Stalinist Area Health Service Administration Is A Failure

Victor P Taffa

Having experienced firsthand the Hospital System in New South Wales since 2007 it is clearly apparent that the Stalinist Area Health Service Administration is a failure and does nothing to advance the wellbeing of the patients.

Prior to the introduction of Medibank and Medicare hospitals in New South Wales and Queensland were administered by Hospital Boards that were accountable to the Health Minister and also responsible for financial control of the facility that the board managed.

When Area Health Service Administration came in hospitals were forced to obtain bandages from a centralised call centre and complete requests in triplicate. For example Dubbo Base District Hospital orders bandages through someone at Parramatta who then sends the request to the Minister for approval. This situation simply adds to the overall cost of running hospitals and deflects the attention of doctors and nurses in providing patient care.

Clinic 16, Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) made a complaint about myself and due to the wording of the Mental Health Act was able to admit me to Macquarie North Ryde Psychiatric Hospital easily because RNSH, Ryde, Macquarie Hospitals and Ryde Community Mental Health all fall within the same Area Health Service. A full account of my hospitalisation, mental illness, HIV, homosexuality, Inebriates Act and society stigma’s will be made upon my formal discharge from hospital.

With a Hospital Board structure it would not be as easy to lock people up in hospital as the reach of a hospital would be limited. As it stands now if a person does not like someone a complaint can be made and the Mental Health Act used to incarcerate a person unnecessarily.

Hospital Boards should be administered locally and financially accountable to State Parliament. A new Hospital Boards Act is required because as with the Transport Administration Amendment (Rail Trails) Bill 2009 that the New South Wales Minister for Transport sought to ram through the Parliament it would only take the stroke of a Ministerial pen to abolish Hospital Boards. An Act of Parliament will protect the integrity and accountability of Hospitals.

Hospital Boards are able to manage patient flow and bed requirements. Daily basics such as bandages would be more easily obtainable and cheaper to purchase as there would be less administrative hurdles to go through.

Hospital Boards would be able to set budget requirements and report to State Parliament annually which would be more reflective of actual needs. This would reduce the cost of running a hospital.

The Rudd Government has a desire to centralise hospital control through a new commission. All a new commission would do is to become an administrative nightmare and a financial burden on all taxpayers.

Currently Gosford, Ryde, RNSH, Macquarie Psychiatric and Ryde Community Mental Health to name but a few fall under the Northern Sydney Central Coast Area Health Service. Under a Hospital Board structure Gosford Hospital would have an independent board and Ryde Hospital Board would administer Ryde, Macquarie Psychiatric and Ryde Community Mental Health. RNSH would be administered by its own board.

The cost savings to New South Wales alone would be enormous under a Board structure. Better healthcare would follow and given the ageing of the population this cost overheads issue will continue to play havoc with Government Budget’s in the years ahead.

Hospital Board structures worked well in the past and the current arrangement of Area Health Service is not doing a thing to shorten hospital waiting lists or free up Emergency Departments.

While there is no disrespect intended at the Rudd Government with the hospital reforms that were announced, as someone who has been treated like a ‘number in the system’ it is clearly apparent that the reintroduction of financially accountable Hospital Boards is long overdue as the current arrangements are a failure.