Posted to The Australian (1/12/2010) on 1/12/2010 at 2:05 AM as SphericalThinker (Not published)
Commenting on “Ted Baillieu in feud on health reforms”
Deals must be broken. Ted Baillieu has a tough job ahead, not only on health reform, but also on hospital culture reform.
There are wards in some hospitals not open, tying up many beds. There are no doctors and nursing staff to service them due to lack of funding. If remains status quo, these wards will never be opened.
When Brumby opened "additional" new beds in hospitals, old beds were shut down, and the staff were reshuffled. In fact, there were hardly additional beds opened during election time.
New wings or buildings of hospitals were not well thought out and lack accommodation. In addition, some hospitals placed unnecessary emphasis on certain racial needs, wasting valuable funding resource.
Like many public services, unused monies before end of financial years are squandered on unnecessary renovation or replacement of furniture.
Former shadow health minister did not want to know many of things mentioned above before. I hope Ted Baillieu will look into these matters with the greatest urgency, before promising any more new hospitals or additional new beds!
