G’day and welcome to www.pm.gov.au!
Today I want to speak with you about Australia’s hospital and health care system and the challenges it faces in the 21st century.
The sad reality is that the problems facing health care have sat at the bottom of the too hard basket for a very long time... for far too long.
Politicians have pointed fingers at everyone other than themselves.
State and federal Governments have beaten their chests with mock indignation.
All in the hope that bluff and bluster would pass for action.
You know it as I do that this approach has not served our country well.
Because amidst the game playing:
- Our population grew older.
- Health care costs escalated.
- The shortages of doctors and nurses became more and more severe.
- Many people were forced into crowded emergency wards because ‘out of hospital care’ wasn’t available.
- And modern epidemics like obesity, diabetes and mental illness placed even more pressure on the system.
The truth is these pressures are growing by the day yielding these conclusions:
Without fundamental change Australia’s health system will buckle under the pressure of demographic change, rising costs and modern diseases.
Under its current structure our health system cannot meet the challenges of the 21st century.
These are the reasons why we commenced and have now concluded the most detailed investigations into the health system since Federation.
Essentially they are a complete health check for Australia’s health system.
You can access these reports on this website and also on www.yourhealth.gov.au.
I urge you to do this because the time has come for us all to develop the solutions.
To this end I will personally hold public community meetings across Australia in the months ahead.
We must consult the people with the greatest stake in the future of our health system... our local doctors, our local nurses, health care workers, you and your families!
Your views will directly influence the changes we will make to improve the system.
We will afford ourselves six months to develop these plans.
Plans for changes in models of care, a greater emphasis on prevention, improved ‘out of hospital care’ and end to the chronic shortages of doctors and nurses.
Friends, the 21st Century has put our health system on notice. We have now reached the point of no return. That means action is no longer a matter of choice but a matter of necessity.
Let us all be a part of the solution.
So get involved, send me your suggestions, participate in the blog and together let’s improve the Australian Health System.
I thank you!
Why did the state and or federal government not do enough forward planning for our health system to ensure that our system was fit and healthy?
Here are a few possible solutions:
* Increase tax to improve our health system,
* Significant financial support for our Australian medical students- doctors, nurses, pathology etc - Why should we Import our medical students? Wont we better off to support Australian students?
* Where are our 24 Hour medical centres? Wouldnt this relieve some of the pressure from our hospitals?
COME ON KEV STOP TALKING AND START DOING!
If we look at the USA - increasing money spent on healthcare actually doesnt lead to a better system. Dont they have the highest GDP expenditure on healthcare in the world?
As for the importation of foreign nurses... DONT GET ME STARTED. I cant think of how many foreign nurses I have had to performance manage and then have to let go because of how the system they were trained in does not meet australian standards.
I agree with financial support being offered to those training to be in the health system. If I look at the opportunity costs that I have spent training to be a nurse, when I have friends who work in retail - they are earning more than me still!!!
There has been more "doing" with respect to health completed by this government in less than 1 year than the previous did in 10. Plus it is set to do more "doing" in the rest of its first term. Give 'em 10 years and they could well outdo the previous government by a factor greater than 10.
It is just a part of the issue but from a personal point of view i would like to see greater focus and research on mental health issues for our youth. It is frustratingly difficult as a parent to spend 10 years knowing something is not right and trying to obtain help and support when there is no clear diagnosis. I have worked with our general practitioner, a clinical pediatrician, at least three psychologists, Macquarie University anxiety clinic, Westmead Childrens Hospital psychological health unit and now a psychiatrist to try to help my son who is now 15. There is still no clear diagnosis and the cost of treatment and medication is expensive. The professions of psychiatry and psychology (apart form being hard to spell) do not really seem to come together well. I think there is a very real need to bring all the thinking together to work towards a clear process for diagnosis and assistance so that our children can get the help they need before they become adults.
Perhaps the NSW government needs to look at what the Victorian government does with respect to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAHMS). In Victoria, for example, a member of the community in a situation like the one you face could access intensive outreach mental health case management and support for adolescents who display substantial and prolonged psychological disturbance.
Hi !
Being a health care worker ( aged care ) and having worked in two government hospitals and three aged care Not for profit organisations , i reaaly can see first hand what the government is up against.
To change the system , you must first have to have worked in it , and its full of workers who are entrenched in yesterdays beliefs of long tea breaks , something for nothing attitudes .
