By Cliff Baxter
Health care workers, academics and doctors have called for an inquiry into the "flagship" of the projected armada of privatised health care in Australia. They say the "good ship" Port Macquarie Base Hospital leaks like a sieve and costs the taxpayers millions. Patients are turned away while pockets bulge for the owners, transport giant Mayne Nickless and its Health Care of Australia.
Putting "Pty Ltd" after the hospital's name, say critics, has had devastating effects on the 60,000 residents of Port Macquarie, 450 kilometres north of Sydney.
The president of the Doctor's Reform Society in NSW, Con Costa, says an inquiry would prove beyond doubt that if the so-called "one-stop" health care armada spreads beyond Port Macquarie, it will kill Australia's universal health care system, which is envied around the world.
He fears a new US-style dollar-oriented health care system in which an illness can cost a person their house or engender bankruptcy, and in which good health care becomes the privilege of the white, middle-class employed or wealthy. "Democratic public health will be brought to its knees so that wealthy companies can fill their already bulging money-bins", Costa said. "One stop" will bring Australian health care to a "dead stop".
Professor Stuart Rees, of the University of Sydney's department of social policy and social work, described the Port Macquarie hospital's track record as "disgraceful" and says that research into its "dreadful impact" should be carried out urgently.
According to some Health Department figures, Port Macquarie is costing the NSW government 30% more to run that its public hospitals. The previous state government hailed privatisation of Port Macquarie as a cost-saver — the new owners claimed that over 20 years it would save the government as much as $40 million — but nearly $30 million of taxpayers' money is being poured into the hospital every year.
The Hospital Action Group says that, despite financial transfusions from the government, around 40% of the hospital is closed. As well, staff are still being cut.
The Hospital Action Group points out that ward staff must double as security officers and also assist with the landing of rescue helicopters and patient transfer along with their other duties. Group president Bill Sawyer says that the ward staff also have to clean, change linen and collect rubbish.
Sawyer says that catering staff have also being reduced. "While the Hospital Action Group understands the duty of Mayne Nickless is to the shareholders, we are concerned that patients' care and the safety of patients and staff are being compromised."
The privatisation "flagship" was launched to the sound of champagne corks popping in November 1994. The Hospital Action Group secretary in Port Macquarie, Don Mackay, says the enthusiastic fizz quickly evaporated.
There is a waiting list of 1800 people for elective surgery, an increase of more than 200 since the end of last year. The average waiting time is 109 days. Some people have been told they have to wait 18 months for their operation.
One man with bowel cancer decided to pay to go to another private hospital rather than wait. Others have had to travel to other public hospitals up to 50 kilometres away.
Rees says that one grave problem with "one-stop" health care is its preoccupation with dollars and the difficulty for people to get a second opinion. Another concern is the obsession with medical technology rather than intelligent observation and diagnosis with appropriate treatment and follow-up.
The 1996 NSW auditor-general's report cites the Port Macquarie Base Hospital as an example of the public sector being left to shoulder the burden and risk of what was supposed to be the private sector version of public infrastructure.
The NSW Department of Health has to pay a monthly "availability" charge to the hospital over 20 years. This is reckoned to total more than $243 million, plus capital servicing and other service charges. The auditor-general's report says: "The government is, in effect, paying for the hospital twice and giving it away".
It's no wonder that other corporate giants are itching to get into privatised health service delivery in Australia.