Health - Page 15 of 53 - Pearls and Irritations

Back to first principles on drugs

Just why is it so hard for politicians to see a better way forward in dealing with drugs in the community and to act on that vision? It is not for lack of evidence of what works to make things better and most of the community knows that. (more…)

Jul 7, 2022

Hospitals and general practice reform

Reducing the pressure on hospitals from patients who don’t require urgent and complex care requires reform of general practice. (more…)

Jul 5, 2022

Learning from Covid-19: A call for collective reflection

With the end of vaccine mandates for teachers and public servants in sight, it is an opportune moment for collective reflection. What can be learned from Australia’s management of Covid-19? What lessons can be applied to future challenges? (more…)

Jul 4, 2022

We need an Australian Healthcare Reform Commission

With a new Government it is time for Health System Reform. In fact reform is long over due. (more…)

Jun 30, 2022

Environment: Can astronomical phenomena inspire us to solve earthly problems?

Forget war, climate change, famine and dysfunctional economics for five minutes, lift your eyes to the pre-dawn skies and see five of our planetary neighbours. (more…)

Jun 18, 2022

Desperate Premiers call for radical redesign for health care funding

Australian hospitals are finding it increasingly difficult to meet legitimate, often critical demands for in-patient care. The money to do so is not there and staff shortages are critical. A combination of professional dissatisfaction re the standard of care they are able to deliver, has many health professionals deserting our public hospital system. Add in staff absences as a result of our pandemic and a severe Influenza season and we have the ‘perfect storm’ lashing our hospitals. (more…)

Jun 9, 2022

If I were the Minister for Health

I would progressively wind back and eliminate the $14b pa taxpayer subsidy for Private Health Insurance and use that very large sum to fund the inclusion of dental care within Medicare and increase the funding to the states for expanded specialist services in outpatient clinics at public hospitals. (more…)

May 18, 2022

The erosion of Medicare

Large out-of-pocket costs for specialist consultations driven by inadequate indexations are undermining Medicare. (more…)

May 16, 2022

Do we continue down the pathway of privatisation of health by stealth?

Loss of public funding for specific aspects of health care despite overall (public and private) increases in expenditure, as detailed recently by John Menadue, has already happened out of sight. (more…)

May 14, 2022

What I would do if I were the Minister for Health and Ageing in the next government

A new minister in any portfolio has two tasks: fix the past and fix the future. (more…)

May 12, 2022

Healthcare reform is not featuring in the current election

Australia’s public hospital system is having a hard time meeting the ever increasing demand for in-patient care. (more…)

May 12, 2022

Our health system: The dream and the reality

How would it be to have a health system which delivered timely high quality care to everyone, with such a system emphasising that prevention of illness and promotion of health at every level to improve health, as well as potentially increasing productivity? How would it be to have a society which recognised that poor health is frequently a result of structural inequalities in that society? (more…)

May 11, 2022

Priorities for a new health minister

After almost a decade of health policy stagnation, what are the three most important issues for a new health minister to address? (more…)

May 4, 2022

Attention Australia: The climate crisis is a health crisis too

After more than two years coping with a pandemic, the last thing we want to hear about is another global health crisis. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that as we continue to heat our fragile planet, we face a threat to public health that will eclipse even COVID-19. (more…)

May 3, 2022

None of us is safe until all of us are safe: Australia and global vaccine equity

Ending COVID public health restrictions reflects community sentiment. People are tired of COVID and want to move on. But the only way to protect our own citizens is to protect other countries. (more…)

Apr 24, 2022

Immigration of Nurses and Doctors

Australia must fix the design of employer sponsored visas to make them easier, faster and cheaper to use while increasing penalties for employers who misuse these visas. (more…)

Apr 22, 2022

Privatisation and the hollowing out of Medicare by the Morrison Government

The Coalition has for years been undermining Medicare. Bob Hawke was correct at the last election when he said that the Coalition was aiming to privatise Medicare. It was not a scare tactic as some unthinking journalists keep saying. The Coalition has been privatising by stealth for years our universal health care system. (more…)

Apr 20, 2022

Margaret Beavis: What really makes Australians more secure?

We are assured nuclear powered submarines and missiles will make us more secure, but with hospitals chronically underfunded and poverty and homelessness on the rise, are they the actually the right choice? (more…)

Apr 10, 2022

Children suffer the most in war

The nightly television coverage of the war in Ukraine is increasingly bleak. We see a distraught mother who has lost all her possessions. The camera moves to her three-year-old daughter in a pink coat, playing while her mother speaks. She seems happy enough. We are tempted to think ‘At least the children are OK’. But the children are not OK. In war it is the children who suffer the most. (more…)

Apr 4, 2022

Why vaping will be accepted as Australia’s response to tobacco

Vaping represents a historic opportunity to dramatically reduce Australia’s annual loss of 21,000 lives from smoking. But understandable intense hatred of tobacco companies and a strong preference to eliminate nicotine use has contributed to a hostility to vaping in Australia which is irrational and unsustainable. (more…)

Mar 28, 2022

Few aged care facilities deliver high quality care while also making a profit

Just 4% of for-profit providers were in the highest quality tier. (more…)

Mar 25, 2022

The return of the state? The role of government in managing the pandemic

Many countries with very high rates of COVID infection and pandemic deaths had governments reluctant to intervene to protect public health because of a strong belief in small government.

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Mar 23, 2022

Dental care must be on the election agenda – it’s time

As the federal election looms so too does a crisis in affordable access to dental care. The pandemic has served to further widen the socio-economic dental divide – and there are consequences for healthcare costs, productivity and social inclusion. (more…)

Mar 21, 2022

Investing in community health is the solution to our aged care crisis

The problems in residential aged care are a product of a much broader issue, namely the failure to fund publicly subsidised comprehensive multidisciplinary community care. (more…)

Mar 1, 2022

Boozing it up in Geneva by Big Alcohol

Big Alcohol has once again actively undermined efforts by the World Health Organization to adopt a new alcohol action plan and mobilise governments to do more to stop preventable alcohol harm.

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Feb 28, 2022

Why a Multiculturalism Act would help reduce Covid impacts on minorities

To be truly inclusive and equitable, Australia needs a federal statutory body that represents and supports people from ethnic communities.

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Feb 20, 2022

US’s high Covid death rate mark the dark side of American exceptionalism

The US’s high Covid-19 death rate can be attributed at least in part to structural barriers and a for-profit healthcare system.

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Feb 7, 2022

New variant plus our Covid-weariness frustrates pandemic control

It’s hardly surprising that a new variant has been detected in more than 55 countries, given only how little of poor countries’ populations have been vaccinated.

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Feb 5, 2022

Why the Department of Health has proven tragically inept

The Health Department’s Covid response was filled with missteps due to its indifferent minister, structural deficiencies and reliance on consultants. (more…)

Jan 29, 2022

Four strategies to help vaccinate the world against COVID-19

To bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control, vaccination rates in the most vulnerable countries need to increase.

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Jan 25, 2022

Category: Health