November 2, 2009 – 8:31 pm
A call for hospital management to return to arrangements of the past has drawn fire from former senior health service manager Michael Moodie and health economist Professor Gavin Mooney.
They write:
“John Graham’s suggestion for saving NSW hospitals, as outlined in his recent Centre for Independent Studies monologue, dreams of hospitals managing their own affairs unfettered by [...]
October 16, 2009 – 10:06 am
OK, so the recent post on why Health Ministers should insist on health equity impact statements for all policy recommendations may have revealed me as a hopelessly tragic idealist. And that’s not all. On reflection, I was also being a bit simplistic.
Of course, if we really care about health equity, health ministers would probably not [...]
October 14, 2009 – 3:38 pm
If I was Health Minister (heaven forbid as I wouldn’t have the stamina, political nous, or tolerance for playing the media game), I would insist that the following question was applied to every piece of policy advice or recommendation.
Will this further increase the inequities in access to good health and to health services? Or will [...]
October 7, 2009 – 4:02 pm
We’ve heard a lot of debate about what proposed health reforms might mean for people with chronic diseases or people on hospital waiting lists.
But we haven’t heard much at all about what the reforms might mean for one extremely needy group who are often not well served by existing health services or funding structures.
Professor Ian [...]
October 7, 2009 – 8:24 am
Further to the recent Croakey posts on a new study evaluating the initial impact of bowel cancer screening, one of the study’s authors has sent in her take on the results.
Dr Sumitra Ananda, a cancer specialist in Melbourne, is hoping the Federal Government acts on the new findings.
She writes:
“The recent report in the MJA [...]
October 6, 2009 – 11:22 am
As previously mentioned at Croakey, the latest Medical Journal of Australia has published a study examining the impact of the national bowel cancer screening program. It suggests that the program may be more likely to benefit the better off.
Professor Mark Harris, from the UNSW Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity, says there is enough [...]
October 5, 2009 – 5:08 pm
Do cancer screening programs increase the health gap between the well-to-do and the not-so-well-off?
That is one worrying implication from a study just published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Researchers sought to examine the initial impact of the national bowel cancer screening program which offers faecal occult blood testing to those aged 55 or 65.
They reviewed [...]
September 30, 2009 – 12:04 pm
Health reform is generating much activity and interest right around the world. What can we learn from the experiences overseas?
Dr Mary Haines, Editor of the Hospital Alliance for Research Collaboration (HARC) eBulletin, has been investigating the lessons from the UK.
She has filed this report, based on the latest HARC eBulletin, released today:
“For those unconvinced about [...]
September 28, 2009 – 12:03 pm
Some people have called it a tsunami; others argue that “a rising tide” is a more accurate description. Whatever methaphor you prefer, one thing is clear. Australia is going to be awash with medical graduates in the very near future.
According to some estimates, the number of domestic medical graduates will rise from 1,348 in 2005 to an [...]
September 10, 2009 – 12:13 pm
In voting down the Government’s efforts to reform the private health insurance rebate, the Opposition has revealed its poor grasp of health financing issues.
So says health policy analyst Jennifer Doggett, who describes the rebate as “a textbook example of the worst health funding policy in Australia’s history“.
She writes:
“Imagine if car insurance provided rebates for [...]
