HOSPITALS AND HEALTH SERVICES ACT 1927

Western Australian Consolidated Acts

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HOSPITALS AND HEALTH SERVICES ACT 1927 - SECT 34

34 . Medicare Principles and Commitments, effect of

(1) The Medicare Principles and Commitments set out in subsection (2) are established as guidelines for the delivery of public hospital services to eligible persons in the State.

(2) The Medicare Principles and Commitments are as set out in the Table.

Table of Medicare Principles and Commitments

Explanatory Note:

The principles focus on the provision of public hospital services to eligible persons, but operate in an environment where eligible persons have the right to choose private health care in public and private hospitals supported by private health insurance.

Choices of services

Principle 1:

Eligible persons must be given the choice to receive public hospital services free of charge as public patients.

Explanatory Note 1:

Hospital services include in-patient, out-patient, emergency services (including primary care where appropriate) and day patient services consistent with currently acceptable medical and health service standards.

Explanatory Note 2:

At the time of admission to a hospital, or as soon as practicable after that, an eligible person will be required to elect or confirm whether he or she wishes to be treated as a public or private patient.

Explanatory Note 3:

Public hospital services do not include those services for which charges may be made as set out in subsection (3).

Universality of services

Principle 2:

Access to public hospital services is to be on the basis of clinical need.

Explanatory Note 1:

None of the following factors are to be a determinant of an eligible person’s priority for receiving hospital services:

• whether or not an eligible person has health insurance;

• an eligible person’s financial status or place of residence;

• whether or not an eligible person intends to elect, or elects, to be treated as a public or private patient.

Explanatory Note 2:

This principle applies equally to waiting times for elective surgery.

Explanatory Note 3:

The phrase waiting times means waiting times for access to elective surgery from a hospital waiting or booking list.

Equity in service provision

Principle 3:

To the maximum practicable extent, a State will ensure the provision of public hospital services equitably to all eligible persons, regardless of their geographical location.

Explanatory Note 1:

This principle does not require a local hospital to be equipped to provide eligible persons with every hospital service they may need.

Explanatory Note 2:

In rural and remote areas, a State should ensure provision of reasonable public access to a basic range of hospital services which are in accord with clinical practices.

Explanatory Note 3:

To the extent practicable, hospital services should be available at all recognized hospitals, however, where this is not possible, the State accepts responsibility for referring or transferring the eligible person to where the necessary hospital services are available.

Information about service provision

Commitment 1:

The Commonwealth and a State must make available information on the public hospital services eligible persons can expect to receive as public patients.

Explanatory Note 1:

The joint Commonwealth/State development of a Public Patients’ Hospital Charter will be a vehicle for the public dissemination of this information.

Explanatory Note 2:

The Public Patients’ Hospital Charter will set out the public hospital services available to public patients.

Efficiency and quality in service provision

Commitment 2:

The Commonwealth and the States are committed to making improvements in the efficiency, effectiveness and quality of hospital service delivery.

Explanatory Note:

This includes a commitment to quality improvement, outcome measurement, management efficiency and effort to integrate the delivery of hospital and other health and health-related community services.

(3) Any eligible person will be entitled to receive, without charge, out-patient and accident and emergency services provided by a recognized hospital except for —

(a) dental services; and

(b) spectacles and hearing aids; and

(d) surgical supplies, prostheses, aids and appliances and home modifications; and

(e) other services as agreed between the Commonwealth Minister and the Minister,

for which service charges, as determined by the Minister, may be applied provided that no charge to the Commonwealth results.

(4) Nothing in this section gives rise to, or can be taken into account in, any civil cause of action, and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, nothing in this section operates to create in any person legal rights not in existence before the enactment of this section.

(5) In this section —

(a) eligible person and public patient have the same meanings as they have in the Commonwealth Act; and

(b) Commonwealth Minister has the same meaning as Commonwealth Minister for Health has in section 27(4) of the Commonwealth Act.

(6) This section ceases to have effect on a day to be fixed by proclamation.

[Section 34 inserted by No. 17 of 1996 s. 11; amended by No. 19 of 2010 s. 51.]

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Principle 1:	Eligible persons must be given the choice to receive public hospital services free of charge as public patients.
Explanatory Note 1:	Hospital services include in-patient, out-patient, emergency services (including primary care where appropriate) and day patient services consistent with currently acceptable medical and health service standards.
Explanatory Note 2:	At the time of admission to a hospital, or as soon as practicable after that, an eligible person will be required to elect or confirm whether he or she wishes to be treated as a public or private patient.
Explanatory Note 3:	Public hospital services do not include those services for which charges may be made as set out in subsection (3).

Principle 2:	Access to public hospital services is to be on the basis of clinical need.
Explanatory Note 1:	None of the following factors are to be a determinant of an eligible person’s priority for receiving hospital services:
	• whether or not an eligible person has health insurance;
	• an eligible person’s financial status or place of residence;
	• whether or not an eligible person intends to elect, or elects, to be treated as a public or private patient.
Explanatory Note 2:	This principle applies equally to waiting times for elective surgery.
Explanatory Note 3:	The phrase *waiting times* means waiting times for access to elective surgery from a hospital waiting or booking list.

Principle 3:	To the maximum practicable extent, a State will ensure the provision of public hospital services equitably to all eligible persons, regardless of their geographical location.
Explanatory Note 1:	This principle does not require a local hospital to be equipped to provide eligible persons with every hospital service they may need.
Explanatory Note 2:	In rural and remote areas, a State should ensure provision of reasonable public access to a basic range of hospital services which are in accord with clinical practices.
Explanatory Note 3:	To the extent practicable, hospital services should be available at all recognized hospitals, however, where this is not possible, the State accepts responsibility for referring or transferring the eligible person to where the necessary hospital services are available.

Commitment 1:	The Commonwealth and a State must make available information on the public hospital services eligible persons can expect to receive as public patients.
Explanatory Note 1:	The joint Commonwealth/State development of a Public Patients’ Hospital Charter will be a vehicle for the public dissemination of this information.
Explanatory Note 2:	The Public Patients’ Hospital Charter will set out the public hospital services available to public patients.

Commitment 2:	The Commonwealth and the States are committed to making improvements in the efficiency, effectiveness and quality of hospital service delivery.
Explanatory Note:	This includes a commitment to quality improvement, outcome measurement, management efficiency and effort to integrate the delivery of hospital and other health and health-related community services.