Our increasing use of hospital services is out of control and unsustainable and is contributing to the current crisis in accident and emergency (A&E). But the problem isn’t new and 30 years of NHS…
Women admitted to psychiatry wards experience high levels of violence and sexual assaults, according to a report released this week by the Victorian Mental Illness Alliance Council. Across the nine different…
Senior nurses warned this week that the number of patients looked after by nurses has become dangerously high in some hospitals. Quoting research from the University of Southampton, the Safe Staffing Alliance…
Beep….beep……….beep……….beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. “We’re losing him. Out of my way, nurse!” The quick-thinking young doctor charges the defibrillator paddles and places them on the chest of the lifeless…
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…
After months of battle between the Commonwealth and Victorian governments on hospital funding, Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek dramatically intervened last Wednesday by announcing a A$107 million…
As Victorian hospitals have announced bed closures, job losses and elective surgery delays over the past six weeks, cuts to health service budgets look set to significantly affect patient care in the state…
Data released today by the National Health Performance Authority (NHPA) shows just 54% of major metropolitan hospitals and 63% of major regional hospitals are treating or admitting patients within the…
The first of July saw the introduction of one of the most important health care reforms for Australia’s public hospitals: national activity-based funding (ABF). Hospitals will now be paid a fixed price…
A number of commentators have raised concerns recently about the increasing corporate presence in Australian schools. At a time of burgeoning rates of obesity and chronic disease, the increasing presence…
Electronic prescribing technology could reduce mistakes made by hospitals in medication prescriptions by up to 66%, a study has found. The study of the technology in two hospitals found procedural errors…
Health professionals and patients alike breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced she had struck a final deal with the states to reform the nation’s hospital system…
In the latest change to the Federal Government’s health reforms, Health Minister Nicola Roxon has scrapped the guarantee that public patients who don’t receive their elective surgery on time will be treated…
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne