Peter Dutton and Tanya Plibersek at the National Press Club where, like the rest of the campaign, the parties seemed to vie to be blander.
Penny Bradfield/AAP
The dictionary has many words that could describe health policy in the 2013 federal election campaign – anodyne, soporific and vapid all come to mind. Australia’s health policy problems cannot afford the…
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott during a visit to St Vincents Hospital in Sydney, on the day the Coalition released its health policy.
Alan Porritt/AAP
The Coalition’s Policy to Support Australia’s Health System is a cautious document, despite shadow health minister Peter Dutton’s promise of a “cracker of a health policy”. Tony Abbott set the scene at…
This is one of the first elections in decades where health isn’t a headline issue.
Image from shutterstock.com
Welcome to the The Conversation’s Election 2013 State of the Nation essays. These articles by leading experts in their field provide an in-depth look at the key policy challenges affecting Australia as…
Paying the price for jumping the gun.
PA/Rebecca Naden
The NHS 111 telephone service was designed to direct people to the right help for urgent medical problems but has faced a barrage of criticism since it was implemented in April. The most recent blow was…
Dementia prevalence down but not out.
Flickr/Sparkle Glowplug
Dementia has been described as a ticking time bomb, with the number of those affected predicted to double in the next two decades. But a new study suggests that the prevalence of people with dementia in…
Not carpet bombs, but competition..
Pixabay/LoboStudioHamburg
Julian Le Grand, London School of Economics and Political Science
David Nicholson, the retiring Chief Executive of NHS England, has warned against what he called “carpet bombing” the NHS with competition. For him, and others, less focus on competition is a good thing…
The key question is whether the new prime minister regards the hospital system as having been fixed.
AAP Image/David Crosling
One of the key platforms of the first Rudd government was to reform the health and hospital system. The key message from then-prime minister Kevin Rudd was that the health, and particularly hospitals…
Passions run high when it comes to the NHS but despite some unprecedented challenges it will do what it always does - survive.
PA
The NHS in 2013 is facing a series of unprecedented challenges. A rapidly ageing population is just one of a number of factors fuelling a rise in demand for services and hospitals are struggling to cope…
One-third of rural patients wait 24 hours or longer for an urgent GP appointment.
Image from shutterstock.com
If you live far from a city, you are likely to be in poorer health than your urban counterparts; you’re also less likely to use health-care services and if you do, you’ll have to wait longer for care…
Based on current evidence, expanding these services is the right thing to do.
Image from shutterstock.com
In the ninth part of our series Health Rationing, Stephen Duckett examines the government’s decision to extend the breast cancer screening program. As one of many pre-budget teasers, Health Minister Plibersek…
Health rationing assessments compare different aspects of health such as pain, anxiety, mobility and social interactions – but what’s more important?
Image from shutterstock.com
In the seventh part of our series Health Rationing, Richard Norman and Rosalie Viney explain the controversial system governments use to decide what will and won’t be covered under Australia’s universal…
The health budget isn’t limitless: decisions have to be made about to how to allocate funding between competing choices.
AAP/Dave Hunt
In the sixth part of our series Health Rationing, Mark Mackay examines the latest think tank blueprint to rein in Australia’s rising health costs. But he warns that before funding models are adjusted…
The current fee-for-service model makes it difficult to contain costs and boost the quality of care.
Image from shutterstock.com
In the fourth part of our series Health Rationing, Peter Sivey explains why it might be time to abandon Medicare’s fee-for-service model. Teachers aren’t paid a fee for each lesson they teach, nor are…
We need a more rational debate about how and where we spend our finite health budget.
Image from shutterstock.com
HEALTH RATIONING – a series which examines Australia’s rising health costs and the tough decisions governments must make to rein them it. Any mention of the “R” word in health care immediately brings to…
The biggest and fastest-growing spending category in health is hospitals.
Image from shutterstock.com
With health costs rising and costly medical innovations on the horizon, it’s crunch time for health funding. In the lead up to the May budget, The Conversation’s experts will explore the options for reining…
Around 60% of complaints against doctors are about the quality of care that was provided.
Image from shutterstock.com
Health commissions and medical boards should publicly disclose the details of complaints against doctors when multiple allegations of misconduct or inappropriate behaviour are made, experts say. The call…
Research should be routinely performed as part of health-care delivery.
Image from shutterstock.com
If you missed the release of the McKeon review on Friday you’re not alone. The Commonwealth government released the Strategic Review of Health and Medical Research just before the weekend – a time usually…
Medicare locals aim to reduce visits to emergency departments by coordinating after-hours care.
image from shutterstock.com
While independent, government-funded Medicare Locals are still in their embryonic form, opposition health spokesperson Peter Dutton has hinted that, if elected, a Coalition government would scrap the bureaucracies…
Nurses are providing many primary care services traditionally performed by doctors.
Image from shutterstock.com
With Australia’s population growing, living longer, and experiencing more disease and disability, there’s no doubt demand for health services will increase. But how are we going to pay for it? With this…
The recent rise in the number of GPs could be welcomed as addressing the shortage.
Image from shutterstock.com
Monash University demographer Bob Birrell is quoted in today’s Australian newspaper as saying the national doctor shortage is “a myth”. He points out a large recent increase in the number of GPs, a rise…
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne