Tebbutt denies health pact is a `sham`

NSW Acting Premier and Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt has rejected opposition claims
an agreement between state and federal governments on health reform is a sham and
won't deliver improved public hospital services.
The state opposition on Thursday leaked a draft agreement on the proposed national
health and hospital network developed at the Council of Australian Governments
(COAG) meeting in April.
Under one section, the document says: "The Parties do not intend any of the
provisions of this Agreement to be legally enforceable."
Shadow health minister Jillian Skinner said this showed states like NSW can't be
compelled to improve services for patients under the reforms, which will give the
states a massive injection of funding for health in return for a third of their GST
revenues.
"The Keneally Labor government has no incentive to improve patient care because they
are not legally bound to do so - this clause is a get out of jail free card," Mrs
Skinner said.
But Ms Tebbutt challenged the opposition's claims, saying the extra federal funding
- NSW will get an additional $1.7 billion over the next four years - would be
incentive enough for NSW public hospitals to meet performance targets.
"State and federal governments don't take each other to court - that's not the way
we work," she told reporters in Sydney.
"The agreement provides for certain improved performance standards to be met ... and
there's reward payments that relate to meeting those standards and these reward
payments are substantial."
NSW could get an extra $112 million for reaching its surgery targets and an
additional $80 million if emergency department benchmarks are met, Ms Tebbutt said.
But Mrs Skinner maintained the draft agreement was "hollow exercise", saying the
state's public hospitals were continuing to struggle.
"This is the day (Thursday) that Premier Kristina Keneally said on the signing of
the COAG agreement (in April) that everything was going to start to get better," Mrs
Skinner told journalists.
"My feedback from the NSW end tells me that there's very little real improvement and
progress being made at the state level."
Patient Ray Stanborough, 63, joined Mrs Skinner at a media conference in Sydney and
told journalists his heart surgery at St Vincent's Hospital has been postponed five
times since April.
"I'm very anxious because I can actually feel things getting worse," he said.
"I do feel that if the operation isn't done hopefully this year I don't think I'd be
here any longer."