I personally would like to see new dynamic faces , with care first attitudes and take people from the industry that cant wait to see lunch time and "wheres my biscuits for morning tea " , and " I dont work weekends "before our residents get service. Too many times i have been invited to " Talk Fests " where management eat expensive food at over priced function centres to disscuss the same old attitudes while workers and residents cover back on site . I would like to see flat rates for all workers and to see management work Weekends , where most of the staff shortages are .
this is not a rant Prime Minister , As a manager of a department , i will always work where its needed weekends and cover sickness , doing anything to keep our facilities alive and well ...
The change needs to come from us all . our Hospitals and aged care facilities run 24/7 but management dont work weekends and nights because it doesnt suit ... and yet they are paid alot more money And get better conditions .
Start by getting employees and employers to REALISE that health care is a SERVICE industry .. and start working for the Customer and not the tea break
Thank you
Only certain areas have a shortage of nurses... For example I'm an EEN new graduate looking for casual/ part time work in the Brisbane / Ipswich area, and am unable to find it unless I do agency work (which I cant do without previous paid work experience) Aged care is also an area which finds it hard to recruit nurses. The nursing shortage seems to only apply to experienced nurses. Look at the advertisments... clincal nurse, clinical nurse, RN with preveious experience... I'm told it's a fight to get an RN grad yr position in Brisbane! (Currently studying Bachelor of Nursing) Rural & remote areas find it difficult too in some circumstances... But mostly the shortage is a skilled shortage. :'( Not good news for me.
Good Luck with the health system... you will need it.
I am concerned about the E health records even if they are patient controlled as patients may not want certain information to be made available to any doctor that they consult with, for example a contraversial medical condition or a mental health condition due to fear of less favourable treatment but may be forced to as the doctor may refuse to attend to them otherwise. And an employer may refuse a job unless the patient grants access to that information. Whilst at the moment as the records aren't linked if a dispute arises where a doctor refuses treatment or to do things due to a contraversial or mental health condition the patient can simply go to a new doctor and get the thing done. And just provide a potential employer with a medical record that is non contraversial. As convenient as they may be for doctors and sure say with an elderly person with some dementia and several medical conditions it can be very useful but a real problem for others. So patients should be able to refuse any electronic recording and request paper/practice based records only.
The other thing is the possibility of having to nominate just 1 GP/medical centre. Problems can arise if a mental health condition is diagnosed (or contraversial medical condition) as the GP sometimes stops treating/doing regular checks on the patient and thus the patient needs to go elsewhere to get things attended to. Also a patient may take a job a long way from the medical practice and want to go to one near work especially if they work long hours and can't get back to the medical practice before it closes and the GP may only work the occassional Saturday so it's a lengthy wait to get in (ie several weeks)
I agree with the concerns over the 1 GP. I recently moved 400klms into the center of town and needed to find a new Dr. I have been to three differant ones and only now on the 4th have found a Dr. I am happy with. This took over 12 months. Luckily he is on the south side of town. If I had stayed with the one on the north side would I still have to stay with her now that I live 30 mins out of town on the south side.
We will still be paying, we should have the right to choose.
Some Dr's just give out drugs, others take the time to explain how you can do something yourself before having to take drugs, we need to have a choice.
I believe if we are forced to stay with the one doctor that even more people will opt out to "other" medical practitioners. This could be bad as then there would be even less supervision of these other practitioners.
As WA Director of the Australian College of Paramedics I note that yet again the COAG, NHHRC and NHWT groups have produced a document that ignores what goes on in emergency treatment outside the hospital doors. Paramedics are like parachutes you only notice that you don't have them when you actually need them! So in this context the paramedics are ignored again and the fact that the Paramedic and ambulance services of Australia are archaic unregulated and unaccredited goes unnoticed until someone important needs one. We wouldn't have the problems in WA Ambulance now if we already had national regulation and accreditation in place.
No state should have to run an ambulance service on one tenth the income of any other state, if you pay peanuts you get monkeys.
At present Paramedics have to deal with patients in a void, if there were an electronic patient records system they would be able to use previous patient history to decide treatment during the golden hour, but how would we know that they are paramedics since they are not subject to a national system of registration.
The NHHRC needs to review the whole health system not just what happens in buildings and recognise that in other countries Paramedics have various roles in a complete health system but are subject to National regulation and equity of funding.