A long-term failure to adequately fund health has meant the ACT has not been able to match high performing states on key performance indicators, the Australian Medical Association says.
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It comes as the AMA's annual report card showed the ACT was the equal worst jurisdiction when it came to timeliness in the ED, with just 50 per cent of patients seen on time.
The report card showed there was an improvement in the number of emergency presentations seen within four hours and a slight improvement in the median wait time on the elective surgery waiting list.
The report also found elective surgery waiting list data was hiding patient's true wait in the public hospital system, as revealed by the Canberra Times last month.
AMA ACT president Steven Robson said while the report card highlighted some positives, it showed ACT's public health system was far behind other jurisdictions.
"[They are] pretty impressive numbers in NSW, they're getting through just about all of category two patients within the timeframe," he said.
"It's getting better here but no where near as impressive as NSW, despite the fact it is a big state with a lot of hospitals."
Dr Robson said the fact the ACT was a smaller, more concentrated jurisdiction with a healthier population meant it was achievable to produce similar or better results.
He said ACT's underperformance over a number of years was partly due to a long term underinvestement in infrastructure compared to other jurisdictions.
While Dr Robson commended recent injections by the government he said the benefits would take years to appear.
"We have the rehabilitation hospital opening this year, it's a nice thing but it doesn't address any of the issues in the report card," he said.
"It takes years from getting your idea, planning it, building it, getting the nursing staff, doctors, allied health staff and there has been an underinvestment for a while."
"I commend the ACT government but they're probably a bit late."
Dr Robson said more transparency around hidden surgical wait times would help patients better understand the system.
AMA president Michael Gannon said the results confirmed a continuing downward trend and showed a desperate need to address funding formula failures.
He said the latest Commonwealth funding offer at February's COAG meeting – which is effectively a continuation of the current agreement, and which was accepted by two States – would lead to a continuation of the prevailing underperformance of hospitals due to significant underfunding and insufficient capacity.
"The current funding formula will doom our public hospitals to fail, and patients will suffer as a result. It is not just a Commonwealth responsibility. All governments need to urgently lift their game," Dr Gannon said.
"Despite the challenging conditions brought about by funding shortfalls, our public hospitals and their amazing staff are delivering high quality care to their communities – but the pressure must not be allowed to continue."
