More beds are not the cure
More beds are not the cure for Australia’s stressed public hospital system, according to the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA).
The AHHA was responding to the release of the AMA Public Hospital Report Card 2010 by the Australian Medical Association.
The AHHA is the peak national body representing public hospitals, area health services, community health centres and public aged care providers, including public dental services.
"AHHA agrees with the AMA that we need to do more to support Australia’s public hospital system. However, the evidence suggests that a focus on increasing bed numbers will not deliver the needed changes to ensure Australians will have access to high quality hospital care in the future,” Ms Prue Power, Executive Director, said today.
“A study by Associate Professor Ian Scott, recently published in the Australian Health Review, found that increasing bed numbers to meet the rising demand for hospital services was an inefficient and ultimately ineffective way of responding to Australians’ growing need for health care. In fact, the study found that by 2050, if current bed use trends persist, a 62% increase in hospital beds will be required to meet expected demand, at a cost almost equal to the entire current Australian healthcare budget.
“Clearly, this is an unsustainable strategy and the study recommended a number of more effective measures to reduce hospital demand, targeting both the hospital sector and the non-hospital sector. These include: outsourcing public hospital clinical services to the private sector, undertaking whole-of-hospital reform of care processes and patient flow that address both access and exit block, separating acute from elective beds and services, increasing rates of day-only or short stay admissions, and curtailing ineffective or marginally effective clinical interventions.
“In regards to the non-hospital sector, the study found that the biggest gains in reducing hospital demand will come from improved access to residential care, rehabilitation services, and domiciliary support. These measures should be the focus of additional funding rather than short-term reactive strategies to meet current demand for hospital services.
“Of course there will be a need in some cases for more beds. But before we invest heavily in increasing bed numbers across the board we need to focus more on changing our current models of care and preventing the current high rate of preventable hospital admissions,” Ms Power said.