Waiting for emergency care, specialist appointments and “elective” procedures is not only inconvenient and frustrating, it can also be painful and detrimental to your health and well-being.
Why is it so difficult to find out exactly how much it’s going to cost to have that suspicious mole removed or to be admitted to hospital for that colonoscopy or hip replacement?
In a time of growing populations, hospitals must guarantee access, ensure quality, minimise the chances of anything going wrong, and do it all within the available budget. So they need to change.
This was the year of the health review – mental health care, Medicare, private health insurance, the pharmacy industry … and the list goes on. But how much movement was there on policy?
Chronic diseases are responsible for nine out of ten deaths in Australia, and for much of the public health expenditure that’s causing governments so much concern.
The reforms announced today have the potential to change this appalling situation. But ultimately they should be judged on the outcomes they achieve for patients.
Pain management is one of the most neglected aspects of health care; our failure to adequately address chronic pain is a major driver of its economic and social burden.
Current incentives used to recruit more teachers to work in rural and regional schools aren’t working. But could the health sector offer up some possible solutions?
Although there are significant challenges to making data within My Health Record useful in the management of a person’s health, the move to make it more open is positive.
If Australia’s new prime minister wishes to lead a successful 21st-century government, he must tackle the rise in chronic disease and use data to constantly improve the system.
On closing the asylums, Australia failed to invest in an alternative model of community mental health care. So there are few alternatives between the GP surgery and the hospital emergency department.
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne