Public hospitals are caught in an unending cycle of crisis caused by a funding formula that has failed to arrest a decline in performance over a decade, the Australian Medical Association says in a new report. “Our hospitals are full—there simply aren’t enough hospital beds or enough doctors and nurses—and tragic stories of deaths, deterioration and delayed care are becoming increasingly commonplace,” the report says. The AMA report, “Public hospitals: Cycle of crisis,” was released on Friday and says a shortage of hospital beds, overcrowded emergency departments and longer waits for elective surgery are “risking the lives of all Australians.” It warns of dire consequences if all governments fail to act and says the hospital crisis was in full swing long before COVID-19 arrived. “Hospital beds will increasingly be taken up by emergency admissions, doubling as a percentage of hospital beds by 2030-31, resulting in even longer waits for elective …