Federal Labor is yet to guarantee to the people of regional New South Wales they will not become victims of Kevin Rudd‟s hospital reform takeover plan.
Senator Fiona Nash said the Rudd Labor hospital takeover plan is long on spin and short on details.
"With all the talk of Rudd Labor‟s hospital reform there is still no guarantee from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd or Health Minister Nicola Roxon the takeover plan will actually lead to improved services for regional New South Wales," said Senator Fiona Nash.
"What is clear to me is that the people of New South Wales are not getting the whole story on hospitals from Rudd Labor. Typical Kevin Rudd, his plan is long on spin, short on detail.
"Health Minister Nicola Roxon has already „belled the cat‟ on the need to increase taxes to takeover State hospital systems before we even know what‟s in the plan.
"All we really know is that Rudd Labor want to spend more on health bureaucracy in the regions; a bureaucracy that does not have the knowledge, skills and competence to deliver hospital services.
"What about spending money on doctors and services? And why wait until 2012?
"Kevin Rudd promised to „fix public hospitals by mid-2009‟. If the hospital reform takeover plan is such a good idea why don‟t they begin the process now?
"Many hospitals across NSW are already at peak capacity with no room for expansion. Staff shortages are commonplace.
"We have heard the regional horror stories of an already failed NSW health system.
"Dubbo hospital had to borrow bandages from the local vet, and out at Gilgandra and Coonabarabran patients could not be fed meat because the local butcher‟s bill wasn‟t paid. No doubt there are countless other stories waiting to be told.
"Is the Rudd hospital takeover plan truly a hospital fix or just a quick political fix from Kevin „all talk and no action‟ Rudd.
"Labor‟s emissions trading scheme has been put on the backburner, the Henry Tax Review appears to have been shelved. And what about the insulation debacle?
"How long before Rudd Labor‟s hospital reform gets all too hard to fix and falls by the way side too?
Perhaps hospitals is just another agenda item on Kevin Rudd‟s „path to mass distraction‟, said Senator Nash.