Dana Wortley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the National Health and Hospitals Network Bill 2010, which represents a very important step towards improving health care and its delivery in Australia. This bill will establish a permanent Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. The establishment of the commission as a new, independent statutory body will form an integral part of the new governance structure for national health reform between the Commonwealth and the states. The Gillard government’s national health reform will provide for the establishment of three new governance agencies in total: the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority, the National Performance Authority and, as already mentioned, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.

An independent Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care is a positive step forward in providing better health and better hospitals for all Australians. The new commission is indicative of the Gillard government’s determination to put quality and safety at the top of the agenda when it comes to quality health service delivery to all communities. The commission will be responsible for setting and monitoring the uptake and impact of adopting national clinical standards and working with clinicians to identify best practice clinical care. This will help to ensure the quality and appropriateness of services being delivered in specific healthcare settings. Currently, the commission is in operation as a temporary body, and by making this commission a permanent, independent body, we formalise our commitment to ensure the calibre of our health system and appropriate safeguards.

As the Minister for Health and Ageing has stated, the government’s health reforms are the most significant changes to the nation’s health and hospitals system since the introduction of Medicare. The permanent commission forms part of the national health reform between the Commonwealth and the states. The National Health and Hospitals Network Bill expands the function of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care as an independent Commonwealth authority. The commission will develop the performance and accountability framework of national health reform, and it will be governed by a board which will be responsible for setting the quality and standards of care.

The commission will be dedicated to improving safety in health care and our hospitals. As the minister stated last year, statistics show that one in 30 adults contract an infection while in hospital and 12,000 of these are severe hospital-acquired bloodstream infections. The terrible reality is that up to a quarter of these patients will die. This means that the number of patients who die from hospital acquired infections is approximately double the number of deaths on our roads. A national body dedicated to not only monitoring but improving safety and quality in health care will help address this problem and ensure better health outcomes from our hospitals. The harm caused by preventable errors and healthcare costs resulting from unnecessary or ineffective treatment will also be reduced and this will have a positive impact on community trust. The commission will provide advice to Commonwealth, state and territory health ministers about which standards are suitable for implementation as national clinical standards.

The government’s vision of national health reform will ensure services are better connected and coordinated. It will establish the local hospital network, which can be more responsive to local communities. The local hospital network will be responsible for implementing relevant national clinical standards once they are agreed upon by the Commonwealth, states and territories. The network will improve access to public hospital services, thereby healing the neglect from the Howard government, which callously ripped a billion dollars out of the system. Improved performance and less waste will be encouraged and rewarded through new funding arrangements. The Gillard government will invest $750 million so that emergency patients are guaranteed to be treated, admitted or referred within four hours where this is clinically appropriate. A further $800 million for elective surgery will speed up delivery and provide a guarantee that many patients, where clinically recommended, will not face excessive waiting times.

As a Labor government we strongly believe that all Australians have a right to high-quality health services. We believe a nationally consistent approach to the quality and safety of health care across Australia as part of national health reform is essential. We are working to ensure that we not only have an inspired national health reform agenda but that we make this vision a reality. Reforms are to be delivered in six key areas, including expanding hospital capacity as well as regional cancer centres, boosting new GP training places and providing increased funding to upgrade general practices. The government’s national health reform will ensure future generations of Australians enjoy world-class, universally accessible health care. The key element of this is the provision of $35.2 million in Commonwealth funding over four years to jointly fund, with the states and territories, the continuation and expansion of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.

Our track record on increased funding and necessary reform, strategically staged since 2008, really does speak for itself and we will continue the much-needed process of improvement in the current term. Even before the historic COAG agreement of February, significant progress had been achieved by the Labor government in crucial areas. Hospital funding has been increased by more than 50 per cent. On-time elective surgery has been provided to a record number of Australians. In fact, more than 76,000 elective surgery procedures have been performed in the past two years. To alleviate skills shortages resulting from the Howard years of short-sightedness and neglect, we are doubling the number of GP training places to 1,200 a year by 2014. In addition, we are funding the training of 1,000 new nurses each year.

In light of population and demographic projections, the government has established the Health and Hospitals Fund to make long-term, intergenerational investments in our national health infrastructure. This fund has invested $3.2 billion in 32 projects around the country. We recognise that the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is completely unacceptable. To date, we have invested $1.6 billion in an Indigenous health national partnership to close that gap. The Medicare Teen Dental Plan has delivered more than a million dental check-ups to teenagers. Aged-care places have increased by more than 10,000. This figure includes 838 new transitional care places to help up to 6,285 older Australians leave hospital sooner each year, freeing up hospital staff, beds and services.

The Labor government is committed to improved cancer research, treatment and prevention through major, specifically targeted investments. The government has already invested over $2.3 billion in fighting this terrible illness that affects thousands of Australian families each year. This sum includes: providing $526 million in infrastructure funding to build two integrated cancer centres in Sydney and Melbourne, which will provide state-of-the-art cancer treatment combined with cutting-edge research; establishing, as part of a $560 million investment, a network of 20 new and enhanced regional cancer centres across Australia to provide access to vital cancer services in closer proximity to those requiring treatment, including chemotherapy and radiotherapy; upgrading BreastScreen Australia’s national network to 21st century digital mammography equipment; and investing $70 million to expand the Garvan St Vincent’s Cancer Centre in Sydney. The Garvan Institute is renowned world-wide for its research excellence in cancer care. In addition, the government is supporting a children’s cancer centre in my own home city of Adelaide, and up to two dedicated prostate cancer research centres in Brisbane and Melbourne. It has also allocated the McGrath Foundation funding totalling $12 million to train, recruit and employ 44 breast cancer nurses, and provided financial support for women who require external breast prostheses as a result of breast cancer.

The successful passage of this bill will ensure the permanent commission will be established. Meanwhile the Gillard government remains committed to reducing the misallocation of funds and the waste and inefficiencies which were allowed to flourish under the Howard government. The bottom line is that individuals, families and communities want better hospitals. We all want better hospitals, and the way to achieve this is through national health reform. Unlike the opposition we are not prepared to sit on our hands and adopt a no-reform model which allows deteriorating care and increasing costs. It is crucial that we maintain the momentum for health reform and continue to work towards the best possible outcomes for all consumers of health and hospital services and for all stakeholders concerned with our nation’s health. I commend the bill to the Senate.