ALP backs down on hospital funding
By Jonathan Strauss
SYDNEY — A September 5 rally at Prince of Wales Hospital of more than 1000 hospital workers, patients, building workers from the hospital's construction site and community supporters welcomed the news that the NSW Labor government has abandoned its plans to slash funding to hospitals in Sydney's north and east. Instead, cuts to all departments' "overheads" will provide $134 million for additional health funding.
The government had been planning to reduce services and cut jobs in inner-city hospitals on the "equity" grounds that a shift in funds to hospitals in Sydney's west was necessary. Many opponents of the move, however, have been arguing that, while it would seriously damage health care provision in the inner-city, the demands on western Sydney hospitals are far in excess of what could be provided by the transferred funding.
While some people campaigning for increased funding for the west did fall into the government's divide and rule trap and criticised the decision not to withdraw funds from inner-city hospitals, speakers at the rally both defended the inner-city hospitals and called for major improvements in the situation in the city's west.