HOSPITAL waiting times for urgent patients have hardly changed in Victoria, as the health funding dispute between the federal and state governments drags on.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) annual report on public hospitals released on Friday shows little improvement in capacity and waiting times over the past year.
The report says Victorian emergency department performance improved only marginally in 2011-12.
Seventy-two per cent of urgent patients were seen within the recommended time, up from 70 per cent in 2010-11, while elective surgery waiting times remained the same.
National health reforms haven't stopped funding cuts and the "blame game" being played between state and federal governments, the AMA says.
Premier Ted Baillieu has invited Prime Minister Julia Gillard to meet with him to discuss the funding stoush that has forced some hospital bed closures and elective surgery cancellations around the state.
"The facts are undeniable and the prime minister has sought to avoid the issue. She's barely been in Victoria, she's barely been asked any questions about this, and they trot out every excuse in the book."
The federal and state governments are accusing each other of multimillion-dollar cuts to health funding.
The Victorian government says the federal government used wrong population statistics to cut $475 million from the state's health budget over four years.
But federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek says commonwealth funding to Victoria is increasing by $900 million over the next four years and Victoria has taken more than $600 million out of its health system
Ms Plibersek said the AMA report was based on early data.
She told reporters on Friday the commonwealth investment had made a big difference to the health system, but it also required states to keep up their efforts.
"We can't have the federal government doing more and then some states doing less," she said.
The federal and Victorian health ministers have met twice but remain stubbornly deadlocked.
A spokesman for the prime minister said the Victorian government chose to grandstand this week by sending Health Minister David Davis to Canberra without any new ideas on how to provide better health services.
"Ted Baillieu has followed this up with another stunt today: he should stop playing politics with Victorian patients, reverse his $616 million of cuts and start delivering better services," he said.
The AMA report found that hospitals in all states and territories fell short of the national performance target of 80 per cent of urgent patients being seen in the recommended timeframe.
It called for federal and state governments to work together, focus on problems with public hospitals and stop blaming each other.
AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton said delays in emergency room consultations for urgent patients could lead to deaths.
"If there's insufficient beds in the system and we can't get people out of emergency, it does cause harm," Mr Hambleton said.
"We do see unnecessary deaths that we do want to protect against."
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