“I’ve always said that there’s no point in delivering shiny new buildings if you don’t have the staff to adequately run them,” Park said.
“We can’t risk the situation left to us by the previous government of ‘ghost hospitals’ where funding was allocated for the bricks and mortar but not the additional health workers, nurses and doctors.
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“For too long, the previous government underinvested in our health workers, and that left a workforce pushed to breaking point, and that had significant impacts that we still continue to see.”
The $274 million earmarked for hospitals is in addition to $480 million the government has committed to spend on programs designed to keep patients out of emergency rooms. It aims to reduce trips to hospital by 290,000 each year by expanding other options for patients.
To do this, $100 million will be spent on its urgent care services program to divert 114,000 people with less serious ailments to a GP after booking an appointment over the phone.
The government hopes another 180,000 patients will be diverted to a virtual consultation with a GP, having earmarked another $171.4 million for its single front door program. This enables patients to describe their symptoms to a triage nurse, to evaluate whether they are suitable for a virtual consultation, and so avoid a hospital visit.
It is suitable for people with conditions such as fevers, mild respiratory illnesses and infections.
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