The ACT Opposition has accused Health Minister Meegan Fitzharris of blaming problems in the territory's hospitals on NSW patients, as the government defended its lagging emergency room wait times.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Tuesday's Productivity Commission's Report on Government Services revealed two in five patients were still not being seen on time in Canberra emergency departments.
This was despite the ACT spending the most per person on public hospitals in the country ($3674.90).
The report noted that figure was skewed because of the high number of NSW patients treated in ACT hospitals.
ACT Health data showed the number of NSW patients discharged from ACT hospitals grew from 16,335 in 2013-14 to more than 19,400 in 2016-17.
However, ACT separations from NSW hospitals have remained marginal, rising from 3518 in 2013-14 to 3866 in 2016-17.
NSW patients account for 11 per cent of emergency room admissions, and 17 per cent of patients more broadly across the ACT public health system.
Ms Fitzharris said the type of cases coming to ACT hospitals also pushed up the cost.
"We do know that many of those patients are coming quite unwell so they're often admitted into hospital at greater rates," Ms Fitzharris said.
'We also see many of the region's children and we provide the oncology services for many people in the region as well so naturally those are some of the more costly services so we do see that having a bearing on that cost."
What the ACT spends on treating interstate patients is eventually reconciled under the National Health Reform Agreement.
That agreement sees a payment of $4971 per National Weighted Activity Unit or NWAU go to the treating hospital from the coffers of both the Commonwealth and the state the patient is from.
A tonsillectomy was worth 0.7131 NWAU in 2016-17, while a coronary bypass was weighted 5.2430 NWAU.
In 2014-15, the ACT recouped $151.9 million for treating NSW patients - $60.5 million from the Commonwealth and $91.4 million from NSW.
The Canberra Liberals' health spokeswoman Vicki Dunne said, "to blame the woes of our hospitals on patients from NSW is a furphy".
"It does not explain why there has only been a seven per cent increase in the number of patients seen when we've had a 32 per cent expenditure increase in one year," Mrs Dunne said.
"Considering we do not have the socio-economic and regional complexities that drive up costs in other states, Minister Fitzharris has not provided a justification for our cost increases.
"It seems that Minister Fitzharris is trying to avoid the responsibility that comes with her title by shifting the blame onto patients from across the border."
The 2017 Pegasus report accuse the ACT government of confusing higher spending with better quality, taking aim at the big budgets but poor outcomes for the health and education sectors.
The ACT's emergency departments have frequently ranked as the worst in Australia, with less than half of urgent patients seen on time in 2016-17.
Ms Fitzharris said the government's investment in more nurse-led walk-in centres and in the University of Canberra sub-acute rehabilitation hospital - due to open later this year - would ease pressure on emergency rooms.
She pointed to the 36,000 patients who attended the walk-in centres in Belconnen and Tuggeranong last year.
But she acknowledged the number of emergency department presentations in Canberra was rising, in spite of the centres.
Canberra GPs have accused the ACT government of wasting about $19,000 a day on the centres, which are free to the public and treat minor illnesses and injuries.
Ms Fitzharris told ABC Radio the government would not review its funding of the centres, and was committed to rolling out more in Woden, Weston Creek and the Inner North.
