Dr Saxon Smith has warned that without increased funding, NSW health system could “come to a standstill”. Photo: Peter Braig
NSW stands to lose almost $200 million in health funding due to federal cuts, a shortfall the Australian Medical Association warns will be detrimental to emergency departments already struggling to cope with demand.
AMA NSW head Saxon Smith has called for at least 9 per cent – or $1.4 billion – increase in funding in next week’s state budget in order to ”keep the NSW health system going”. ”Anything less than that will cause a standstill,” Dr Smith said.
”We need $191 million to fill the gap left by federal cuts and 7 per cent growth to cover inflation and patient demand. Without it there will be a massive strain on the health system and a bottleneck in emergency departments.”
He said NSW had been the hardest hit by the federal budget, with the government pulling out of national partnership agreements that funded sub-acute beds for rehabilitation, mental health and aged care, and scrapping reward payments for meeting emergency department and elective surgery targets.