Published on February 23, 2005 at 8:49 AM
Commitments by both major parties to restore WA's ailing health system are meaningless in the absence of budget adjustments to deliver core promises, the Australian Medical Association (WA) said yesterday.
"The current bidding war to capture vital votes in next Saturday's poll has little credibility if promises are not factored into future budgets," said association President Dr Paul Skerritt.
"Both parties need to submit revised budgets showing how they are going to fund all these initiatives, otherwise the community has every reason to be sceptical about whether health services are going to improve."
Dr Skerritt said the Government's Reid Review recommended an annual increase in funding of 6.5 per cent to address daily operational needs and recurrent growth separate from the capital works program.
"Unfortunately, current budget figures for health show that cash appropriations for the next few years drop from 5.95 per cent to 5.13 per cent to 4.97 per cent - well below the level advocated by Reid," he said.
"Taking into account the hundreds of extra beds and nurses being promised - and bringing forward the massive capital works required to restore or replace deteriorating buildings - revised budgets need to be detailed.
"West Australians see health as the major issue in this election and the AMA (WA) will closely monitor both parties over the next few days to see whether they can put their money where their mouth is.
"The community needs to know which party has the financial bona fides to deliver the best quality healthcare."
http://www.amawa.com.au/