Della Bosca's Reasoning Is Hardly Healthy

Newcastle Herald

Monday December 8, 2008

Lee Rhiannon

All I want for Christmas is a working hospital, writes Lee Rhiannon.

THIS is not the season for getting sick. That's the Christmas message coming from NSW Health Minister John Della Bosca.

In Parliament last week the health minister promised me that "patient care and safety will not be compromised" during this period. But this is no guarantee that some hospitals will not be left without doctors over Christmas and New Year as happened last year.

Kurri Kurri was one of seven hospitals across NSW where nurses kept the hospitals open during the holiday period, because locums could not be found to fill in for doctors on annual leave.

During emergencies in some of these hospitals, nurses were forced to phone Sydney doctors for help, a situation not fair for nurses or the community. Some doctors who stayed on in this period reported feeling almost at breaking point.

These bad news stories highlight the health funding crisis that is distorting the delivery of quality health care.

The Government, in trying to manage the health budget blow-out, has now chosen to increase the usual end-of-year closure period for elective surgery from a couple of weeks to up to eight weeks in some hospitals. This is beginning to look less like a short holiday and more like long-service leave.

People on elective surgery lists are already waiting far too long for operations. The lengthening closure dates will only compound the delay.

Elective surgery is not like cosmetic surgery. It can include essential hip replacements, heart surgery and cataract surgery.

The health minister, in trying to justify this shutdown of elective surgery, fell back on the lame excuse that the closure allows hospitals to undertake maintenance tasks. He would bring himself more credit if he admitted up front that this is a money-saving exercise.

Byron District and Ballina District are two of the hospitals that have little choice but to shut their doors to elective surgery for seven weeks. A few major hospitals will handle emergency surgery in this period.

These changes come on top of plans by the North Coast Area Health Service to cut 400 full-time nursing and cleaning jobs in order to save to save $200 million over the next four years.

Even though the Government has acknowledged the holiday season as one of the busiest for public hospitals, particularly in coastal communities, it still has not found the resources to meet demand.

Mr Della Bosca has failed to recognise the urgency of the situation. He needs to act now, not wait until hospitals are closing services or operating without doctors and specialists.

Families and holidaymakers may have to cross their fingers that they do not need their local public hospital during the holiday period.

According to recent figures 5.4 per cent of patients are waiting longer than 365 days for elective surgery in NSW. Some of the 58,000 patients now on the surgical waiting list may now be waiting a little longer for their Christmas present.

Lee Rhiannon is a Greens member of State Parliament and health spokewoman.