Statement 1: Budget Overview (Continued)
New investments in hospitals and health services
In addition to the Government's major initiatives in mental health, this Budget provides funding for a range of investments in key health services and infrastructure. These include delivering on national health reform, major funding for regional health infrastructure, access to new medicines and services, and a focus on dental health care. New funding provided in the Budget for these measures will cost $1.8 billion over five years.
Delivering on national health reform
In February 2011, all States and Territories signed a new Heads of Agreement on National Health Reform.
Under the National Health Reform Agreement, the Government will increase its share of public hospital funding by meeting the cost of 45 per cent of efficient growth from 2014‑15, increasing to 50 per cent from 2017‑18.
As part of this new Agreement, the Government has guaranteed at least $16.4 billion in efficient growth funding for public hospitals over the period 2014‑15 to 2019‑20.
New hospitals and health services for regional Australia
The Government is investing $1.8 billion over six years under the Health and Hospitals Fund regional priority round. This includes $315 million for the Port Macquarie Base and Royal Hobart hospitals.
In total the Government will fund 63 new major projects across Australia. The funding will support upgrades to regional health infrastructure, expand regional hospitals, and support the clinical training capacity of regional hospitals into the future.
The $1.8 billion includes $475 million set aside for new proposals for the next Health and Hospitals Fund regional round.
This $1.8 billion investment builds on the $3.2 billion allocated in the 2009‑10 Budget to upgrade hospital infrastructure and expand medical research and training infrastructure across Australia. It brings the total commitment in health and hospitals infrastructure to $5 billion over the last three years.
Expanding access to dental care and new medicines and technology
The 2011‑12 Budget will provide an additional $53 million for dental health over the next four years to deliver improved access to dental services, particularly for those on low incomes.
- Funding will be provided for a dental internship program, focused on the public dental system to increase its capacity to deliver services.
- The National Advisory Council on Dental Health will be established to provide advice on the dental health system.
This new investment in the dental workforce will ensure the system is well placed to meet future demands. Significant reform to dental health, in line with the Government's agreement with the Australian Greens, will be a priority in the 2012‑13 Budget.
The 2011‑12 Budget is also investing in access to new medicines and technology by providing new funding for diagnostic imaging and other medical services and pharmaceuticals.
This package will provide total funding of $740 million over five years, comprising:
- $104 million for important diagnostic imaging services like Magnetic Resonance Imaging;
- $613 million to new medicines to be available through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), Life Saving Drugs Program and the National Immunisation Program; and
- $23 million to make amendments to the Medicare Benefits Schedule to improve access to medical services.
This brings the total number of new medicines or brands of medicines approved by the Government for the PBS, Life Saving Drugs Program, and National Immunisation Program over the last four years to around 500, at a cost of around $4 billion.
If www.budget.gov.au responds slowly or you are having trouble downloading a document, try one of the Budget Website Mirrors
Note: Where possible, Budget documents are available in HTML and for downloading in Portable Document Format(PDF). If you require further information on any of the tables or charts on this website, please contact The Treasury.
