Referring to current problems facing Public Hospitals across Australia and especially in Queensland.We constantly hear whining and buck-passing from both Federal and State Governments, the AMA, the Nurses Union and many other organizations.
Everyone appears to be seeking someone else to blame.

It appears that any member of the public can enter and traverse the corridors of the hospitals possibly carrying any sort of communicable disease. We have a very dangerous situation....There is too much responsibility being left to the public to do the right thing and to use their commonsense!

This situation in it`s entirety is just NOT good enough, and it is understandable why we are having problems trying to contain the spread and infection from the likes of Golden Staph within the confines of the hospital precincts.

Hospital emplyees can wear anything that they like whilst on duty, Pre-op and Theatre staff only required to don a gown and mask over usually their normal day wear. Intensive Care Wards are another area of deep concern, where entry to same requires only the "asked for" handwashing procedure,...again without any enforcement!

Public Hospitals should be controlled by a Hospital Board comprising responsible and reputable members. The day to day running of the hospital returned to Matron and Registrar, who are responsible directly to the Board.

Nursing Staff should be returned to the wearing of sterile uniforms displaying their rank/seniority. All other hospital employees should wear uniforms appropriate to their position within the hospital.
ALL Hospital Doctors, Nurses and medical staff should be compelled to change fron their home clothing, shower and don sterile uniforms prior to commencing duty.

All members of the public should NOT be allowed near a ward unless they have complied with appropriate sanitary conditions as would be laid down!

It sounds tough all round,..but what price is human life? We have entered a dangerously deteriorating standard of hospital care, performance techniques and procedures have improved out of sight, whilst the benefits thjat could be accrued are lost due to sloppy and dangerous house-keeping procedures, which have now become the norm ina drastically overloaded system!

Well said ,Cuphandle.Don't forget about streamlining the bureaucracy.
We have a plague of bureaucrats that is sapping the life blood from the nursing and Doctor front lines.

I worked in a small remote qld hospital for several years and came to the conclusion that healthcare was not so much about patients as it was about the careers of administrators and medical & other staff. A former health union president when asked by myself if things would hopefully improve under a then newly installed conservative government replied "I'll do anything not to cooperate with that administration". Doctors & nurses dressed so casual that patients mistook them for hitch-hikers on several occasions. Staff housing more often than not became free holiday accommodation for friends & relatives. On one unforgettable occasion there was "no money" for floor cleaning agents & a cleaner was told to "use hot water" but there was no shortage to purchase furnitue & appliances for inner circle staff. The misappropriation & tolerated incompetence in this qld health sector administration was nothing short of unbelieveable. I have met many dedicated health & admin staff who desperately tried to better the situation but were then systematically so demoralised with the consent of the top of the admin hierarchy that they invariably resigned. That's why qld health is in the mess it's in now.

Cuphandle it is not about “It sounds tough all round,..but what price is human life?” but rather about appropriate management. After all not all people die but nevertheless can end up with severe problems.

It just shows the Federal government blaming the State s for not running the public hospitals appropriately where we had now a man dying in a public hospital in the ACT. Oops, not a State hospital and so the Federal Government is silent about this man dying. No political benefit in this death!
Perhaps, this may underline that we need to take politics out of hospitals and as you made clear get hygiene back into the hospitals. It doesn’t matter who runs the hospitals provided it is properly administrated. After all, if hygienic standards fail then that is the issue to address.

I for one would hold that people attending to a hospital bed should be covered up and not be able to pass in illnesses, not just to those they visit but in the process onto others also.

At most it may be merely some inconvenience to a visitor but for the better of running hospitals.

As for staff themselves, I view it should be mandatory for them to be donning protective clothing, such as mask and coat when near patents and in particularly so when they may have a cold or other illness.

Too often people die in hospitals for reasons not concerned with the ailment they entered into hospital about.

And, perhaps we ought to have all hospital items electronically tagged and so before any operation have every item scanned and after the operation have again each item scanned and so that immediately it might be known if a pick axe or shovel is missing (OK this is a bit overboard, well perhaps as you never know these days!) they know where to locate it.

Hospital Hygiene is a problem, probably more hospital grade bleach and conscientious cleaners, not just people waving mops about willy nilly and sploshing sponges about without proper care especially considering that it appears to have escalated over the last 20 years, and why is this considering that we have a larger, better educated and seemingly more prosperous population than 20 years ago ( according to Howard)
If people choose to clean for a wage they must be responsible also....and these departments must not cut costs by diluting cleaning substances below the recommended quantities for eradicating germs
diligence and concentration is necessary whilst cleaning, it is actually mandatory , otherwise its a pointless task, germs are actually being spread about rather than killed!

The following comment has absolutely nothing to do with my persoanl preference for the conservative side of politics. It is based on observation & personal experience over a number of years.
I found that some 90 % if not more of medical staff in qld health were strongly biased towards Labor. Yet these very same people were the most vocal critics of the conservative fed. & state governments as being the cause of the hospital crisis. I ask & argue how can you blame the conservatives for this crisis when the whole system is labor run ? The remark by the former union president of "I'll do anything not to cooperate with this (conservative) administration" says it all in my view.

"individual", It is not who you blame but who is to blame.
In 1946 there was a referendum to transfer financial responsibility to the Commonwealth of Australia for health, dental and other services!

As I understand it to be, but you might prove me wrong, the coalition has been in power for at least for the last 11 years as a federal government!

They have reduced their share of payment for cost even so constitutionally they should be paying 100% of the cost.
What it means is that the States had, so to say, rob Peter to pay Paul, in that monies needed for other important matters are diverted to health.

Constitutionally, once the 1946 referendum was approved by the electors the sole responsibility from then on was for the Commonwealth of Australia to pay for all cost! It so far never did.

Hence, to blame Labor as to your experiences seems to be flying in the face of constitutional reality!

It doesn’t matter whop is in power, the Commonwealth of Australia should pay for all cost!

It doesn’t matter who is in power, the Commonwealth of Australia should pay for all cost!
Mr Gerrit H Schorel-Hlavka,
I agree wholeheartedly ! After all it's our money. The taxes we pay should include healthcare & pension as simple as that ! If I'm not mistaken I'think the feds are providing the states with health funding at this very moment. We used to have a free Hospital system in Qld until, yes you guessed it, Labor got in & introduced medicare. Actually, I wasn't implying in my earlier post that it was a Labor policy that caused the problems. I said it was Labor's supporters who do. Some appear to go as far as sabotage as was the case with the union president.