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Author Archives: Ian Webster
IAN WEBSTER. The UK and COVID-19; lessons for the UK and some for Australia
It is with bewilderment and concern we watch as COVID-19 overwhelms the UK’s health and social systems. There are lessons to be learnt for Australia, too.
IAN WEBSTER: Public health and the nanny state.
Behind our backs, public health became the poor cousin of biomedicine and was dismissed as ‘drains and sewerage’. How wrong we were!
Posted in Health, Public Policy
2 Comments
IAN WEBSTER. Too many experts at a time of crisis.
This is a time when advice needs to be considered, balanced, respectful and well-founded.
Posted in Health
3 Comments
IAN WEBSTER. The retreat from patients, a letter to young doctors
The idea that the pressures of patient care cause doctors to withdraw from direct clinical work has been in the background of my observations of my colleagues and their work since the 1970s.
IAN WEBSTER.- Advocacy is hard going against the alcohol lobby.
It is a loss powerfully felt,but subdued. Not by politicians or the alcohol industry, but by doctors and nurses in the clinics and rehab. centres. The highly respected Michael Thorn has departed from the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education(FARE) … Continue reading
Posted in Health
3 Comments
IAN WEBSTER. US opioid epidemic: a warning to Australia?
Two ABC documentaries – ‘Opioid America’, Foreign Correspondent, 19th March and on TV Tonight, Louis Theroux, April 2nd portrayed the cycle of addiction in damaged US communities with no hope or future. Both were in West Virginia where opioid deaths … Continue reading
Posted in Health
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IAN WEBSTER. Of minds imprisoned.
Beyond the image of the vagabond and the impaired bodies and minds of homeless people there are untapped veins of intellect and potential; this is where our focus should be. “The homeless are our most important dreamers, prophets and poets … Continue reading
Posted in Health
2 Comments
IAN WEBSTER. It’s not mental illness, but despair
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have got it right when they frame the conditions we label as mental illness as issues of social and emotional well-being. They do not consider the endemic problems in their communities, as mental illnesses.
Posted in Health
2 Comments
IAN WEBSTER: Preventing suicide
The 10th September is recognised as World Suicide Prevention Day. “The burden of suicide does not weigh solely on the health sector; it has multiple impacts on many sectors and on society as a whole. Thus, to start a successful … Continue reading
Posted in Health
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IAN WEBSTER. Drug Reform Series- Drug policy and justice
In the final analysis, drug policy based on prohibition fails to meet the test of fairness and justice in the lives of those most directly affected.
Posted in Drug Reform, Health
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IAN WEBSTER. Government and the medicalisation of disabilities
Each year two thirds of applications for a Disability Support Pension are rejected; a rejection rate which has doubled in 8 years (Christopher Knaus, Guardian, 8 June 2018).
Posted in Health
2 Comments
IAN WEBSTER. Welfare sanctions.
To save $204.7 million, the Government plans to impose draconian sanctions on those needing income support who miss appointments, or work interviews, or who don’t take up the jobs proposed for them. That can’t be the real reason, since the … Continue reading
IAN WEBSTER. Policy failures in mental health
Mental health problems arising out of modern despair have to be tackled with insights gained from the day-to-day lives of society’s outcasts and the social sciences. Matthew Fisher, (Australia’s policy failure on mental health, Pearls and Irritations, 14 December 2017) … Continue reading
Posted in Health
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IAN WEBSTER. The social harm of alcohol to communities and society
The social harm of alcohol, alcohol’s ‘harm to others’, is a re-vitalised framework for national and international policies to control the marketing of alcohol.
Posted in Health
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IAN WEBSTER. Lessons from the British National Health Scheme for Australia.
Jeremy Hunt, Health Secretary in the UK, accused Stephen Hawking of a ‘pernicious lie’: “(he) is a brilliant physicist but wrong on lack of evidence.” Stephen Hawking had said his survival for 75 years with motor neurone disease was due … Continue reading
Posted in Health
3 Comments
IAN WEBSTER. Specialists versus generalists: A commentary on John Menadue and Peter Brooks
John Menadue and Peter Brooks have mounted powerful critiques of private specialist medical practice in a series in Pearls and Irritations. The nub of their positions is the high fee structure in (private out-patient) specialist practice is out of kilter … Continue reading
Posted in Health
Tagged access to Medicare, general practitioners, Ian Webster, medical specialist fees, primary healthcare
1 Comment
IAN WEBSTER. The need for more balanced media reporting of alcohol and illicit drug problems.
To those who work in the health system, ‘ICE’ is but one problem among many and pales into the background of the prevailing problems of addiction and misuse of alcohol and drugs.
