THE Productivity Commission has turned the attention of its Report on Government Services (ROGS to its friends) to health.

This has prompted the new Health Minister Simon Corbell to paint a rosy picture with some of the findings.

Firstly with bulk billing:

“The availability of GPs per 100,000 people continues to increase within the ACT, from 65.5 in 2010-11 to 72.0 in 2013-14.

“The ACT also has the highest percentage (42.6%) of female GPs as a proportion of all GPs of all jurisdictions, with the Australian average standing at 33.5%.

The proportion of GP visits that are bulk billed in the ACT has continued to increase, rising from 50.2% during 2011-12 to 57.2% for 2013-14. This has increased from a low in 2005-06 of 44.2%.

And with surgery waiting times:

“ACT Public Hospitals have made significant improvements in how quickly patients access their elective surgery within the clinically recommended timeframes. Our median wait time for surgery has improved from 51 days in 2012-13 to 48 days in 2013-14.

“The ACT median waiting time is now the lowest it has been since 2003. Furthermore, in 2013, the ACT managed to achieve eight on the nine national Elective Surgery Targets.

The Liberals’ Jeremy Hanson, however, paints a different picture with the numbers:

“Canberra’s health system is still languishing under ACT Labor and the new Minister Simon Corbell doesn’t seem to have any solutions. Patient satisfaction of nurses and doctors is the worst in the country across a range of indicators. It’s clear the government still isn’t giving our valued health professionals the resources they need to do their jobs well. On top of all this we’re the most expensive health system per capita,” Mr Hanson said.

“Emergency department waiting times are still dire. Only 61 percent of patients were seen within the recommended timeframes, well short of the 75 percent benchmark.

“The ACT health system has consistently performed poorly under ACT Labor’s management and I continue to hear regularly from Canberrans who are forced to deal with the problems.