PRIME MINISTER KEVIN RUDD: G'day and welcome to pm.gov.au.
Today I want to speak with you about Australia's hospital and health care system and the challenges it faces in the 21st century.
Eighteen months ago the Government was elected with a mandate to provide new leadership for Australia to tackle these great challenges of the future. As this slide indicates we've already made a significant additional investment in health.
We also established the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission - the first comprehensive review of the nation's health system in nearly two decades. It details the challenges of an ageing population, rising costs, population growth and Australia's disease rate.
To address these challenges the Commission has made a number of recommendations:
First, we need to make prevention a focus of our health system.
Second, to deliver better-connected care, the Commission recommends a series of reforms across the health system. That Primary care services should be established as the cornerstone of a future ‘person-centred' health system, with the Commonwealth undertaking full funding responsibility.
Third, our hospitals of the future should deliver highly specialised, technical care - with improved access to care for patients and new funding arrangements.
Fourth, on aged care the Commission's proposes:
* More choice for consumers;
* Making the system work better by funding ‘people' not ‘places', and
* The use of better technology to improve the safety, efficiency and effectiveness of care.
Fifth, that in addition to making our health system work together more effectively, we also need to target the major gaps in our system - to deliver better access for patients across all categories of health need.
Sixth, the Commission recommends a new National Aboriginal Health and Torres Strait Islander Health Authority to hold all health services to account for providing the appropriate services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The Commission also recommends mental health services should be better supported in the community with increased investment in early intervention and social support services, stable housing and access to specialty mental health and dementia care services.
On dental care, the Commission has recommended:
* ‘Denticare Australia', a bold proposal for universal access to dental care that would provide preventative, diagnostic and restorative services, including extractions and dentures. It is proposed that this would be funded by an estimated increase in the Medicare Levy of 0.75 per cent in addition to existing funding by governments;
* A nation-wide expansion of pre-school and school dental programs, and
* An expansion of the dental workforce through a one-year internship scheme prior to full registration - bringing dental practitioners in line with other medical practitioners.
The Government will leave each of these options on the table for the next six months as we engage in detailed consultation.
Friends, the 21st Century has put our health system on notice. We have now reached the point of no return. That means action is no longer a matter of choice but a matter of necessity.
So please get involved, read the report, send me your suggestions, participate in the blog and together let's improve the Australian Health System and lets end the blame game once and for all!
I thank you.