importance of this COAG agreement.

“Better healthcare and a strong and sustainable health system is critical to every Australian. That’s why progress under the National Healthcare Agreement is so important,” Mr McClintock said.

“This is our second year of reporting on this agreement and the council is pleased to see there has been some progress. But there are still areas that need attention.”

“For example, we found that elective surgery waiting times are not improving consistently across the country, particularly for those waiting the longest.

“But we are pleased to see that emergency department waiting times have improved, meaning a higher proportion of patients were treated within national benchmarks.”

The report’s findings for the rest of the health sector highlight some areas for improvement, particularly the affordability of healthcare. 

“We are concerned by the number of Australians who can’t afford to visit a doctor or buy their prescription medicine when they need to,” Mr McClintock said.

However, the report found that there were promising results in the area of preventative health.

The council has also released reports today on National Agreements in Affordable Housing, Disability, and Indigenous Reform.

In releasing these reports, the council has asked COAG to consider ways to improve the process for timely responses to all of its reports.

There are currently eight council reports from 2010 which COAG has not yet responded to.

“This backlog means the recommendations we made in last year’s National Agreement reports remain unresolved, even after the council has today released its 2011 reports,” Mr McClintock said.

“The council is urging COAG to provide timely responses so we can ensure continual improvement in performance reporting.”

Key health findings

  • Elective surgery waiting times at the 90th percentile (representing the number of days within which 90 per cent of patients were admitted) rose nationally. This was driven by a large increase in NSW where around one third of Australia’s elective surgeries take place, and a smaller increase in Queensland—all other States and Territories improved these waiting times.
  • Nationally, emergency department waiting times improved in 2009–10. NSW had the highest rate of patients seen within national benchmarks, followed by Victoria.
  • Financial barriers caused one million Australians to defer seeing a GP, more than half a million to defer seeing a specialist, and more than one million people to defer buying prescribed medication.
  • In the area of preventative health, the national rate of child immunisation increased from 2009 to 2010. The rate increased in all States and Territories, with the largest increase in Tasmania.

Media contacts: Megan Staunton, 02 9329 7368, 0409 405 152