Thanks to all the Croakey contributors who gave up their time (and probably some sleep as well) to add to the election health debate.
• The 32 per cent of Australians who went missing in the campaign
Gordon Gregory, National Rural Health Alliance
• Which is least worst health policy? Leyland P76 or East German Trebi?
Bob Wells, Menzies Centre for Health Policy ANU
• Election health policy: what’s depressing and what’s exciting
Paul Smith, Australian Doctor
Gavin Mooney, University of Sydney
• Some clever ideas we should steal from the US
Lesley Russell, Menzies Centre for Health Policy, University of Sydney
• Where are the vision and leadership on mental health reform?
Barbara Hocking, SANE Australia
• What will the election mean for divisions of general practice?
Kristin Michaels, Eastern Ranges GP Association
• On health, the contrast between Liberals and Labor is stark
Peter Brooks, University of Melbourne
• A medical specialist’s diagnosis: Tony Abbott get real on IT
Rob Loblay, Sydney specialist
• Not much chance of real reform, whoever wins
Stephen Leeder, Menzies Centre for Health Policy, University of Sydney
Anonymous health policy analyst
• How should we judge election health policies?
Andrew Tonkin. Monash University
• The PM and telemedicine: why has it taken so long
Melissa Sweet
• What we need in the last week of the campaign
Mark Harris, University NSW
• Govt and Opposition get a big, fat F for obesity control
Jane Martin, Obesity Policy Coalition
• How do the major parties stack up on general practice?
Jennifer Doggett, health policy analyst
• Where is the vision in health policy?
Peter Sainsbury, University of Sydney
• An insightful analysis of election health policy
Kellie Bisset, Medical Observer
• A comprehensive analysis of election health policy
Carol Bennett, Consumers Health Forum
• Beyond the horserace: kicking off an election health series
Ian Olver, Cancer Council Australia
… And finally, if you are interested in Croakey’s own take on it all, you will have to visit ABC’s online forum, The Drum, where I went moonlighting…
Reading the comparative analysis , of the health policies of the two major Parties, by luminaries in various Health domains, a common ( and entirely predictable) theme occurs. Most seem to think that Labor does have at least the start of an agenda to tackle the dire situation in public hospitals, and a (separate) agenda for improving primary care ( tell me why did they do 2 separate Reviews for these intertwined and interdependent health environments, for heaven’s sake!). Labor is also making a big publicity plug for developing and using e health programmes. Then there are these highly-trumpeted super clinics- great idea- health professionals working collaboratively in the one location etc. ( yes, potentially even pharmacists!). On the other hand, the Coalition’s plans have elements that are better than Labor’s- mental health, more hospital beds, but it’s all very disjointed and fragmented, and no indication of what they plan to do about e health.
My overall concern is that, so far, Labor has proved to be great on conceptuality but pretty lousy on practical application ( promise I’ll just stick to health issues here, & won’t even mention $million tuckshops, live-wired, lethal pink batts, or fibre-optic broadband which can’t get high-speed access to international sites until and unless the local ISPs invest money to lower the contention ratio !).
Now, on Health, so far, under Labor’s plans, we will have local Hospital and Primary Care networks operating separately, 4 or 5 Super Clinics, ( with 3 in marginal Labor electorates!), and the activities of major GP clinics in these areas being duplicated, and $467 towards e Health that experts have devised as a “drop in the ocean”, with no indication as to how they are going to link and interact, and keep up to date with the myriad of existing technology programmes already running in hospitals, doctors surgeries, and other health professional sites!
So, in summary, one lot doesn’t want to invest in Health and the other one thinks that mindlessly throwing money and public bureaucratic resources at all the problems will magically produce the health nirvana that we all dream about.
Am I being overly cynical on this? Moi? never!
Ron Batagol