4 November 2010 Revelations of another waiting list sham in NSW Health yet again bring into question the Rudd-Gillard Government claims to be cutting waiting lists at the nation’s public hospitals.
Kevin Rudd used to proclaim loudly how the millions of dollars he was pouring into state Labor Governments were seeing more patients treated and less people on waiting lists.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon continues to push the fiction.
But today’s revelations that an external audit found that hospital managers in western Sydney systematically manipulated waiting list figures to artificially improve performance results is again more evidence of widespread rorting of hospital waiting list figures.
Shadow Health Minister Peter Dutton said there have been constant reports of similar rorting in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia.
“Yet Nicola Roxon continues to ignore reality and maintain that the millions she is pouring into failed Labor state governments are bringing results.”
Mr Dutton said he fully supported the New South Wales Opposition’s demands for a full, independent, open inquiry into hospital waiting lists in New South Wales.
“If Nicola Roxon is so certain there is no problem, why doesn’t she also back an open inquiry or, like the Keneally Government, is she worried what it might find.”
Media contact – John Wiseman 07 3205 9977 – 0429 983 618