Health
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Jeffrey Sachs and Neil Harrison: Did US biotechnology help to create COVID-19?
NEW YORK – When US President Joe Biden asked the United States Intelligence Community to determine the origin of COVID-19, its conclusion was remarkably understated but nonetheless shocking. Continue reading »
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Katrina Watson: How to save General Practice
I’m a recently retired specialist doctor and I keep an eye on medical affairs. They affect all of us, especially as we get older, and people still ask what I think. Continue reading »
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Peter Brooks and Peter Lewis-Hughes: A possible roadmap for a national pandemic plan
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted weaknesses and disconnections within Australian Health systems which significantly impacted on our ability to reliably detect and respond to this outbreak in a timely, effective and efficient manner. Continue reading »
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Will 2022 be the year primary health care takes a step up?
One thing primary care has a lot of is reports about reform. But despite a significant investment in reviews, consultations, and paper over the last five years, not a single cent has been invested in transforming these words on paper into policies which benefit patients and practitioners. Even though the previous government’s ten-year primary care Continue reading »
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Demographic future of China, the USA and India
Much has been written of the 21st century being the Chinese century in contrast to the 20th century being the American century. Continue reading »
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Time to get serious about ventilation and air quality in training and post-secondary education
Australia is not doing enough to improve clean air in post-secondary education and training environments. Given the COVID-19 pandemic will be with us for a very long time to come, training providers and universities need to invest more in ventilation and air quality to ensure that students can learn in the safest environments possible. Continue reading »
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Time to unleash the full potential of nurses
If we want to improve the health of Australia, we cannot continue to under-use the largest workforce in primary health care. Continue reading »
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Complacency, wishful thinking and misinformation are all contributing to our lack of success in containing the spread of COVID-19
I don’t read “The Australian” so I did not know until I received a barrage of emails from ‘anti-vaxxers’ lauding the wisdom therein, that on July 4 the paper had published an ‘Opinion’ piece criticising Australia’s response to the SARS virus. The article claimed that the incompetence involved warranted examination by a Royal Commission. Continue reading »
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Back to first principles on drugs
Just why is it so hard for politicians to see a better way forward in dealing with drugs in the community and to act on that vision? It is not for lack of evidence of what works to make things better and most of the community knows that. Continue reading »
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Hospitals and general practice reform
Reducing the pressure on hospitals from patients who don’t require urgent and complex care requires reform of general practice. Continue reading »
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Learning from Covid-19: A call for collective reflection
With the end of vaccine mandates for teachers and public servants in sight, it is an opportune moment for collective reflection. What can be learned from Australia’s management of Covid-19? What lessons can be applied to future challenges? Continue reading »
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We need an Australian Healthcare Reform Commission
With a new Government it is time for Health System Reform. In fact reform is long over due. Continue reading »
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Environment: Can astronomical phenomena inspire us to solve earthly problems?
Forget war, climate change, famine and dysfunctional economics for five minutes, lift your eyes to the pre-dawn skies and see five of our planetary neighbours. Continue reading »
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Desperate Premiers call for radical redesign for health care funding
Australian hospitals are finding it increasingly difficult to meet legitimate, often critical demands for in-patient care. The money to do so is not there and staff shortages are critical. A combination of professional dissatisfaction re the standard of care they are able to deliver, has many health professionals deserting our public hospital system. Add in Continue reading »
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If I were the Minister for Health
I would progressively wind back and eliminate the $14b pa taxpayer subsidy for Private Health Insurance and use that very large sum to fund the inclusion of dental care within Medicare and increase the funding to the states for expanded specialist services in outpatient clinics at public hospitals. Continue reading »
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The erosion of Medicare
Large out-of-pocket costs for specialist consultations driven by inadequate indexations are undermining Medicare. Continue reading »
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Do we continue down the pathway of privatisation of health by stealth?
Loss of public funding for specific aspects of health care despite overall (public and private) increases in expenditure, as detailed recently by John Menadue, has already happened out of sight. Continue reading »
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What I would do if I were the Minister for Health and Ageing in the next government
A new minister in any portfolio has two tasks: fix the past and fix the future. Continue reading »
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Healthcare reform is not featuring in the current election
Australia’s public hospital system is having a hard time meeting the ever increasing demand for in-patient care. Continue reading »
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Our health system: The dream and the reality
How would it be to have a health system which delivered timely high quality care to everyone, with such a system emphasising that prevention of illness and promotion of health at every level to improve health, as well as potentially increasing productivity? How would it be to have a society which recognised that poor health Continue reading »
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Priorities for a new health minister
After almost a decade of health policy stagnation, what are the three most important issues for a new health minister to address? Continue reading »
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Attention Australia: The climate crisis is a health crisis too
After more than two years coping with a pandemic, the last thing we want to hear about is another global health crisis. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that as we continue to heat our fragile planet, we face a threat to public health that will eclipse even COVID-19. Continue reading »
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None of us is safe until all of us are safe: Australia and global vaccine equity
Ending COVID public health restrictions reflects community sentiment. People are tired of COVID and want to move on. But the only way to protect our own citizens is to protect other countries. Continue reading »
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Immigration of Nurses and Doctors
Australia must fix the design of employer sponsored visas to make them easier, faster and cheaper to use while increasing penalties for employers who misuse these visas. Continue reading »
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Privatisation and the hollowing out of Medicare by the Morrison Government
The Coalition has for years been undermining Medicare. Bob Hawke was correct at the last election when he said that the Coalition was aiming to privatise Medicare. It was not a scare tactic as some unthinking journalists keep saying. The Coalition has been privatising by stealth for years our universal health care system. Continue reading »
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Margaret Beavis: What really makes Australians more secure?
We are assured nuclear powered submarines and missiles will make us more secure, but with hospitals chronically underfunded and poverty and homelessness on the rise, are they the actually the right choice? Continue reading »
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Children suffer the most in war
The nightly television coverage of the war in Ukraine is increasingly bleak. We see a distraught mother who has lost all her possessions. The camera moves to her three-year-old daughter in a pink coat, playing while her mother speaks. She seems happy enough. We are tempted to think ‘At least the children are OK’. But Continue reading »
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Why vaping will be accepted as Australia’s response to tobacco
Vaping represents a historic opportunity to dramatically reduce Australia’s annual loss of 21,000 lives from smoking. But understandable intense hatred of tobacco companies and a strong preference to eliminate nicotine use has contributed to a hostility to vaping in Australia which is irrational and unsustainable. Continue reading »
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Few aged care facilities deliver high quality care while also making a profit
Just 4% of for-profit providers were in the highest quality tier. Continue reading »
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The return of the state? The role of government in managing the pandemic
Many countries with very high rates of COVID infection and pandemic deaths had governments reluctant to intervene to protect public health because of a strong belief in small government. Continue reading »
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