SA health system criticised
Outgoing South Australian Health Minister, John Hill, has criticised the state’s health system, claiming a Canadian model should be adopted in Australia to stop “spending blowouts” due to the ageing population.
Outgoing South Australian Health Minister, John Hill, has criticised the state’s health system, claiming a Canadian model should be adopted in Australia to stop “spending blowouts” due to the ageing population.
Mr Hill slammed the state’s health system, arguing it keeps dying people alive “unnecessarily” and also aired his defiance against the prospect of further federal control of the state’s health system.
“A lot of people go through the process of dying in intensive care units,” he told AAP. “Well, that’s not the way people should be dying. Death is a natural process. When it’s happening, it should be allowed to take its own course.
“But the system kicks in because it’s got this view that it should do everything at every opportunity. Now if some people want to keep trying it, that’s fine. They should be allowed to, but people who want to have a natural, quiet end should be allowed to do it,” he said.
Mr Hill said health systems across the country should be overhauled – with Canberra providing all funds and resources while the states manage hospitals and other facilities – but that the commonwealth should never have control of individual hospitals.
“I think it would be a disaster if the federal government took over the running of hospitals,” he said.
Mr Hill is quitting politics at the next election, after more than 25 years in parliament. He has served as SA Health Minister since 2005.
The Canadian health system is entirely federal funded, with individual provinces tasked with managing their individual systems.
“So, if I were health minister in one of the Canadian provinces … all of the GPs, all of the doctors, all of the hospitals, all of the nursing homes would all be subject to the control of the individual state,” Mr Hill said.
“So the state can put resources where they’re most effective. Where we have problems in Australia is that the commonwealth funds a bit, the state funds a bit and it’s very difficult to move resources around.”
