Challenges in health and health care for Australia

Abstract

The next Australian Government will confront major challenges in the funding and delivery of health care. These challenges derive from: Changes in demography and disease patterns as the population ages, and the burden of chronic illness grows; Increasing costs of medical advances and the need to ensure that there are comprehensive, efficient and transparent processes for assessing health technologies; Problems with health workforce supply and distribution; Persistent concerns about the quality and safety of health services; Uncertainty about how best to balance public and private sectors in the provision and funding of health services; Recognition that we must invest more in the health of our children; The role of urban planning in creating healthy and sustainable communities; and Understanding that achieving equity in health, especially for Indigenous Australians, requires more than just providing health care services. The search for effective and lasting solutions will require a consultative approach to deciding the nation's priority health problems and to designing the health system that will best address them; issues of bureaucratic and fiscal responsibility can then follow.

Study protocol for a natural experiment in a lower socioeconomic area to examine the health-related effects of refurbishment to parks including built-shade (ShadePlus)

“…14 That study showed that parks located in suburbs of relatively socioeconomically disadvantaged communities had poorer quality and fewer facilities including trees, shade, water features, walking paths, lighting and dog signage. Given the evidence of lower physical activity levels 15 and poorer health outcomes for residents of socioeconomically disadvantaged areas, [16][17][18] and likely benefits of increased contact with greenery and open space, 10 13 strategies such as park refurbishments to improve satisfaction with recreational amenities and increase park usage may have a broader health benefit for these communities.…”

Barriers to, and enablers of, participation in the Allied Health Rural and Remote Training and Support (AHRRTS) program for rural and remote allied health workers: a qualitative descriptive study

“…Armstrong et al [1] summarise eight key challenges including a universal recognition of the need to focus on chronic disease prevention and management and demonstrable workforce challenges in regional, rural and remote areas of Australia. These authors state “shortages are more significant in outer metropolitan, rural and remote regions, especially in Indigenous communities, and in particular areas of care such as mental health, aged care and disability” (p.486).…”

“…These authors state “shortages are more significant in outer metropolitan, rural and remote regions, especially in Indigenous communities, and in particular areas of care such as mental health, aged care and disability” (p.486). The inequity in the health status of Australians who live in rural and remote Australia is of national concern, with rural and remote Australians having poorer health status, less access to health professionals [2] and less access to private health services [1] than their metropolitan counterparts.…”

Developing the atlas of cancer in Queensland: methodological issues

“…Within Australia, one of the greatest recognised health challenges is achieving health equity for all [8]. Cancer patients living in rural and disadvantaged areas are generally more likely to be diagnosed with advanced cancer and have poorer survival outcomes [9,10].…”