Category: Health

On May 3, Health Minister Greg Hunt spoke at a conference organised by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia. This is the pharmacy owners association (all pharmacists) which in 2011, notoriously, entered into a deal with the vitamin and supplement provider, Blackmores, to have 5000 pharmacies try and sell a Blackmores’ product to clients picking up prescription medicines. Once revealed the subsequent opprobrium, of course, resulted in the deal being cancelled. (more…)

Last week, the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation imposed a record fine, of $300,000, on Crown Casino. The fine, and a letter of censure, were imposed following revelations that Crown employees had ‘tampered’ with electronic gambling machines (EGMs, also known as pokies) by removing buttons from some of them. The effect of this was to reduce the available betting options, encouraging gamblers to bet more than they may have intended. Crown denied this was ‘deliberate’, blaming the unauthorized actions of a group of employees; and disputed whether it breached regulations. Nonetheless, in a statement, they copped the penalty. (more…)

Drug policy in Australia has been debated for decades but doesn’t seem to be getting close to resolution. However some progress is being made. Examples include the Victorian government’s decision in 2017 to establish a Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in Melbourne and the ACT government’s in principle decision in 2017 to allow a trial of pill testing. Social policy reform is always slow. The drug policy debate has some particular characteristics that make it especially difficult.   (more…)

Medical homes, where you as a patient are known personally by name and history and where a team of health professionals, generally led by a general practitioner, arrange and provide your care, have not taken off as expected. Why?  (more…)

Never before has a tax been such an instant success. I am talking about what happened in Britain last Friday. That’s when new so-called sugar tax sprung into life, with much of its work already done.

The whole idea was to cut the consumption of sugar, something we have just as much need to do here, given that our rates of obesity are on a par with those in Britain – an outrage that will prevent many of us living long lives. (more…)

The anguish expressed by many of the 1,200 respondents to the Consumers Health Forum’s Out of Pocket Pain survey highlights the widening gulf between the cost of modern medical care and the struggle of many Australians to pay for that care. (more…)

A recent post at Croakey highlighted the major findings of the Australian Law Reform Commission’ s Pathways to Justice report on the over-incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The report was tabled in parliament last week and is awaiting a detailed response from government.

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The inequities in the status of oral health in Australia are appalling because of a lack of political will and a resistance to recognising that all Australians deserve to receive adequate dental care. This resistance is rooted in the elitism of those in power, the belief that if one can’t earn an adequate income, then second rate access to dental care is one’s lot. (more…)

Writing last Thursday in the Conversation about the South African cricket scandal, Michelle Grattan pointed to politicians “who would prefer to overlook awkward parallels with conduct in politics – for instance the endemic tampering with the ball of truth.”  (more…)

Last week Australia21, (www.australia21.org.au ), hosted a summit of experts on drug treatment, drug law and the social impact of drug use in Australia. 

The signatories included a former Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, people who have been actively engaged in research into alcohol and drug use for periods as long as 40 years, researchers into the criminal justice system, prisoner rehabilitation, domestic violence and child protection, as well as church agencies working in various aspects of the welfare space.  (more…)

Tips on negotiating with your doctor and shopping around for a surgeon who doesn’t charge excessively. (more…)

Australia’s health “system”, such as it is has two “Achilles’ Heels”. The left one is our lack of emphasis on the prevention of disease while the right one concerns our incompetence in integrating health services in a patient-focused way. Both were on vivid display recently with the release of a new report by the  “Australia’s Oral Health Tracker”. (more…)

Australia has a unique mix of private, public, for profit and NFP stakeholders in its health system. This structure derives significantly from Constitutional issues. Corporate medicine now occupies a significant part of the health landscape. Is this a cause for concern? (more…)

My patients often pay thousands of dollars annually for their cover, but it’s not cost-effective in many cases (more…)

Half of Australians with private health insurance say it is no longer worth the expense, a new survey commissioned by comparison website iSelect has found. (more…)

On Tuesday, March 27^th the Australian Healthcare Reform Alliance (AHCRA) is hosting the 8^th National Health Reform Summit in Canberra.  This biennial event brings together organisations, experts and individuals working to improve Australia’s health system.  This year’s Summit has a theme of Equity, Efficiency and Sustainability and will focus on developing positions on key health reform issues in the lead-up to the next federal election.  Registrations for this event and the associated Advocacy and Communications Workshop are still open at www.healthreform.org.au    (more…)

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP), comprising more than 16,000 medical specialists, advises governments on matters of health and medical care, and has a respected voice in the community. However, its raison d’être is to train specialist physicians. 8,000 aspiring physicians are now in training. Assessing their road-worthiness includes a high-stakes, high-stress, ‘barrier’ examination. 

This year’s exam, offered at 20 centres in Australia and New Zealand, was computer-based.It was a debacle. (more…)

There is now indisputable evidence that the criminalisation of drug use causes significant harm to people who use drugs, their families and the wider community. Even the United Nations has conceded that the ‘War on Drugs’ has failed to curb drug use, increased the spread of blood-borne viruses including Hepatitis C, and seen a burgeoning criminal drug market flourish. (more…)

Australia 21, a respected, independent, public policy, research and ‘think tank’ focused, organisation   is hosting its fourth roundtable forum on the issue of Australia’s illicit drugs policy, on 21 March 2018 at Victoria’s Parliament House. (more…)

Gambling reform has been in the headlines lately – perhaps more than at any time since the Wilkie-Gillard agreement was shot down by ClubsNSW between 2010 and 2012. (more…)

In a piece published in the Medical Journal of Australia in December 2014, I called for an end to the artificial medical/dental divide. At the same time, writing in The Conversation, I outlined six first steps towards the better integration of dental and medical care to improve health outcomes and contain overall health care spending. My thoughts then are applicable today, especially in light of additional data and information that has emerged over the past three years. (more…)