Posted in Health, Media
Tagged alcohol, amphetamines, Anne Deveson, Ian Webster, ice, media.
2 Comments
IAN WEBSTER. A tribute to Anne Deveson – understanding the homeless mentally ill
Anne Deveson’ s media presence spearheaded the media’s involvement in public health and mental health. She contributed at so many levels – social commentaries and documentaries -which challenged our sensibilities.
Posted in Health, Human Rights, Tributes
Tagged Anne Deveson, homelessness, Ian Webster, mental health
3 Comments
IAN WEBSTER. Protecting young people from our ‘favourite drug’ – alcohol.
Marketing of alcohol is out of control. 20% of those watching major sporting events on TV are under the age of 18 years.
Posted in Health, Media, Sport
Tagged alcohol and sport, Ian Webster, TV advertising of alcohol
2 Comments
IAN WEBSTER. Standing up for Medicare.
Fair access to health care is in the zeitgeist of European countries and Australia. The political sensitivities of this issue were demonstrated in the last election with the angst generated by the Labor Party’s “Mediscare” campaign.
IAN WEBSTER. Amid chaos, ethics.
Speaking particularly of the treatment people in Manus and Nauru, Professor Ian Webster argues that in this secular and chaotic world, the values and principles of the professional codes of health workers could be used to frame their future contributions … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Health, Human Rights
Tagged detention of asylum seekers, Ian Webster, Lancet, Physicians for Human Rights, professional codes of conduct.
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IAN WEBSTER. Malcolm Turnbull and homelessness – reaching mentally ill people
This week our PM, Malcolm Turnbull, was admonished when he gave $5 to a homeless man in Melbourne. He was sorry if people thought he should not have done this. He said, “I felt sorry for the guy”….”there but … Continue reading
Posted in Health, Human Rights
Tagged homelessness, Ian Webster, Malcolm Turnbull on homelessness, Matthew Talbot, Needs of homeless
1 Comment
IAN WEBSTER. Health care for aged people is increasingly complex.
From his experience in intensive care in one of Australia’s busiest intensive care units at Liverpool Hospital in Southwest Sydney, Professor Ken Hillman describes the failure of specialised, super-specialised, medicine to deal appropriately and humanely with seriously ill aged … Continue reading
Posted in Health
Tagged chronic disease in ageing, community based primary care, end of life issues, health of homeless people, Ian Webster, Ken Hillman
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IAN WEBSTER. Bulk-billing rates are not what they seem.
A categorical mistake: Is bulk-billing a reliable indicator of access to GPs? Where I work in regional NSW, patients have difficulty finding a GP who is prepared to bulk-bill them for their medical care. The phone call to the … Continue reading
Posted in Health, Politics
Tagged bulk-billing rates, Evan Ackermann, Ian Webster
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Ian Webster. Is community medicine dead?
John Menadue said in the NSW Health Council Report of 2000, “Services should be based where patients and consumers live. The autonomy and dignity of each patient is best serviced by providing services wherever possible outside hospital. So a shift … Continue reading
Posted in Health, Indigenous affairs, Politics
Tagged community medicine, Ian Webster, primary health care, Sidney Sax
1 Comment
Ian Webster. Drugs and the problem of pain
At the centre of the drug problem is the problem of psychic and physical pain People with mental illness turn to alcohol and drugs to lessen their distress. When adolescents and young adults use a substance to ameliorate their social … Continue reading
Posted in Health, Politics
Tagged drugs and pain, Ian Webster
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Ian Webster. On thin “ICE”.
“If we wish to annihilate the junk pyramid, we must start at the bottom of the pyramid: the addict in the street, and stop tilting quixotically for the higher-ups so-called, all of whom are immediately replaceable. The addict in the … Continue reading
Posted in Health, Politics
Tagged Australian Navy suicides, Ian Webster, Ice and alcohol
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Ian Webster. Alcohol-drenched cricket.
Michael Thorn is right; the ICC Cricket World Cup was an alcohol-drenched event (SMH Tuesday, 31st March 2015). Cricketers were once models of sportsmanship. There was even altruism and some became statesmen. Recall, “That’s simply not cricket.” No longer, as … Continue reading
Ian Webster. Suicide prevention.
September 10th was World Suicide Prevention Day – Suicide Prevention – One World Connected and from the 5th to the 12th October Mental Health Week ran in Australia. The week’s highlight was the ABC’s “Mental as” which ran through the … Continue reading
Posted in Health
Tagged Ian Webster, suicide and previous early health service contact, suicide prevention
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