Health financing and governance reforms agreed by federal, state and territory governments were never likely to see artificial emergency waiting times met, according to the nation's largest hospital group.
With the National Health Performance Authority releasing emergency department waiting time data for 2011-12 today, Catholic Health Australia (CHA) said penalties that withhold funds from states who don't achieve targets will only make the problem worse.
Catholic Health Australia has applauded Health Minister Tanya Plibersek's announcement in Perth this morning that agreement has been reached between the Commonwealth and the Western Australia Government to provide funding for more than 30 medical internships in private hospitals to cater for a record number of medical graduates.
That announcement has been followed by more encouraging news of agreements being reached with the governments of the ACT, Northern Territory and Queensland.
When she trained as a Sister of Mercy in Ireland, Sr Angela Mary Doyle was preparing for a life of teaching. After arriving in Australia and being thrust into a role in health care, though, her path changed – and took her to meetings with royalty and religious and civic leaders.
Her enduring contribution to the Catholic health and aged care community in Australia was on Tuesday night recognised with her announcement as the third recipient of the Sr Maria Cunningham Lifetime Contribution Award at the Catholic Health Australia awards dinner.
Catholic Health Australia has confirmed that Catholic public and private hospitals can train up to 25 per cent of the medical graduates still looking for internship places for next year.
The Federal Government has committed to funding up to $10 million for private hospitals to take 100 medical interns in 2013, with the states being asked to fund the remaining places. Estimates of the existing shortfall range from 180 to 235 places.
Drawing upon Scripture, the wisdom of hundreds of years of Catholic Social Teaching and the writings of Church leaders, Catholic Health Australia yesterday launched a new resource it hopes will help provide a framework in which Catholic individuals and organisations can reach decisions.
"We in the Catholic Church are lucky to have such a rich tradition that can inspire what we do and how we do it," Catholic Health Australia CEO Martin Laverty said. "The Mission Discernment Resource finds inspiration from much of that tradition, but also shares contemporary thoughts and ideas that have proven successful in helping people and teams make decisions – large and small."
