The public health system is indeed poorly - but it is not as sick as some would have it.

we deliver good outcomes with a budget of less than 10% of GDP - we cold do better - the sysatme is disjointed and poorly coordinated - partly because it is too large.

It is less a system than a collection of loosely couples systems, it is over bueraucratised and over medicalised.

Both parties do court privatisation - one becuase it is consistent with their philosophy and the other because it allows them to abrogate their responsibility towards public health - the second are simply too scared of a political backlash if they inject the necessary funds into the system and embark upon a program of widespread structural change that the system cries out for.

A recent preogram in Queensland had physiotherapists triaging patients presenting with back pain - this resulted in a dramatic decrease in referrals to surgeons, the implementation of more conservative treatments modes - together with good outcomes - every one was happy - apart from the AMA. There in lies only one problem - the territorality and tendency to find a demarcation dispute at every tune by one of the nations strongest and most out spoken unions.

The public health system is indeed poorly - but it is not as sick as some would have it.

we deliver good outcomes with a budget of less than 10% of GDP - we cold do better - the sysatme is disjointed and poorly coordinated - partly because it is too large.

It is less a system than a collection of loosely couples systems, it is over bueraucratised and over medicalised.

Both parties do court privatisation - one becuase it is consistent with their philosophy and the other because it allows them to abrogate their responsibility towards public health - the second are simply too scared of a political backlash if they inject the necessary funds into the system and embark upon a program of widespread structural change that the system cries out for.

A recent preogram in Queensland had physiotherapists triaging patients presenting with back pain - this resulted in a dramatic decrease in referrals to surgeons, the implementation of more conservative treatments modes - together with good outcomes - every one was happy - apart from the AMA. There in lies only one problem - the territorality and tendency to find a demarcation dispute at every ture by one of the nations strongest and most out spoken unions.

Klein's Shock Doctrine video is available on Youtube.

Part 1 is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kieyjfZDUIc

- the other parts are linked from that page.

- enjoy!

EMERGENCY ROOMS

Praise can rightfully assigned to most medical carers. Unlike a recently reported case, I found staff at RNSH totally professional and caring: I have an advanced cancer being treated over a six month period. If there is inadequate staffing at RNHS and other hospitals, the buck stops with the State and Federal Health Ministers. Especially the latter, Tony Abbott, because the Federal Government holds on to surplus, so to pork barrel at election time.

Faced with Sophie’s choice situations daily triage medical staff must assign priorities: A women having a stroke-in-progress is at greater risk of death than one having a miss-carriage. In the latter case the baby cannot be saved.

So, please don’t blame the doctors and nurses: Blame the way the politicians work and in particular Tony Abbott, as Federal Health Minister.

Personally, I believe that under performing ministers should be voted out of their seats regardless of the voters usual political leanings, Liberal, Labor or minor party. We need to sack bad employees. The Ancient Greeks did this by depositing black tiles in a repository. Good on them Greeks! Unfortunately, we contemporary Australians let the two parties rule us, rather than we control them.

POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY SCANNERS

I have a T3CN1M0 cancer. I have no concerns about the skill of medical staff treating and anticipate surviving the first operation. Catch is radical, isolated cancer cells undetectable to MRI and CT scan technologies could remain in my system killing me in 3-4 years time.

We all know, with cancer, earlier detection is critical. With a PET the possibility of re-occurrence isincreases early detection.

Abbott is like someone who wont give a drink to someone dying of thirst. Please read 7.30 Report transcripts:

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2007/s1973995.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2007/s2043989.htm

Multiple approaches to Abbott’s Office @ http://www.tonyabbott.com.au/contact.aspx remain unanswered.

We all are vulnerable to cancer. Affordable access to these life saving machines is important to us all.

On can only hope that conservative Manly voters, will, in good conscience cross the floor and vote out Tony Abbott, so we have affordable access to PET scanners.

Vote for Health not a party.

"We are born, we live, we die. And in between those stages, especially just before the final one, we spend bucketloads of money on medicine and doctors. No surprise then that with the greying of Australia the nation's hospitals, pathology clinics and nursing homes are ringing up bumper profits."

"As the notoriously cashed-up baby boomer bubble prepares to burst into serious old age, the health-care sector is taking off and fortunes are being made."

http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/dissent/documents/health/aus_health_corp.html

Could Australia’s public health system go down that path?

It is already going down that path! The path of privatisation, what will be experienced by the baby boomers is that the cost of health care will eat away at their retirement funds like an ulcer and retirement will not be as comfortable.

