Category Archives: surgery

ShareLife responds: organ donation rates should be much higher

January 23, 2012 – 8:12 pm

In the article below, Sara Irvine from ShareLife Australia responds to a Croakey article about organ transplant policy by Anne Cahill Lambert that was published last month. *** We should be doing better on organ donation rates Sara Irvine writes: The Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing, Catherine King recently announced: “In 2011, 1001 Australians [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in health reform, transplant issues | Tagged , , , | Comments (6)

The argument for a federal takeover of health in Tasmania

November 24, 2011 – 6:24 pm

The likelihood of a “federal takeover” of health (as mooted by Kevin Rudd in 2007) looks ever more remote. However, there seems to be a growing chorus of support for this in Tasmania. Earlier this month, the independent MP Andrew Wilkie joined the Tasmanian Premier’s calls for a federal takeover of public hospitals in that [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in emergency departments and care, health financing and costs, Health inequalities, health reform, Hospitals, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

How can we ensure a sustainable health system? Plus recent articles on surgery waiting lists, e-health and gambling reform

November 21, 2011 – 4:11 pm

The Commonwealth Parliamentary Library’s FlagPost blog has published a number of articles recently that may be of interest to Croakey readers – on health expenditure, elective surgery waiting times, e-health and gambling reforms. More info below… What is the most effective and fairest way of keeping a lid on health expenditure? Anne-marie Boxall writes: The [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in dental care, e-health, gambling, health financing and costs, Health inequalities, Hospitals, public health | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Physician assistants win support of rural/remote doctors – and a report from the coalface

November 15, 2011 – 10:13 am

Regular readers will know of Croakey’s interest in the potential for physician assistants (PAs) to help improve access to health care in rural, remote and other under-served areas. The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) recently endorsed a policy statement giving strong support to the potential of PAs “to extend the reach of [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in health regulation, health workforce, rural and remote health | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

The Tax Forum: so much for “health in all policies”

October 7, 2011 – 12:33 pm

How different might the Tax Forum have been if a “health in all policies” framework had been one of its driving forces? The tax system is not only important for specific health issues, with tobacco and alcohol being the obvious examples, but also for how it can help shape the social and economic factors that [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in alcohol, cancer, dental care, Food, Health inequalities, Hospitals, public health, social determinants of health, Uncategorized, WHO | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

A stack of reading: the latest health and medical news from The Conversation

August 29, 2011 – 2:34 am

Thanks to Reema Rattan, for providing this update of the latest health and medical reading at The Conversation. The stories below cover medical mishaps, men’s health, breast cancer screening, alcohol labelling, media reporting of suicide, hospital care of patients with mental health problems, puberty, the NT Intervention, bariatric surgery and type 2 diabetes, and the [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in adverse events, alcohol, cancer, child health, diabetes, Hospitals, Indigenous health, legal issues, Media-related issues, men's health, mental health, NT Intervention, physical activity, public health, screening | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

The latest analysis of health news – we hear too much about early research

August 10, 2011 – 5:20 pm

This post continues a series of regular updates from the team at Media Doctor Australia about their latest analyses of media coverage of new drugs and medical treatments. Amanda Wilson writes: An ongoing issue/problem with Media Doctor Australia is the lag-time between stories appearing in the news and our reviews of them being posted on [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in health and medical research, Media Doctor Australia, Media-related issues, quality and safety of health care | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

More reflections on health reform: so much more is needed

July 29, 2011 – 1:13 pm

In the previous post, the University of Queensland’s Professor Philip Davies asked whether we’d been having “cappuccino-style” health reform – an approach focused on the milky froth of health sector institutions while leaving the underlying, thick, rich espresso of health care delivery largely untouched. Robert Wells, Director of the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in aged care, health financing and costs, Health inequalities, health reform, health workforce, Hospitals, Medicare Locals, mental health, primary health care, private health insurance, public health | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Surgery waiting times are not a useful indicator of hospital performance

April 29, 2011 – 1:52 pm

The performance of hospitals is again in the news, thanks to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s release today of Australian Hospital Statistics 2009-2010. You can download the full report here, and the Institute’s own summary is reproduced at the bottom of this post. It seems, on an admittedly quick reading, that the bulk [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in Australian Medical Association, health financing and costs, Hospitals, primary health care, quality and safety of health care, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments (9)

The Conversation: a new opportunity for health discussions

March 24, 2011 – 6:19 pm

Croakey contributors and readers – you now have another place to find in-depth discussion of public interest issues, including health and medical matters. Meet The Conversation, which is produced by a non profit company based in Melbourne and backed by the university and research sector (its partners are listed here). It is self-described as “an [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Also posted in climate change, conflicts of interest, disasters, Media-related issues, mental health, The Conversation | Tagged , , , , | Comments (3)