Health
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Euthanasia – A denial of human dignity. Guest blogger Dr Joanne Wright
It is concerning that The Greens and organisations such as GetUp have seen fit to re-ignite the debate about the legalisation of euthanasia. I am a doctor. I worked in palliative care and now work with the elderly. I have seen first hand the complexity of the issues at the end of life. In reality, Continue reading »
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There’s nothing basic about basic nursing care. Guest Blogger: Professor Mary Chiarella
The Minister for Health and Ageing, Mark Butler has announced a new aged-care workforce compact which will result in 350,000 workers receiving supplementary payments of 1% over and above award increases. This amounts to $1/hour more for each worker – the lowest paid workers in the health care industry. Why is “intimate” nursing care, for Continue reading »
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The Medicine Lobby. Vested interests win again. John Menadue
Professor Stephen Duckett of the Grattan Institute has just reported that ‘Australians are paying too much for prescription drugs. The cost of this overpayment is at least $1.3 p.a.’ This is another example of the power of vested interests in the health sector and their ability to extract economic rents from the community. The other Continue reading »
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Health care reform remains a prisoner of Federalism. Guest blogger: John Dwyer
The intractable problem that sees a very wealthy country unable to provide cost effective and equitable health care is a political one. We are the only OECD country in which the provision of health care is illogically and inefficiently divided between two levels of Government. The Federal government is charged with funding, but not providing, Continue reading »
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Another misleading story about hospital costs
The head of Ramsey Health told us in the AFR today that the “Productivity Commission report on public and private hospital systems found that the private sector was 30% more efficient” It did not. Last year the CEO of the Private Hospitals Association said that private hospital costs are 32% lower than public hospitals. The Continue reading »
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The blame game in health continues.
Some weeks ago Victorian hospitals announced bed closures, job losses and elective surgery delays because of a dispute with the Commonwealth Government over the hospital funding formula. In an election year the issue seems to have been temporarily resolved by the Commonwealth stomping up more money. But it highlights the continuing malaise with divided. funding Continue reading »
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Corporate bullies
Public debate and the development of good policy are being steadily corrupted by the success of powerful lobby groups to quickly close down debate and force retreat by the government. This tactic is assisted by a timid government and a media that has little understanding of policy issues, and is only too prepared to recycle Continue reading »
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Teaching ‘medical English’ in Vietnam. Guest blogger Kerry Goulston
Vietnamese medical students realise that English is the international language of Medicine. They can read it well—all have Laptops or i-pads and have easy access to radio and TV- but they know that they have problems in understanding spoken English and in speaking it. It is a language very different from their own but in Continue reading »
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Cricket – Junk food and BUPA
I used to be a grafted-on cricket watcher. But I am being weaned off. One reason is that there is so much cricket on TV that the quality suffers. I mostly turn off the audio and although the camera work is superb, I can’t turn off the unhealthy diet of fast-food and beer advertisements that Continue reading »
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