THE Australian Medical Association has backed a $500 million federal government plan aimed at cutting emergency department patient waiting times to no more than four hours.

The federal government hopes the plan will win over state governments which are yet to embrace reforms to public hospital funding.

The Your Hospitals report released last October showed that 24 per cent of patients treated and released from Bendigo hospital’s emergency department during the 2008-09 financial year stayed more than four hours.

One in three patients admitted to hospital after going to the emergency department was not admitted to a bed within eight hours.

AMA president Dr Andrew Pesce said the funding, which will be rolled out over four years, would greatly assist emergency departments.

“Emergency departments will be able to provide greater capacity and more resources to safely reduce waiting times for patients.

“The funding will assist emergency departments to deal more efficiently with patients who are treated and discharged and those who are referred for follow-up treatment.

“There will need to be additional reforms to ensure that patients who must be admitted to hospital have a bed to go to in a safe and appropriate time frame.

“A significant amount of emergency department problems are directly related to hospital bed availability and occupancy.”

Dr Pesce said the success of the plan would depend on federal government investment in other areas.

“Extra beds are needed to ensure a maximum 85 per cent bed occupancy in public hospitals.

“We will be looking to the government for announcements on hospital beds, sub-acute care and aged care reform to maximise the potential for success of this investment.”