The Federal AMA President has called out claims of record spending on health in this year’s Federal Budget as masking a failure to meaningfully tackle the stresses in our health system.
“The Medicare and hospital funding in tonight’s Budget amounts to little more than usual recurrent spending and planned growth, not the new injection of funds our health system desperately needs,” AMA President Dr Omar Khorshid said. While the Federal Budget acknowledged the Government’s Ten-Year Plan for Primary Care, there was a distinct lack of funding for the implementation of the plan.
The AMA 2022-23 Pre-Budget Submission outlines the changes required to strengthen primary health care, private healthcare and public hospitals. This fully costed submission calls for investments in our GP workforce including a focus on voluntary patient enrolment (VPE), workforce incentive programs (WIP), funding for longer consultations, greater access to GP after-hours care, and wound care for targeted conditions.
“The next Government will need to act. The major parties are on notice we will be pushing this case all the way to polling day because Australians are clearly saying they want a focus on healthcare, and they expect a health system which is able to meet their family and community’s needs,” Dr Khorshid said.
