The states will receive an extra $22.4 billion in health funding from the Federal Government after the Council of Australian Governments meeting on the weekend.

The extra money is part of $64.4 billion over five years for health and hospitals and goes some way to proving Kevin Rudd's claim that he will prioritise health and work better with the states.

The funding includes:

         1. $1.1b training doctors and nurses

         2. $454m preventative health

         3. $750m emergency department initiatives

AMA criticism

AMA President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua says the extra money is welcome but doesn't go far enough.

She is reported as calling the amount ‘way too thin' and reiterated on Sunrise today that more hospital beds should be the government's real prirority.

""We need $3 billion to fund 3,750 hospital beds around the country now. The present offer is only $500m," she said.

The government has recognised the cost of health care grows more quickly than inflation and has sped up indexation of the funding from 5.6% to 7.3%.

The AMA again took dispute with the government, claiming indexation should be pegged between eight and nine per cent.

>> "Nurses are leaving because of the lack of resources: Nurse"

Meanwhile, the Federal Opposition is also on Kevin Rudd's back saying the money will be wasted if hospital management isn't first overhauled.

The Rudd government has long claimed that they will take over management of all hospitals if the states can't solve the current crisis.

Related links

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Blog: Hospitals a political casualty

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