People in every State and Territory waiting for elective surgery will benefit from a further $300 million in funding targeted to relieve pressure on waiting lists. This funding brings the total amount provided by the Rudd Government to reduce elective surgery waiting lists to $600 million.
Following today's Council of Australian Governments meeting, Premiers and Chief Ministers have agreed to implement Stage Three of the Rudd Government's Elective Surgery Waiting List Reduction Plan.
Under Stage Three, States and Territories will share in $300 million only upon meeting challenging performance targets within set time lines.
States and Territories will be required to meet individual targets for increasing the total number of surgeries performed and will receive further reward payments for exceeding these targets.
They will also be required to meet individual targets to reduce the number of patients who have waited longer than clinically recommended for their procedure.
States and Territories will only receive reward payments if they exceed their performance benchmarks. This approach marks a new way of funding health services by providing clear financial rewards for high performance.
The performance of State and Territories will continue to be reported and monitored quarterly through the Australian Health Ministers' Conference.
This will ensure that real improvements are made to the timeliness of elective surgery in Australia.
The first action under the Plan provided $150 million to States and Territories that cut their waiting lists by at least 25,000 procedures. This target was exceeded by 64 per cent, with 41,000 additional surgeries delivered.
Since the Rudd Government investment began in 2008, an additional 62,000 elective surgery procedures have been undertaken and the number of people waiting longer than clinically recommended has been reduced by 13,000.
In Stage Two, the Government provided a further $150 million to boost elective surgery capacity in the longer term through improvements to systems and infrastructure. This funding has seen additional operating theatres and new equipment delivered for hospitals right around Australia.
This $300 million in additional funding continues the Rudd Government's election commitment to achieve year on year reductions in waiting times for thousands of Australians waiting for surgery.