ACCORDING to a new "State of Our Public Hospitals" report there has been a 17 percent hike in the number of people seeking treatment at Australian hospitals in the last five years. The report said that there were 4.9 million and 3.3 million admissions to public and private hospitals in 2008-09. Emergency department load increased by 22 percent from six million in 2004 to over seven million in 2008-09. The cost of average hospital admission has risen by 14 percent over and above inflation from $3 930 to $4 471 at 2008-09 prices. Regarding elective surgeries the report said that there were 595 009 admissions with mean waiting time of 34 days and 86 percent surgeries were conducted well within time. This was a two percent rise over the previous year. Number of available beds in public hospitals was 56 478 or 67 percent translating to 2.5 beds per 1 000 population. The total health budget was $103 billion in 2007-8 (the most recent data available) and of this, $30.8bn was spent on public hospitals and about $7.7bn was spent on private hospital services. Health Minister Nicola Roxon announced that with the increase in hospital burden the government had decided on a hospitals reform plan to cope with the load. She explained that under the plan there would be a focus on primary healthcare with an increase in general practitioners. Focus would also be on preventive health and better control and management of chronic diseases. This would go towards reducing admissions, she said

News-Medical.Net, 30 June 2010