November 4, 2009 – 2:16 pm
As the previous Croakey post points out, the news about Indigenous smoking rates may be more encouraging than we’ve previously understood.
Dr Mark Ragg, a health and communications expert, believes the history of smoking among people with mental illness holds some lessons for those working to tackle Indigenous smoking, and also gives cause for optimisim.
He writes:
“David [...]
November 2, 2009 – 7:10 pm
In recent weeks, Croakey has run several articles examining the potential pros and cons of the Medicare Select concept floated by the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission in its final report.
Now a senior mental health advocate, Sebastian Rosenberg, is weighing into the debate, asking what such a model might mean for those with mental [...]
October 2, 2009 – 10:47 am
Are we on the verge of real health reform?
We’re not even close – and if you’re expecting anything meaningful to happen before 2020, you’re just not paying close enough attention.
That’s the assessment of Professor Ian Hickie, executive director of the Brain and Mind Research Institute at the University of Sydney.
And he thinks the Federal [...]
September 30, 2009 – 11:50 am
How do we know if our general practice/hospital/dentist/aged care service is providing safe and quality care? At the moment, it’s almost impossible to answer this question in any objective manner.
But at least we now have some idea of what sort of questions we should be asking, thanks to a report released this week by [...]
September 8, 2009 – 6:52 pm
Some fascinating insights into the mental health sector emerged from a survey of participants at The Mental Health Services conference in Perth last week.
The importance of prioritising the needs of youth and children, the unhelpful impact of the dominance of the medical model in mental health, and the potential to expand the role of [...]
August 24, 2009 – 12:59 pm
The Croakey Register of Unreleased Documents (CRUD) played a small part in contributing to a recent Sydney Morning Herald series about critical issues surrounding suicide prevention, by Investigations Editor Ruth Pollard.
Croakey was able to pass on the Evaluation of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy, which was listed on the CRUD back in April, and which [...]
Bernard Keane’s recent Crikey piece questioning the current political and policy focus on prevention has provoked some interesting discussions on a University of Sydney email list.
Dr Brian O’Toole, an epidemiologist specialising in mental health issues and the director of the Vietnam Veterans Study, has entered into the fray, arguing that the public health community doesn’t [...]
What does the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission report mean for mental health?
Thoughts of an ambitious Pollyanna have come to mind for Dr Michael Robertson, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine, University of Sydney.
He has filed this analysis for Croakey:
“The parts of the NHHRC relevant [...]
You can read the report in all its detail here, but in the meantime, here is a quick summary.
The executive summary identifies several priorities, including:
Indigenous health
• Establish a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Authority to buy services and to hold services accountable
• Strengthen community controlled health services, develop Indigenous health workforce and upskill [...]
After wading through the waffle of the latest National Mental Health Policy, Australian Doctor’s political editor Paul Smith is less than impressed.
Below is an edited version of his column first published in Australian Doctor. He raises some pointed questions for Rudd and Roxon:
AROUND the office of Australian Doctor you often hear the phrase “dull [...]
