The Australian Medical Association has called for an overhaul of public hospital funding ahead of the federal election, complaining the system is unable to keep up with demand.
Federal AMA president Omar Khorshid says hospitals are in "logjam" - with long waiting lists for surgery, ambulance ramping, and emergency departments at capacity.
"Well before the pandemic, Australian hospitals were in crisis. The pandemic has shown there is no spare capacity in our hospitals," he said on Saturday.
The AMA campaign encourages people to vote on the issue at the upcoming federal poll.
Dr Khorshid says hospitals no longer have any capacity to surge to meet demand, and staff are exhausted.
The AMA's funding agenda comes with a four-point plan calling for money to improve performance, add extra hospital beds and staff, and expand out-of-hospital care.
It also wants ongoing commonwealth funding for half of all hospital activities, and remove state government caps on funding growth.
The AMA estimates these measures in particular would cost the commonwealth $12.7 billion over the next four years, and the states would have to pay $7.8 billion over four years.
THE AMA'S PUBLIC HOSPITALS SNAPSHOT:
Tasmania
* For Category 2 elective surgeries, such as treatment for a brain aneurysm, 36 per cent of patients were admitted within the clinically recommended time of 90 days in 2020/21.
Australian Capital Territory
* 35 per cent of Emergency Department Triage Category 3 (urgent) patients, for example patients who have severely high blood pressure, were seen within the recommended 30 minutes in 2020/21.
Victoria
* The average overdue wait time for Category 2 elective surgeries, such as removal of ovarian cysts, was around 130 days in 2020-21, above the recommended 90 days for Category 2 surgeries.
Queensland
* As of October 1, 2021, one in two patients with an urgent referral waited longer than the recommended 30 days to see a neurosurgeon as an outpatient.
New South Wales
* At the end of the July-September 2021 quarter, there were 15,000 patients on the Category 2 elective surgery waiting list, waiting for surgeries such as nerve decompression of the spinal cord.
South Australia
* In 2020/21, about one in three patients waited longer than the recommended 90 days for a Category 2 elective surgery, such as a heart valve replacement
Western Australia
* 43 per cent of Emergency Department Triage Category 3 (urgent) patients, for example patients who have moderate blood loss, were seen within the recommended 30 minutes in 2020/21.
Northern Territory
* In 2020/21, around one in three patients waited longer than the recommended 90 days for a Category 2 elective surgery, such as treatment of an unhealed fracture.