JamesH,

Moreover, many middle managers were retrenched in the 1990s to that companies could push up profits by raiding retrement funds. Westpac did this retrenching high performing staff as if they had been "fired", paying six percent simple intrest on contributions, rather than the retrenched workers' real equity. Actuaries then went the Fund. Suprise! The Fund became 700 million dollars oversubscribed, to pocket to cover losses and make a small profit. Point is thousands across industries lost their savings of twenty years and are now ill prepared to cover Health costs in their retirement.

Forget the names of the 'conservatives' of present or past elections .
Privatisation is part of the agenda for ALL major political parties including the pretend socialist ones.
Bob Santamaria, the NCC and the DLP are the true Laborites as they hold to traditional Catholic social doctrine which holds to national economic and cultural sovereignity as constant themes.
Look at smarty by half Rudd and his meeting in NY with Murdoch who renounced his citizenship for .............

Look at Costello and Howard raving on about trade unions who have been largely killed anyway by legislation 20 years BEFORE WOrkChoices.
Kick them all out and start again.
We need a traditional Catholic political force to re-enter under a new kind of labor/trade union grouping to give to workers justice denied for about 30 years now.
May Australia be given say another 100 Dean Mighells to start taking on employers NOW to break their evil grip as workes are losing RDOs , overtime, severance pay and many tradies are getting re-hired as casuals once their companies close down or get sold to another outfit.
Kevin Rudd doesn't look convincing to me as a 'labor' man; forgert the Liberals and the hayseed Nationals- no one could help those dopes as they are anti- worker from the start.
http://www.dlp.org.au/

Civic Wellbeing at the bottom end is declining and we make it's intergrated evidence appear as a political football match in denial, nationally.

Health and social services lack integration and proper infrastructure. To make this worse we invisibise the truth through statistics.... protecting the problem as though we have something or someone to hide?

We nee a "No Wrong Door Policy".

Have you noticed the frequency of how many dumped young children we are observing on our streets lately. Children found in toilets, rivers.... I am alarmed.

We blame mothers yet it is my bet the situation requires us to look harder.

Some mothers and their families are reporting the experience be it on the whole... whether they want to or not. I think we need to be more concerned.

Like rape, sucicide... these are the cases that we do hear about, ... that are being found/reported.How many more are there that we do not hear about?

http://www.miacat.com
.

Santamaria was a raving looney psychotic.

He was quite partial to the use of nuclear weapons. He tried to convince the Americans to use nukes against the North Vietnamese

He was also and ardent supporter of apartheid in South Africa.

Many of Santas followers and successors were and are also quite partial to imperial invasions of other countries to protect our way of life. Boaz for instance. And Bill Muhlenberg who used to be a feature writer for this forum.

Dear Ho Hum
don't worry about Liberal Party sympathiser, Bill Muelenberg.
The Movement blokes I am mates with support Laborite type policies.
What you said about Santamaria is totally wrong by the way.
Look at the modern ALP instead. It is just another Liberal Party with a whole set of anti Catholic commerical and pro big business legislation to back it all up.
The evils of the Libs WorkChoices is only a continuation of the anti worker and anti trade union polices of the Hawke -Keating govts with their pro employer enterprise bargaining agreements which gave us poor buggers in factories 12 hour shifts; back to back 12 hr rotating shifts in chemical, pharmaceutical and petro industries.
This is anti family.
The best shifts which Rudd doesn't have on the radar, and neither does the pro social engineering Left and also former Catholics raised on neo modernism and liberalism ( which is anti Catholic also) are 8 hr shifts based on 35 hour week with 2 days off RDO each month; or 10 hr days with 4 days on, 3 days off; with all shifts having loadings and overtime if anyone works above it.
Rudd, Howard and perhaps you too do not have this on your radar screen.
Traditional Catholic working man social teaching is the best. Let us restore it to Australia like it used to be.

Australia has only one PET scan for every 1,312,500. Abbott knows said he would fix it with an announcement in July 2007. What did/do we hear, silience. Cardinal Pell says he cannot on comment on political matters. We that is okay, provided he doesn't comment on abortion or euthanasia, either. A PET scan can save existing child/adult life, but the Church is silent. I think Abbott and George Pell are proably fairly close. So, contacted The Pope, over the issue.

Yes Cardinal Pell is far too close to the Liberal party. Hence his silence.
I say this as a traditional Catholic too.
Pell is correct on the moral issues but needs to realise that Catholic social doctrine covers areas like health, labour relations and so forth.