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| Howard takes healthy interest in hospitals | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 8 2009, 12:06 PM (62 Views) | |
| Warren | Feb 8 2009, 12:06 PM Post #1 |
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Howard takes healthy interest in hospitals By Piers Akerman August 05, 2007 12:00am Article from: The Sunday Telegraph THE Federal Government's decision to fund Devonport's Mersey Hospital created a crisis for Tasmania's Lennon Government, Federal Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd and local bureaucrats. But the people of Devonport, the Australian Medical Association and the Australian Health Care Reform Alliance could not have been happier. Both Premier Paul Lennon's Labor Government - which planned to downgrade the hospital to provide only GP care and day-surgery - and federal ALP leader Kevin Rudd were caught asleep at the wheel. But people across Australia, who have seen their state-run health services disintegrate as state and territory Labor governments divert money from hands-on health providers to the pockets of swollen and inefficient bureaucracies, can only hope that the Federal Government will find funds for cash-strapped local hospitals in their area. Curiously, none of the premiers mentioned the concerns of the 70,000 people in the hospital's catchment area, but only the possibility that Prime Minister John Howard might gain a political advantage from agreeing to fund a hospital in the marginal federal seat of Braddon. Queensland's Peter Beattie labelled the plan "crafty, sneaky", NSW Premier Morris Iemma said it was "tricky nonsense", Victorian Premier John Brumby said "the dead hand of Canberra" controlling state hospitals would be bad for the nation and South Australian Health Minister John Hill said it was "just playing politics". The Tasmanian Health Department secretary, Peter Hoult, complained that the announcement had been very disruptive to planning work at the hospital. Probably not as disruptive as the Tasmanian Government's planned downgrading would have been, but that didn't seem to occur to him. The level of hysteria peaked with Professor Jeff Richardson, an architect of the planned hospital cutbacks, who predicted that the plan to rescue Mersey hospital "will also succeed in killing a lot of Tasmanians". He didn't say who the epidemic would strike, but it wouldn't surprise if a few bureaucrats were shocked to death by their exposure to genuine initiative. Mainlanders who have lost health services will sympathise with Tasmanians, who felt they were victims to local Health Minister Lara Giddings's botched Future Health plan. Certainly, health professionals in South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland, NSW and other parts of Tasmania also expressed an interest in having Federal Government intervention to solve problems neglected by their state medical services. Rudd, demonstrating the dynamism which once took him to the top of Queensland's bureaucracy, assumed his habitual fence-straddling position and failed to offer leadership, even declining to guarantee that a Labor government would honour the Coalition plan to fund the hospital. Curiously, none of this angst was displayed three years ago when tiny Walwa Bush Nursing Hospital on the Victorian-NSW border was facing extinction. Serving 700 residents, Walwa became the focus of an extraordinary campaign, largely conducted by the ABC, highlighting the plight of Dora Peacock, 83, a cancer patient, who wished to live out her days at the hospital. ABC programs such as Australian Story, Life Matters, Saturday Extra, The World Today and national and local news broadcasts highlighted the community hospital's plight. The hospital's most famous patient, the mother of senior ABC correspondent Matt Peacock, was able to realise her wish and remained at the hospital until her death. Contributions by federal and state governments and a generous donation by millionaire Melbourne businessman Ron Walker, a former treasurer of the federal Liberal Party whose wife, Barbara, had a personal brush with cancer - as well as the devotion of a team of palliative care nurses, who pledged to remain with her - ensured she was not moved. Now called Walwa Bush Nursing Centre, it no longer has beds, but links with the local medical practice provide 24-hour emergency care and out-patient care. Despite the torrent of tax funds the states get from GST revenue, the health systems - like other state services - have little to show for their funding. On this, Rudd has done nothing but suggest the Federal Government remove its system of tied grants, which at least ensure oversight on state spending. As for better hospital care, the evidence suggests it might be best to live in a marginal electorate, or to have an ABC reporter in the family. |
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5:53 PM Jul 13