Health and Hospitals Fund

Health and Hospitals Fund (HHF)

On 1 January 2009 the Australian Government established the Health and Hospitals Fund (HHF) to provide a financing source for health infrastructure priorities.

The objectives of the HHF, whilst not replacing State and Territory effort, are to:

• invest in major health infrastructure programs that will make significant progress towards achieving the Commonwealth’s health reform targets; and
• make strategic investments in the health system that will underpin major improvements in efficiency, access or outcomes of health care.

Current HHF projects

In the 2009-10 Federal Budget, the Government announced a $3.2 billion nation-building package of HHF projects covering three critical areas:

• $1.3 billion towards building a world class cancer care system;
• $1.5 billion towards building a hospital system for the future and to undertake other projects of national significance; and
• $430.3 million towards medical research and workforce infrastructure to improve the transfer of research outcomes into patient care.

A list of the projects funded under the HHF (Excel 32 KB)

HHF Advisory Board

Under the Nation-building Funds Act 2008, all health infrastructure spending proposals need to be assessed by an independent, expert advisory board appointed by the Minister for Health and Ageing.

The role of the Advisory Board is to advise the Minister whether proposals for funding through the HHF satisfy the HHF Evaluation Criteria (PDF 29 KB), having regard to guidelines issued by the Minister. In providing this advice the Advisory Board may also:

• identify proposals which, due to the potential benefits to the nation of the project, need more work in order to meet the evaluation criteria; and
• identify conditions that need to be met for the proposal to satisfy the Evaluation Criteria.

The current Advisory Board members are:

• Mr Bill Ferris AC (Chair)
• Ms Patricia Faulkner AO
• Ms Jane Halton PSM (ex-officio)
• Professor Stephen Leeder AO
• Mr Bruce Warner
• Professor John Wakerman
• Professor Cindy Shannon

Regional Cancer Centres

In the 2009-10 Budget, the Australian Government committed $560 million from the Health and Hospitals Fund (HHF) over five years to establish a network of best practice regional cancer centres and associated accommodation facilities. The aim of the Regional Cancer Centres initiative is to help improve access and support for cancer patients in rural, regional and remote Australia, and to help close the gap in cancer outcomes between the city and the country.

One of the regional cancer centres will be in the ACT, serving residents of the ACT and the south-east of New South Wales. Funding of $27.9 million was provided for the ACT cancer centre in the 2009-10 Budget, following a successful application from the ACT Government under the first HHF funding round.

Applications for HHF funding of new or enhanced regional cancer centres and associated accommodation facilities closed on 8 January 2010. The applications were assessed by the independent HHF Advisory Board against the HHF Evaluation Criteria (PDF 29 KB), having regard to the Regional Cancer Centres Guiding Principles (PDF 30 KB).

On 7 April 2010, the Australian Government announced that it expects to fund around 20 regional cancer care projects around the country, including approximately eight new regional cancer centres, seven upgrades to existing facilities, and four patient accommodation projects.

Between 7 April and 2 June 2010, the Government announced funding of $499.29 million for 20 regional cancer centre projects (Word 113 KB) in New South Wales (six projects), Victoria (five projects), Queensland (four projects), Western Australia (two projects), South Australia (one project), Tasmania (one project) and the ACT (one project).

These new projects should enable people with cancer to access the right care at the right time, as close as possible to home and family, irrespective of where they live or their social circumstances.

For more information about this initiative, please refer to the Questions and Answers (RTF 439 KB) or email HHFRCC@health.gov.au.

Future HHF funding rounds

At this stage there are no general future funding rounds planned for the HHF. However, organisations wishing to prepare an application under the general HHF guidelines can do so using the HHF application form (RTF 418 KB) and HHF guidelines (RTF 217 KB), and submitting it electronically to hhf@health.gov.au.

For more information, contact hhf@health.gov.au.