1 Audit context

1.1 Oral health

Good oral health is an important part of general health and wellbeing, enabling people to eat, sleep, socialise and work without pain or embarrassment. Poor oral health can lead to psychological and social problems including poor self-esteem, anxiety and depression.

Dental problems are common but preventable. In 2012, the World Health Organisation reported that the most common oral diseases in the world were dental cavities, gum disease and oral cancer.

Audit overview

Good oral health is important for general health and wellbeing. Poor oral health has a significant impact on individuals, the health system and society.

Most oral diseases can be prevented, and access to preventive oral health care can promote good oral health and minimise oral disease.

Access to Public Dental Services in Victoria

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This audit assessed the extent to which people eligible for public dental services have timely access to dental services, and whether the Department of Health & Human Services and Dental Health Services Victoria effectively facilitate timely access.

Appendix D. Glossary

Activity-based funding

Method of allocating funding based on unit prices for each activity undertaken and the volume of that activity an entity is to perform.

Adverse opinion

An audit opinion expressed if the auditor has sufficient appropriate audit evidence and concludes that misstatements, individually and in aggregate, are both material and pervasive in the financial report.

Appendix A. Audit Act 1994 section 16—submissions and comments

We have consulted with all of the public hospitals and the Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) throughout the course of our audits, and we considered their views when reaching our audit conclusions. As required by section 16(3) of the Audit Act 1994, we gave a draft copy of this report, or relevant extracts, to those agencies and asked for their submissions and comments.

Responsibility for the accuracy, fairness and balance of those comments rests solely with the agency head.

Responses were received as follows:

4 Capital funding

In 2015–16 public hospitals controlled $13.5 billion in physical assets.

These assets, which include medical infrastructure, property, plant and equipment, need to be periodically renewed, upgraded or replaced to meet increasing safety and care standards.

In this Part, we examine the capital funding model for public hospitals and some of the challenges they face renewing and replacing property, plant and equipment. We also present case studies to illustrate the actions taken by public hospitals when capital funding is insufficient.

3 Financial sustainability

In this Part, we provide an insight into the financial sustainability risks to the 87 public hospitals, using a set of financial indicators.

To be financially sustainable, hospitals need to be able to fund their current and future costs. They also need to be able to absorb the financial effects of economic changes and financial risks, without significantly changing their revenue and expenditure policies.