Under Labor, the accommodation allowance has been fixed at $30 per person per night for over a decade resulting in an almost 50 per cent real cut in accommodation assistance, while patients who travel by car receive a subsidy of just 15 cents per kilometre.
Many rural and regional Queensland patients choose to forego health treatment due to the costs associated with travelling to access health services.
Queensland's Patient Travel Subsidy Scheme (PTSS) provides financial assistance to patients, and in some cases their carers, who need to travel to Brisbane or other major regional centres
to access specialised medical treatment. The level of assistance provided is entirely inadequate and covers only a small fraction of the actual transport and accommodation costs.
The LNP will act to improve affordable access to health services for rural and regional Queenslanders by doubling the current travel and accommodation subsidy for rural and regional patients.
Over four years, this will mean an extra $100 million to assist patients manage the financial burden and stress of travelling to access health services.
This initiative is part of the LNP's commitment to revitalise front line health services, delivering much needed access to health services for all Queenslanders.
You can't improve critical health services without a change of Government – with your help we'll get Queensland Back on Track.
LNP Policy Commitments:
• Increase the travel subsidy from 15 cents per km to 30 cents per km where a private car is used for transport; and
• Increase the accommodation subsidy from $30 to $60 per person where the patient and their carer or escort stay in accommodation.