MASSIVE discrepancies in how public hospitals account for patients needing less urgent elective surgery have prompted a review of the rules for allocating people to politically sensitive waiting lists.
THE Gillard government's plans for a health watchdog empowered to deal directly with poorly performing hospitals is stirring an angry response from the states.
Your editorial ("The queue for a bed", March 1) compares the delivery of treatment between public and private hospitals and paints a rosy picture of efficient services at the latter. This overlooks that in some cases private hospital operating theatres sometimes work up to midnight delivering elective procedures.
THE number of Australians with hospital insurance has risen to the highest level in 29 years as consumer anxiety about public hospital queues outweighs the rising cost of premiums.
