The AMA has been campaigning hard against changes to tax deductions for work-related self-education that are likely, amongst other things, to reduce the attractiveness of conferences in exotic locations. Paul Smith, political editor at Australian Doctor, has exposed one of the vulnerabilities of the AMA’s campaign with a story about its Queensland branch’s annual conference, [...]
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Health sector wish-lists: a pre-Budget round-up
With less than a week to go before the Federal Budget 2013, the leaks and rumours (and rumours about leaks) are increasing and speculation about possible new funding measures is mounting. The following analysis looks at the main items on the wish-lists of eight peak health groups and identifies key issues on which there is [...]
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Did Tony Jones and the Q and A team really mean to send this message about Indigenous health?
As Q and A wrapped up on Monday night, one particularly poignant tweet caught my eye. “Just tells you how much we don’t matter.” It was one of a series of tweets from a Wiradjuri woman, Kath Grant, who lives in Sydney (you can see them at the bottom of this post). She was disappointed [...]
READ MOREThe perfect cocktail…and other tips for safer, healthier alcohol regulation
The Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance NT (AMSANT) recently called for a minimum floor price on alcohol. In the UK, the conservative Prime Minister David Cameron is supporting such a policy, and some of the background to this breakthrough has been revealed today by a leading British authority on alcohol policy, Professor Sir Ian Gilmore. At [...]
READ MORESpeaking up for the potential of patient advocates
The AMA should reconsider its opposition to the concept of paid patient advocates, says Anne Cahill Lambert, a prominent health consumer advocate who writes below that many patients could benefit from someone to help them negotiate “the maze of the complex health system”. *** On Dad and Dave, and others who might be helped by [...]
READ MOREMore on patient advocate services…
Dr Mark Bahnisch writes: The health care year has begun with a dollop of controversy over the introduction to Australia of ‘patient advocate’ services, defended against AMA criticisms by Claire Crocker of Patient Advocate in Croakey on Wednesday. Patient advocacy, already established in the United Kingdom and United States, seeks to guide patients through what [...]
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Professional patient advocacy services – does Australia need them?
A new service providing professional advocacy services for health care consumers has attracted a lot of interest from the health sector and the media – along with some criticism. Today Croakey talked to Claire Crocker, founder of Patient Advocate, about her motivation for establishing this service and how she responds to criticism from the AMA….. [...]
READ MOREWhy Australia needs a junk food ad ban
Ex-Greens MLA in the ACT, Amanda Bresnan outlines why Australia is overdue for a junk food ad ban and what it will take to achieve this…. Banning junk food advertising on television to children is a much discussed and debated topic. It was even the subject of a Hollowmen episode, where an incoming government signals that [...]
READ MOREShould dental reform aim to benefit dentists – or the community?
A recent policy forum in Canberra highlighted some of the shocking inequities in oral health and in access to dental services, as reported at Croakey by the National Rural Health Alliance. In the article below, Dr Tim Woodruff, vice president of the Doctors Reform Society, argues that the dental lobby is a major barrier to equitable reform. [...]
READ MOREAMA says “uninformed” attacks on Tim Flannery are a “disgrace”
Dr Steve Hambleton, President of the AMA, writes: Professor Tim Flannery is a highly respected scientist and a former Australian of the Year. He is the Chief Climate Commissioner and his views and expertise on the science of climate change are respected nationally and internationally. The AMA was delighted to have Professor Flannery attend our [...]
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