Monthly Archives: February 2011

Hospital chief says Medicare Locals must focus beyond health services

February 28, 2011 – 12:04 pm

In part four of a Croakey series analysing the plans for Medicare Locals, Martin Laverty, ceo of Catholic Health Australia, argues that the new organisations must broaden their vision beyond health services if they are to maximise their impact upon the community’s health and to address health inequities. Martin Laverty  writes: Last year before a [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Posted in childbirth and maternity services, education, health reform, Hospitals, prevention, primary health care, social determinants of health | Comments (0)

A mega-wrap of analysis of the Medicare Locals plans

February 28, 2011 – 11:49 am

In part three of a series analysing the Government’s plans for the new primary health care organisations to be known as Medicare Locals, a range of Croakey contributors share their views. *** MLs must look for partnerships beyond health sector Dr Tony Hobbs writes: The four key priority areas for Australia’s first National Primary Health [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Posted in general practice, health financing and costs, Health inequalities, health reform, Medicare Locals, primary health care, rural and remote health, social determinants of health, Uncategorized | Comments (2)

What the NSW Opposition doesn’t want you to know about its health policies (and more from the NSW election health debate)

February 25, 2011 – 6:45 pm

As previously mentioned at Croakey, plans for recording last night’s NSW public health election debate had to be abandoned thanks to a blackout imposed by the NSW Opposition – which was such a shame as this may have been the only chance we had for a public discussion that went beyond a focus on hospital [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Posted in Health inequalities, health reform, public health | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)

Some challenging questions for Medicare Locals

February 25, 2011 – 5:46 pm

In part two of a Croakey series analysing the Government’s plans for Medicare Locals, Professor Philip Davies, Professor of Health Systems and Policy at the University of Queensland (and a former senior federal health bureaucrat), raises a number of thorny questions facing the new organisations. Philip Davies writes: Divisions of General Practice and others will [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Posted in health reform, Medicare Locals, primary health care | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)

Reaction to the plans for Medicare Locals: part 1

February 25, 2011 – 5:32 pm

At last, we have some details about how Medicare Locals are expected to work, as outlined in the previous post. This post begins a series of commentary and analysis from Croakey contributors, which is kicked off by Professor Helen Keleher, president of the Public Health Association of Australia, and Carol Bennett, CEO of the Consumers [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Posted in Health inequalities, health reform, Medicare Locals, primary health care, social determinants of health | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)

So, what exactly are Medicare Locals going to do, and how will they work?

February 24, 2011 – 9:23 pm

As you’ve no doubt heard, the Federal Government this week released the guidelines for organisations seeking to become Medicare Locals. It also released this document that aims to explain primary health care reform for the general public. It is remarkable that such critical documents pay no explicit attention to two fundamental elements of primary health [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Posted in health reform, Medicare Locals, primary health care, social determinants of health | Tagged , , | Comments (5)

If recent headlines had you stocking up on zinc supplements, this may be worth a read…

February 24, 2011 – 4:14 pm

Recent headlines (like this and this) may have given casual readers the impression that they should be racing to stock up on zinc supplements to help ward off colds. The reports arose out of a recent update of a 1999 Cochrane Collaboration review that included trials testing zinc preparations in the treatment or prevention of [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Posted in consumer health information, infectious diseases, Media-related issues | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)

Why doesn’t the NSW Opposition want us to know its plans for the health portfolio?

February 24, 2011 – 3:20 pm

There wasn’t much visionary talk about health policy in the NSW election debate today between Premier Kristina Keneally and Opposition leader Barry O’Farrell. We didn’t get much beyond the usual auctioneering calls on hospital bed numbers. Unfortunately, most of us are unlikely to learn more from an event to be held in Sydney tonight that [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Posted in health reform, Hospitals, public health | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (4)

On media, trauma and the Christchurch earthquake

February 24, 2011 – 2:51 pm

Discussion about the rights and wrongs of media coverage of the Christchurch earthquake is already underway. See: Jonathan Green at The Drum on the media’s exploitation of victims and intrusion into suffering David Penberthy at The Punch offers another perspective …and there is more critique from ANU academic and blogger Jonathan Powles and Mr Denmore [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Posted in Media-related issues, mental health, trauma | Tagged , , , | Comments (6)

How could the TGA (and other public agencies) improve public disclosure and engagement with the media?

February 22, 2011 – 9:46 am

In the US, the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) is pushing for the Food and Drug Administration and other health agencies to be more open and responsive in their dealings with the media. You can read more about their campaign here and here, while this piece gives a staggering account of how the FDA [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Posted in consumer health information, Government 2.0, Media-related issues, TGA | Tagged , , , , | Comments (5)