Thousands hit with co-payment

Six-thousand Perth residents a week will be slapped with a $7.50 co-payment for using public hospital emergency departments as part of the Abbott Government's push to lift out-of-pocket costs for patients.

WA Health Department figures show 5896 people were triaged at Perth's nine metropolitan hospitals last week for "semi-urgent" and "non- urgent" ailments, which would likely attract the co-payment.

The figures also show that last year about 1650 people a week were triaged into the two categories at the State's major regional hospitals in Broome, Bunbury, Geraldton, Port Hedland and Kalgoorlie.

The co-payment looms as more of a nuisance for hospitals to collect because it would raise about $3 million a year, when the State's total health budget is $8 billion.

As part of the Federal Gov-ernment's plan to impose a co-payment for Medicare services such as GP consultations, the States will be given the option to impose a fee to deter patients from making unnecessary visits to "free" public hospitals for treatment.

It will be up to doctors and nurses to decide who is liable for the co-payment but the Commission of Audit, which recommended the impost, said urgent cases should be exempt.

Australian Medical Association Federal vice-president Geoff Dobb said the hospital co-payment made no health or economic sense.

"It is one of the worst ideas I've heard in health," Professor Dobb, who is also head of intensive care at Royal Perth Hospital, said yesterday.

While seeking emergency care for a headache might be dismissed as trivial, he said a patient could actually be suffering a brain haemorrhage or a stroke.

Other seemingly benign symptoms that could turn out to be more serious were rashes and sprains, while campaigns stressed that people should go to hospital when having chest pains because it could be the first sign of a heart attack.

Professor Dobb said hospitals would need new systems to invoice patients and collect and store money, which could require extra security.

He said the fee would be a break-even proposition at best.

WA Health Minister Kim Hames said he was uncomfortable with hitting people with a co-payment for emergency departments because he did not want to force away those who desperately needed care.

"We don't want to be charging patients coming to our emergency departments but by the same token we can't have everyone who would otherwise see their GP suddenly mass into our hospitals and transfer those costs to the State Government," he said.

Opposition Leader Mark McGowan said the co-payment was complex and unfair on families.