Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator Ludwig, and relates to the importance of ongoing reform across the healthcare system. Can the minister inform the Senate of the government’s commitment to the delivery of national health and hospital reform?

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Carol Brown for her question and I note her continuing interest in health and hospital reform. When it comes to delivering health and hospital reform, this government has runs on the board. I will first address and update the Senate on what this government is doing in order to make health care more accessible to our local communities. The government is committed to training 6,000 extra doctors over 10 years and up to 12,000 more undergraduate students in clinical settings, and we are also establishing 4,600 extra nurses in GP superclinics. The purpose of these commitments to healthcare reform is to get the healthcare system working for local communities, ensuring that it is easy to see and contact a doctor when one is needed. The government will continue to deliver on ways to connect Australians to specialists and after-hours GPs. Accessibility to GPs at any hour of the day when they are needed will be increased with the introduction of 495,000 telehealth consultations.

In our hospitals, the government is also working to bring reform to a system that was neglected by inaction over the long Howard years, overseen by the then Minister for Health and Ageing, Mr Tony Abbott. The Gillard government is delivering new projects designed to boost performance of elective surgery and emergency departments. This includes building new operating theatres and increasing the number of emergency room beds. For hospitals to treat patients in clinically recommended times, the government will be providing rewards. Further, the government is funding 1,300 extra subacute beds, including palliative, rehabilitation and mental health beds in our health and hospital system. These reforms will ensure our hospitals can have the resources they need to keep delivering better health care throughout Australia. (Time expired)

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister inform the Senate of the action that the government is taking to bring health and hospital reform right across Australia? I ask particularly for a focus on the programs and strategies the government is utilising in rural and regional Australia.

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This government is committed to seeing that health and hospital reform in our rural and regional communities is delivered. To ensure that people in all Australian cities and towns have access to local doctors and health care, the government is committed to providing incentives to health professionals who choose to work in our rural and regional communities. This government’s $134.4 million rural health workforce strategy is designed to encourage doctors to work in some of the most isolated rural communities and, of course, to keep them there. As a result of this strategy, there are around 500 newly eligible communities and 2,400 doctors being supported to provide invaluable health care in rural and regional communities. It does not end there. The government has demonstrated its determination to provide for rural and regional Australian health systems by funding— (Time expired)

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, my further supplementary question is regarding the use of electronic health records. Can the minister provide to the Senate an update on the role of e-health within health and hospital reform and also note any impediments to these reforms?

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government is determined to include e-health solutions in national health and hospital reforms and we expect the opposition to come on board. The government is determined to introduce electronic health records to save time and money in healthcare systems and reduce medical errors. Right now, 190,000 admissions each year are caused by medical errors. By introducing electronic health records to our health and hospital system, those errors can be reduced.

The Liberals must think that medical errors are acceptable. They opposed our e-health reform at the recent election and now continue this base political opposition to good reform. Having nationally accessible personal healthcare records that work to assist the patients, physicians and wider system simply makes sense. I am not surprised, though, that the Liberals oppose e-health. Their party is led by a former health minister. (Time expired)