One of the most important roles of any state government is to provide high quality health services. The NSW Liberal & Nationals acknowledge the importance of regaining community confidence in our health system. We believe one of the fundamental ways to build community confidence is by putting local health services back in local hands.

The NSW health budget is the single largest expenditure by the state government accounting for 26.4% of total spending in 2009-10.30 But no matter how much money the Labor Government spends, without reform of the way the health system is governed, the same problems will persist.

Despite the great skill and commitment of the clinicians and those who support them, the NSW health system is in crisis.

Of serious concern is that Labor is predicting the situation will get worse. Its own Budget Papers are predicting ongoing deterioration in health service delivery.

NSW Emergency Departments Triage Times

Further statistics reveal between 1994/95 and 2007/08 total hospital admissions rose by more than 37 per cent.32  Meanwhile, hospital waiting lists have grown by more than 44 per cent33 since Labor was elected in 1995 on a promise to halve hospital waiting lists.

NSW health professionals together with patients are bearing the brunt of the Labor Government’s poor management of the health system. In 2007/08 there were 119,290 NSW nurses but only one third of them were actually working in the public health system.

Many nurses and others working in the public health system, including the NSW Ambulance Service, have spoken out about concerns in their workplaces, indicating a culture of bullying and intimidation are rife. They feel alienated from decision making and are frustrated by the layers of bureaucracy they must deal with in order to provide basic treatment.

Ensuring timely access to services requires supporting our ambulance service and the critical job it performs in patient retrieval. For many patients this is the first point of contact with our health system.

The Liberals & Nationals also acknowledge the need to address workforce shortages, particularly the training of the next generation of clinicians and to provide well-resourced facilities both in IT and medical equipment and across our hospitals.

Preventable causes of death continue to cost lives and alarmingly thousands of Australians die each year in health care as a result of systemic mistakes. It is projected that the national cost of these avoidable mistakes in health care is over five billion dollars per annum.

The NSW Liberals & Nationals believe it is imperative that we better identify those at risk of becoming sick or injured, helping them to take preventative action, and where necessary better managing the care of those with chronic illnesses. We believe that in this way, it is possible to reduce complications, including death related to heart disease, cancer and other common diseases.

Another key area in which Labor has failed is mental health. It is estimated that 12 per cent of adults in NSW reported high or very hight levels of psychological distress.37 Hospitals are struggling to cope with psychiatric patients who are being kept for days at a time in emergency departments because of a shortage of appropriate beds in the wards.

The NSW Liberals & Nationals believe that people with a mental illness have the right to reach their full potential and their carers have the right to receive support.

We were the first Australian Government or Opposition to create a stand alone mental health portfolio with a focus on ensuring people with mental illness have greater and fairer access to community, sub-acute and acute services.

In 2006 NSW signed the COAG National Action Plan on Mental Health. This included a commitment to increase the proportion of people with an emerging or established mental illness who are able to access the right health care and other relevant community services at the right time.39 NSW’s per capita expenditure is well below the national average.

Per capita spending on Mental Health by State & Territory

There remains a lack of funding for those with long-term or life-long disabilities. A recent NSW parliamentary committee found a staggering lack of funding for the NSW Program of Appliances for Disabled People (PADP), leading to clients routinely being placed on waiting lists for years at a time.

The NSW Liberals & Nationals are committed to a holistic approach to health, which recognises that one of the best ways to improve the quality of services is by improving general community health.

Again we have led the way being the first Australian Government or Opposition to create a healthy lifestyles portfolio. This is an acknowledgement that one way to relieve pressure on the system is to promote community health and well-being and invest in preventative health measures.

In terms of clinical services the NSW Liberals & Nationals vision for a healthier NSW is based on ensuring people have timely access to world-class health services and infrastructure. This should apply wherever the patient lives - whether in metropolitan Sydney or remote NSW.

The foundation of a world-class system lies in properly resourcing and encouraging medical research. This not only has benefits for the health system, it has potential as an export industry and source of job creation.