Spending per hospital patient 14 per cent above national average cost

South Metropolitan Health Service must cut equivalent of 1163 full-time jobs

About 45 per cent of cuts are expected to be clinical staff

NOV 2015: Fiona Stanley, Royal Perth, Fremantle hospitals hardest hit in cuts

DEC 2015: Fremantle Hospital’s ICU to be downgraded

THE amount of money spent on pat­ients in our southern suburbs hospitals is out of control – forcing the Government to cut the equivalent of 1163 full-time jobs.

Massive cuts will be made to Royal Perth Hospital, Fremantle Hospital and even the just opened $2 billion Fiona Stanley Hospital.

Health Minister Kim Hames told The Sunday Times new Independent Hospital Pricing Authority figures show WA was 14 per cent above the “national projected average cost” for “hospital activity per patient”.

The cost per “weighted activity unit” in WA was $5667 against the national projected average of $4971.

In comparison, the cost for Victoria was just $4237 and for NSW was $4930.

Dr Hames said comparisons of WA hospitals with “like for like” fac­ilities in the eastern states showed they were providing “exactly the same levels of care” but doing it “much cheaper”.

“We have enormously increased expenditure, but at a price,” he said.

“We can’t afford to pay that price anymore.”

A Health Department “Analysis” obtained by The Sunday Times reveals the South Metropolitan Health Service must cut the equivalent of 1163 full-time staff to reach a “sustainable workforce”.

This includes 297 at the new FSH and 568 at RPH. Fremantle Hospital is also 170 over budget. About 45 per cent of the cuts will be to clinical staff.

Overall, the full time equivalent (FTE) numbers for the SMHS must be reduced from 12,978 to 11,815.

Camera Icon Health Minister Dr Kim Hames said WA needs to toughen up now the mining boom is over. Credit: News Limited

Cutbacks to overtime, changes to call-back and on-call rostering and less reliance on short-term contractors will mean the FTE cutbacks won’t simply equate to 1163 people losing their jobs.

However, Dr Hames could not tell The Sunday Times how many hundreds of people would need to be axed. He wants significant cutbacks within six months.

The FTE analysis comes after fierce criticism already from the Australian Medical Association, unions and Opposition about cuts.

Dr Hames said there was simply no alternative but to rein in costs within the $8.2 billion health portfolio, which was now about 29 per cent of the state’s total annual spend.

He said the South Metropolitan Health Service was predicted to be more than $200 million over budget at the end of this financial year.

It simply had “too many staff” in some areas, he said.

Dr Hames said the mining boom, and the state’s isolation, meant wages for our medical staff were higher than other states.

He said it was “clear” the mining boom was over and the state needed to “toughen up”.

Dr Hames conceded other states had been doing Activity Based Funding for longer than WA, which was partly why they were more efficient.

He wants our hospitals to become better at managing rosters and ensuring “coding” paperwork for hospital procedures maximised federal funding opportunities.

“Coding is critical,” he said.

“That determines A) what you get from the State Government for that procedure and B) what you get from the Commonwealth.

“(The Commonwealth) fund 40 per cent of your coding.”

Revenue generation was also a significant area where WA hospitals must improve.