Press conference regarding Medicare-funded Magnetic Resonance Imaging machines in Australia
Press conference with Minister for Health and Ageing The Hon MHR Tony Abbott
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Previous Ministers21 February 2005
Press conference regarding
Medicare-funded Magnetic Resonance Imaging machines in Australia
Sydney Adventist Hospital, Wahroonga
Medicare-funded Magnetic Resonance Imaging machines in Australia
Sydney Adventist Hospital, Wahroonga
E&OE
Tony Abbott–Minister for Health and Ageing
Welcome everyone. I’m going to make a short statement about the MRI issue and then I’ll take questions about MRI matters. If people would like to ask me about other subjects, well, I’ll do a little doorstop outside, and then I believe I’m going to go up and just tour the MRI machine here at this hospital just after one o'clock, and Leon Clark, the chief executive, I think, also has a brief statement to make.
So, I’m here to announce a substantial expansion of Medicare-funded Magnetic Resonance Imaging machines in Australia. I’m here to announce today an additional 21 Medicare MRI licences, in addition to those three that were announced by the government in the course of the election campaign. When all of these new machines are operating, the total number of Medicare-funded MRI machines will be 101, and that’s up from just 18 when this government came into office, nine years ago.
There’s some additional good news today. Of the new machines, 15 of them will bulk bill all their patients. The rest will bulk bill all their concession card holders. So, this is very good news for people who need MRI services in Australia. The other point I should make is that 11 of the new MRI licences are co-located with public hospitals.
So, good news from the Howard government, good news for patients, a fair regionally-balanced, equitable expansion of MRI machines, in accordance with the recommendations of the expert committee that reported to us in the middle of last year.
Are there any questions?
Reporter:
Where will they (indistinct)
Abbott:
Well, there’s a list that you have got with you. There are seven regional machines. Then, the other machines will be spread around metropolitan Australia in a mix of public and private hospitals.
Reporter:
What do you think this will do for (indistinct) have waiting (indistinct)
Abbott:
Well, it should certainly improve waiting lists very significantly. Obviously, MRI is a very important diagnostic technology. It’s particularly important in oncology, neurology, paediatrics and orthopaedics. So, it’s unarguably and undeniably good news for patients and it should reduce waiting lists across the board.
Reporter:
What sort of (indistinct)
Abbott:
Well, patients who are referred by their specialists, in accordance with the normal protocols that govern Medicare access to MRI.
Reporter:
(indistinct)
Abbott:
Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Look, oncology means people with cancer, paediatrics means kids, neurology means people with brain conditions and orthopaedics means people with bone and muscular skeletal problems.
Reporter:
(indistinct)
Abbott:
I don’t … I’m not much up with the technology either, but having been the minister for a few … for more a year now, I tend to slip into a little bit of medical jargon occasionally.
Reporter:
When will these machines be in the hospitals (indistinct)
Abbott:
Okay. There are eight machines which are currently operating without a Medicare licence. These will become licensed as soon as the paperwork is finalised and there’s no reason why that couldn’t be done this week. Of the rest, we expect that two will be operational within three months and we think that the rest should start to become operational within six months. Certainly, all of them will become operational within twelve months.
Reporter:
What hospitals (indistinct)
Abbott:
Well, again, you’ve got a list attached to the back of the press release, but here in Sydney, there will be new Medicare-funded machines at this hospital – the Adventist Hospital – at the Mater Hospital in North Sydney, at Concord Hospital in the western suburbs and at Campbelltown Hospital in Sydney’s south west. Okay? Any other MRI questions? All right. Well, we might go outside and do any other topics that people have got on their minds.
[break in proceedings]
Abbott:
… important user of the technology.
Dr Leon Clark–Sydney Adventist Hospital:
Thank you very much, Minister. We at Sydney Adventist Hospital are delighted that we have been successful in our application for a Medicare-assisted MRI licence, after meeting the criteria and going through the application process set by the government.
Sydney Adventist Hospital is a not-for-profit hospital and the largest single campus private hospital in New South Wales, treating more than 40,000 in-patients and almost 170,000 out-patients each year.
An MRI unit is vital to the delivery of appropriate patient care, and so we have been running our MRI unit unassisted, at a significant loss, for the past three years. This Medicare assistance will allow us to expand our MRI services to better accommodate the needs of the community in our area, especially those requiring intensive care and those that need it as a result of presentation at our emergency department, which is in fact the largest private emergency department in New South Wales, seeing about 20,000 patients each year.
I’d like to take this opportunity to compliment the Minister for Health and Ageing, the Honourable Tony Abbott, on bringing to a conclusion a process which has been very difficult but rigorous and even-handed. Many areas which desperately need this service will now have access to this vital diagnostic equipment, providing information which is frequently essential to making an accurate diagnosis.
I am proud that with Medicare assistance, Sydney Adventist Hospital will be able to provide this service using state of the art equipment. We applaud the minister for taking this action, which recognises the now essential nature of this diagnostic modality in the delivery of health care services to all Australians. Thank you.
Abbott:
Any questions for Dr Clark? All right. We might go and do a doorstop, if that’s what people want.
Reporter:
(indistinct) first (indistinct)
Abbott:
Well, okay. Well, we might go up and do the MRI footage first, okay?
End of segment