The Prime Minister was almost choking on his own grin as he wound up at the National Press Club yesterday, no doubt guessing that the worm had well and truly turned on Tony Abbott.
Perhaps he mightn’t have been looking quite so chuffed with himself if he’d been thrown a few tough and curlies. Here are a few that it would have been nice to have had asked.
- One of the top recommendations from the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission was for a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Authority to drive improved health service delivery for Indigenous people. Has your government done anything to advance this recommendation? If not, does it intend to? (In fact, was there any mention at all of Indigenous health yesterday, or did I miss something?)
- How will your plans for hospital financing and governance address widespread entrenched inequities in the health system, that result in the better off generally having better access to better care? And why didn’t your recent Health and Hospitals Network document make addressing health inequity a key priority?
- What are your government’s intentions regarding the Medicare Select proposal floated by the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission?
- Why is your government committed to subsidising the private health insurance industry — a policy that is widely denounced for being inequitable and inefficient, including by the public hospital lobby? (And why do journalists insist on framing their questions about this issue as if they are advocates for the private health insurance industry?)
- When will you announce how your hospitals plans will relate to your plans for primary care?
- Can you define primary care and why it is important? (His statements yesterday suggested he has a shaky grasp on this.) On a similar note, can you explain why public health and prevention strategies will deliver better health outcomes than increasing your investment in hospital services?
- When will you announce your plans for mental health?
- Given the wealth of evidence that it is primary care and prevention which lay the foundations for both an equitable efficient health system and a healthier population — why is your government so focused on hospitals? I know the worm loves hospitals, but isn’t it a leader’s job to help transform public debate and understanding of complex issues?
- Does your focus on hospitals mean you care more about politics than Australians’ health?
- What does Minister Roxon think of you running the health portfolio?
Sorry, no questions for Mr Abbott. He didn’t seem to have that much to say.
How many journos depend on the Public Hospital system, totally? With the role the media played over the Invasion in the NT and their racist bent full stop, it didn’t surprise me that they didn’t refer to indigenous health? The same applies to mental health? Doesn’t affect them, so don’t ask the questions. With the alleged appalling comment made by one NRL player to another recently, who’s bravely admitted to suffering from a mental illness(depression), it’s clear that the community has a long way to go re getting rid of the stigma applied to mental illness. Every time there’s a step forward, it doesn’t take long before it’s two steps back?
Another question could’ve been about the care of mothers and babies when they leave hospital? Most women who give birth are only guaranteed a hospital bed for 24-48 hours – they go home even before they’ve had much assistance with breast feeding etc – those troubles usually come after 3-4 days?
A program that’s been in SA for some time(still is I hope?) provides a trained person who visits mother and baby on a regular basis, with visits starting weekly, and then going to monthly I think, for at least the first 12 months of the baby’s life – it’s proven, that the stats for infant’s illnesses or abuse has lowered markedly and so has post natal depression, and the trained person can pick up any signs of domestic violence also – early. A dollar spent at the start of a child’s life, saves many dollars down the track – kids ending up in trouble with the law etc, their mothers’ health is better and the familys’ future is brighter. It’s been predicted, that the cost of domestic violence to the country will soon be $13 billion per year. To prevent this or involvement early can prevent death, serious injury, broken families, heartbreak and many dollars in costs, to everyone, including the country.
Preventative health care should be as important as hospital beds etc! This is a vital aspect of the total health care package!
Melissa – I’ve obviously listened to more discussions on the Govt’s intended health plan than you have over the past week or so.
I’ve heard Health experts and Minister Roxon say that most of the things you have listed have been discussed carefully and planning is in progress.
In 2.5 years at least this Govt. has attempted to consider and then plan all aspects of the health system. Better to get it right now than to waste another 11 or more years doing little at all.
The PM may be grinning, but this article simply ilustrates the ‘swiss cheese’ nature of the PMs plan, even allowing for the authors proclivity for more public, less private medicine, which is just absurd.
Most elective suregry now is being done in the private sector. Joint replacements, gallbladder removals, hernia repairs, etc.
That’s because the surgeons cannot get operating time, or access to theatres, as there are no nurses, no theatre staff and severe shortage in public hospitals of prostheses, etc. Local suppliers in NSW wait months to be paid.
Abbott was spot on when he stated that we ought to be very circumspect when Federal Labor tell you that they are going to fix what State Labor has orchestrated.
Tony Abbott, when Health Minister, “rescued” Medicare and easier access to Primary Care physicians by restoring bulk billing rates.
He also took initiatives that gave patients some Medicare assistance with the costs of allied health professionals, physiotherpists, dieticians, exercise physiologists, etc, and, most especially, mental health care professionals.
If the PM’s policy was well prepared, why are the States so in the dark about it? If one was preparing a policy that required major stake holders co-operation, why not consult them during the preparation?
The Private sector will also need to be involved in the training of new doctors, but there is no reference to this. For Rudd, and Melissa, you sense they would prefer there be no private system, except of course if one of their loved ones has biliary colic at 2.00am.
Then, guess what? The Left all have private health cover!
No sitting in Accident/Emergency departments, for 6 hours, for them. That’s for the proletariat!
jjAMES HULLO!!! What was Abbotts alternative? Simply he had none. Your continued love affair with the madmonk is indecent, must be the budgie smugglers and lycra