Cutting health waste will cut waiting times

State Opposition and LNP Leader John-Paul Langbroek said the LNP had long been calling for health funding to be directed to the front line where it was most needed and to ensure patients get better and faster treatment.

“In the past six years, there has been a 66 per cent increase in the waiting list to see a specialist, with 180,582 patients now on the waiting list to get on the waiting list,” he said.

“Cutting wasteful health spending will cut waiting times for patients.”

Shadow Health Minister Mark McArdle said the explosion in the number of health bureaucrats under Labor included a more than doubling of the number of PR staff over the past decade.

“Opposition questioning in Parliament has revealed that there were 32 PR staff employed by Queensland Health in 2001/02. By April 2008, that had grown to 68,” he said.

“We need more money to be spent on real doctors, not spin doctors. It is vital that Governments at both the State and Federal level get maximum bang for their health buck.”

Mr Langbroek said he was disappointed the Bligh Labor Government was already attacking doctors and the Australian Medical Association rather than addressing the issues raised.

“It seems Bligh and Labor has learnt nothing from the Bundaberg Hospital/Patel saga. They still lie, deny and shoot the messenger rather than focusing on fixing the problems in our health system once and for all,” he said.