The NSW Auditor-General has today revealed the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District required a $7.3 million handout from the NSW Government to help pay its expenses in the year ending 30 June 2017 raising the obvious question: is the region getting enough funding for its health care needs?
The Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District is among one of five other local health districts in NSW which required the handout.
The NSW Auditor-General found:
The Ministry monitors individual health entities’ performance against budget and provides cash assistance if needed to ensure required service levels are met…
Performing within budget expectations in challenging for some health entities…
The Ministry considers health entities are not performing when actual expenses are more than 0.5 per cent unfavourable to the revised budget.
The Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District has an “unfavourable variance” of 1.3 per cent.
As of 30 June 2017, the NSW Auditor-General has found that the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District has a deficit of $7 million.
The report also confirms that the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District employees are also not taking annual leave with nearly 7 per cent not doing so in 2016-17 compared to just over 5 per cent in 2015-16.
The Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District is also not meeting clear targets for the percentage of patients being treated within clinically appropriate timeframes for T3 cases (potentially life-threatening) of 75 per cent.
Wollongong MP, Paul Scully revealed in September that “brave whistle-blowers” within the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District had described Wollongong Hospital to be at breaking point.
Mr Scully called on the Minister for Health, Brad Hazzard MP, to establish an independent, external investigation into the health care needs of the Illawarra region and the adequacy of current funding arrangements. Mr Scully has to-date not received a response from the Minister.
Comments attributable to Paul Scully MP:
“The Auditor-General’s findings just re-confirm what everyone in the Illawarra already knows: the health system in the region is under significant pressure.
“The region’s health system is in the red, staff are not taking annual leave because of the pressure on the system, and it has had to rely on a $7 million handout to keep paying the bills.
“The NSW Government must appropriately fund the region’s health care needs and stop relying on dedicated nurses and doctors to keep trying to patch up the system to keep things going.
“The Minister must establish an independent, external investigation to determine the adequacy of current funding for the region’s health care needs.”
