Health
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Should we believe a Mediscare campaign?
For the last two and a half years the opposition under Peter Dutton’s leadership has avoided virtually any concrete policy commitments in the health area. What happened last time the Coalition won government, when Dutton became health minister? Continue reading »
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The great mental health experiment … and why it went so wrong
Half a century ago, governments around the world ditched their old psychiatric hospitals for something they said would work better. It didn’t. Continue reading »
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Is there much life after age 80?
More people live longer as life expectancies grow over the decades. For example, in 1900, the worldwide average life expectancy (defined as the average number of years remaining) was 32 years. By 2024, it is now 73.3 years. A commonly-asked question is how much life is left for those of us aged 80 and above? Continue reading »
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Another wrongful conviction? UK nurse Lucy Letby may be a scapegoat for an under-funded NHS
In August 2023, nurse Lucy Letby was convicted of the murder of seven babies and attempted murder of six babies in the neonatal unit of a UK National Health Service (NHS) hospital. The Australian media has reported on the current instalment of the saga (viz. a judicial inquiry into conditions at the hospital where Letby Continue reading »
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Addressing misdiagnoses and gaps in Australia’s COVID-19 inquiry
The national report on Australia’s COVID response is long, at 877 pages (depending upon the format), with 4,647 footnotes. But long is not synonymous with comprehensive, and there are significant gaps in the report’s analysis and conclusions. Continue reading »
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They destroyed what was inside us: The children of Gaza
From the day the war began, 15-year old Ghazal’s life was irreversibly changed. “They destroyed what was inside us,” she said. Her story is a window into the larger tragedy of how war has devastated children, especially those with disabilities. Continue reading »
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‘No appeal from the grave’ Phillip Hughes, workplace deaths and getting the balance right
The death of cricketer Phillip Hughes ten years ago to-day (November 27) was one of several hundred workplace fatalities in 2014. Continue reading »
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COVID 19 Response Inquiry Report: A comprehensive review despite its limited terms of reference
My recent review of the book, Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism, by Steven Hamilton and Richard Holden (H&H) highlighted its ‘convincing, frank and honest account’ in just over 200 pages, and encouraged the Health Department in particular to listen to its lessons. The official COVID-19 Response Inquiry Report by Robyn Kruk, Catherine Bennett and Angela Jackson ( Continue reading »
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Health Department: Listen to these lessons from our COVID 19 experience
A review of Steven Hamilton and Richard Holden, Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism: How we crushed the curve but lost the race, UNSW Press Continue reading »
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Health and Human Security: a sense of control over one’s life
It is time to think more broadly about security than the narrow military concept about which there is endless debate. Continue reading »
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Putting the mouth back into Medicare
How would it be to walk into a general practice with a toothache and be triaged to see the oral health therapist, who assesses and then develops an oral health care plan? They are then qualified to provide dental treatment but may also involve a GP or dentist across the corridor for further assessment. It Continue reading »
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Trump victory increases hazards for climate and global health
The well documented and steadily increasing health problems globally, directly associated with climate change, have been discussed with appropriate alarm by many expert contributors to P & I. Continue reading »
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Reform starts here: APA welcomes the final report of the scope of practice review and its potential to transform primary care
The Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) welcomes the final report of the Scope of Practice Review, Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce, which outlines robust solutions to overcoming barriers limiting high-value care across settings. Continue reading »
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Conflicts of interest and the subconscious mind
In recent days, our media have covered two “scandals” involving allegations against public figures of failing to adequately address identifiable conflicts of interest. Continue reading »
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Facing an aging population and financial challenges, hospitals in China are converting to senior care facilities
I have always had an interest in reading local official research documents. First, compared with the central level document, it provides a more “grassroots angle” of viewing problems and the way they get things done. Second, it is enriched with cases rather than theories. It’s just more practical. Third, it has a specific format and Continue reading »
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Rescuing hospitals
The nation’s public hospital system is sicker than it looks. There are practical, affordable ways to make it better — but not if governments go on doing the same things. Continue reading »
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The question of voluntary assisted dying in dementia is not simple
The articles by Ian Chubb and John Ward calling for an extension of voluntary assisted dying (VAD) to cover dementia evoke the deep sadness experienced by many people confronted with this condition. Continue reading »
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Restoring universal health care in Australia
Listen to Australian Community Futures Planning (ACFP) Founder, Bronwyn Kelly, interview Ian McAuley about the prospects for restoration of universality in Australia’s health care system. Continue reading »
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How well is Australia doing on wellbeing?
The Australian Government has established ‘Measuring What Matters’, Australia’s first national wellbeing framework. It follows similar frameworks in SA, Victoria and the ACT, and one under development in NSW. Will these frameworks help to improve psychological wellbeing in Australia? Continue reading »
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A campaign to raise awareness of aged care star ratings is wasting public money
Last week the government launched a media campaign to “build awareness, trust, and use” of the system of aged care star ratings. Continue reading »
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Singing from the same hymn sheet – solutions for mental health care in Australia
At a time when there is a surge in mental health disorders in young Australians of 47 per cent over 15 years and the health system is struggling to cope with the growing complexity and demand, multidisciplinary solutions are being proposed between the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, the Australian College of Continue reading »
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The conveyor belt for terminally ill older people
The default for people who are older and near the end of life when they suffer an acute deterioration is often hospitalisation. They are placed on a conveyor belt – ambulance, Emergency Department (ED), hospital, often ending up on life support in the intensive care unit. Continue reading »
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Behind the headlines on Australia’s ‘top performing health system’
It is quite challenging to reconcile headlines like ‘Record number of Australians raid super to fund medical treatments’ with a health minister’s statement claiming, ‘Medicare top performing health system in the world’. Continue reading »
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Aged care reforms unfair, unreasonable, unsustainable
Bipartisan agreement between the government and opposition have resulted in compromised, ageist inflected amendments to aged care legislation that do not respond adequately to the damning findings and reasoned recommendations of the royal commission. Continue reading »
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Nurse-led clinics: getting a return on your taxpayer dollar
It is disappointing, although hardly surprising, to see the medical organisations in July of this year trotting out their opposition to anything other than GP-led primary health care in both Queensland and the ACT; and then (again in a September media release) to see that remarkably (or maybe predictably) the RACGP is restoking its outrage Continue reading »
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Given the choice, would my wife have chosen to ‘let dementia take its course’?
This is an emotional story for me. It is personal. It is a story about my experience. Continue reading »
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For-profit US healthcare system — once again — ranks dead last among its peers
“Our private, profit-driven system means that we are paying more for less,” said one progressive activist. Continue reading »
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We can no longer ignore the poor oral health of older people
We urgently need the Senior Smiles Program in Residential Aged Care Continue reading »
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Giving Medicare teeth is a chance to fix its flaws
Doctors tried to stop it at first, but half a century later Medicare is an untouchable brand in Australian healthcare and politics. While we’re lucky to have it, Medicare isn’t perfect. Expanding it to cover dental care is long overdue, but that shouldn’t mean repeating Medicare’s mistakes. Continue reading »
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Private equity bares its tactics in private healthcare shakedown
An article published in the Medical Journal of Australia earlier this year points to increased private equity (PE) activity in Australian healthcare, conservatively estimating A$4.5 billion in acquisitions across general practice and selected specialties in 2022 alone. The paper refrains from extensive commentary on the drivers and implications of this trend. However, it points to Continue reading »
