Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Xenophon for his question on joint replacements. What I can add to that is that the government does need to start a conversation in the community about the sustainable use of health funding and the need to control the growth of health expenditure. It will be a critical part of future health reform, and we do not want to use our scarce health dollars without ensuring that we are using them effectively. We will not be able to improve the health system for the future unless we start to have that conversation.

In terms of joint replacements, the government does not advocate the removal of doctors’ clinical freedom to choose appropriate prostheses for their patients. I think that is critical. It is an important issue for Australians to ensure the quality of the prosthesis that they may be obtaining, and we are confident that doctors, especially orthopaedic surgeons, always use best practice data to improve outcomes for their patients. However, all doctors have a responsibility to use data that is available to guide their clinical choice.

In addition, the National Joint Replacement Registry collects data on all joint replacements undertaken across Australia, and currently 100 per cent of orthopaedic surgeons submit data to the NJRR. The Commonwealth prosthesis list includes about 360 hip and femoral stem components used in primary and revision total hip replacements for which private health insurers must pay benefits. The NJRR report indicated that this stem is used in only about one per cent of hip replacement surgeries.