National approach needed to health funding

A House of Representatives committee has called for a national health agenda and an end to the ‘blame game’ between the states and the Commonwealth.

The Standing Committee on Health and Ageing released its report ‘The blame game: Report on the inquiry into health funding’. It advocates wide-ranging health funding reforms on issues such as a national health agenda, training and dental care.

Drawing on almost two years of hearings and 159 submissions, the report aims to set the scene for the next round of five-year public-hospital funding agreements between the Commonwealth and the states with 29 recommendations.

The report recommends a need for the roles and responsibilities of each level of government to be clarified, an overhaul of the Commonwealth’s funding agreement for public hospitals, a plan to train all our own health professionals by 2021 and the Commonwealth to give more to the states for public dental services and public hospitals.

The report also recommends more stringent public scrutiny of the performance of hospitals and doctors, including compulsory hospital reports on medical accidents.

The Australian Healthcare Association (AHA) has welcomed the report. It strongly supports the call from the Committee to end the buck passing and blame shifting between federal and state governments over health funding.