Australian health care system criticised

It appears that no-where is perfect. The Australian Medical Association has warned that the country's public healthcare system is in crisis because of lack of investment and that 1500 patients die every year as a result.

It said that public hospitals urgently require a $A3bn (£1.3bn; 1.5bn; $1.9bn) cash injection to meet the existing nationwide shortfall of 3750 beds and to ensure that "lives are not at risk."

The association said that hospital bed capacity had been cut by 67% over the past 20 years and that this reduction was affecting care of patients.

Emergency departments are over-full. Corridors are lined with patients on trolleys because beds are simply not available. One report showed that three in four patients in emergency departments who needed to be admitted waited more than eight hours. Of patients needing urgent treatment one third had to wait more than half an hour.

Sound familiar!

This criticism comes at a politically sensitive time in Australia, with the federal government currently finalising negotiations with the state governments on a five year agreement to fund public hospitals.