The Newman Government’s full-page, taxpayer funded advertisements spruiking their health credentials today have failed to tell the whole story, Shadow Health Minister Jo-Ann Miller said today.
Mrs Miller said the indicators used by the Newman Government demonstrated that National Partnership Agreements on health, implemented by the previous federal Labor Government, as well as the hard work of frontline staff, had seen some categories decrease.
However, Mrs Miller said the waiting list for outpatients to see a specialist continued to be in the hundreds of thousands.
“Across the state, there are almost 245,000 Queenslanders on the waiting-list for the waiting-list,” Mrs Miller said.
“It’s the policies of the Newman Government that are making it harder for Queenslanders to get on the waiting list in the first place.
“The Abbott Government has also axed the National Partnership program so when that runs out, what do Campbell Newman and Lawrence Springborg plan to do?”
Mrs Miller said some of the numbers for patients who had made it to the waiting list were disturbing.
“Statewide, 42% of category one cardiac surgery patients aren’t seeing a doctor within the recommended periods,” she said.
“When you look at neurosurgery across the state, 80% of patients across all categories are not seeing a doctor with the recommended time.
“Yet we have massive taxpayer funded advertisements spruiking Government spin.
“With more than 4300 health jobs axed across the state, the Government is obviously desperate for some positive news as an election nears.”