Chief among these have been the claims,  and so far unfounded fears, the new hospital won’t live up to expectations or that it will not provide the service levels and resources we might expect for some new state-of-the-art health facility.

While health officials have been at pains to assure us the hospital will adequately fit our needs – and those of the future – there have still been whispers about drawbacks we might see or staffing levels that won’t meet demand.

The most extreme of these have been cries that we will have a big, bright new hospital – but with empty rooms and too few staff to run things.

Given we have for the past few years been party to more and more budgetary and financial squeezes brought on by government funding crises, the colourful claims of our health system being actually in a terminal illness spiral have been widespread.

Medicos have spoken out about the sick system they are confronting, and in Tamworth our medical ranks are adjusting continually to specialist resourcing problems and patient overcrowding.

This week’s annual report card on our public hospital performances does nothing to make us feel better.

Doctors are warning of a crisis as federal government funding cuts take effect, forcing patients to wait even longer for emergency treatment and elective surgery.

The Australian Medical Association is warning of the impact of the cuts, to be discussed by Prime Minister Tony Abbott and state and territory leaders in Canberra today. Some are using the words “perfect storm” to describe the approaching situation. 

Fairfax Media has already reported the Abbott government is booking savings of $57 billion over 10 years as a result of dismantling the original hospital funding system based on growth in demand and costs, and from 2017 is moving to a new system where the Commonwealth’s contribution is adjusted only for population growth and inflation.

AMA president Brian Owler contends the Commonwealth is withdrawing from its commitment to sustainable public hospital funding, and to meet an equal share of growth in public hospital costs.

The savings measures, he says, point to hospital funding and capacity being locked into the inadequate levels of current performance.

Waiting times for elective surgery have flatlined nationally, and there has been only modest progress towards targets for emergency treatment.

While accepting the reality of funding and sustainability, we also can’t accept that the future forecasts patients waiting longer for treatment.