9. Australia’s health system

Elements of Australia’s health system

• Australia’s health system is effective and efficient when compared to other similar countries

• Australian’s have access to public and private healthcare

Public health

• Public health is focused on health promotion, health protection and disease and injury prevention for the population as a whole

• Public health includes:– Disease prevention programs– Community medical infrastructure e.g. GPs,

hospitals and other healthcare providers– Support services e.g. school welfare coordinators – Public education campaigns

Approaches to health and healthcare

• The biomedical approach:– Focused on the role of medical science in

diagnosing, treating and curing illness

• The preventative approach:– Focused on preventing illness before it arises

through risk factor prevention

Roles and responsibilities of health sectors

• Public sector– managed by federal, state and territory and local

governments– Responsible for the public hospital system– Responsible for Medicare

• Private sector– Private practitioners, GPs, dentists,

physiotherapists and other healthcare providers– Private hospitals fall under this sector

Universal access to healthcare

• Medicare is Australia’s universal public health insurance system run by a government agency called Medicare Australia

• It provides high quality health care to all Australian’s that is affordable and accessible

• Its main goal is to remove financial barriers to healthcare • Medicare ensures that all Australians have access to:– Free treatment in public hospitals– Free or subsidised treatment by medical practitioners• The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) subsidises the

cost of a wide range of prescription medicines

Private health insurance

• Many Australian’s take out private health insurance, which provides additional insurance for some services that are not covered by Medicare

Issues facing Australia’s health system

Issues include: – Human rights and ethics– Medical technology– Complementary and alternative healthcare– Environmental health– Rural health services – The ageing population – Can you think of any others? Brainstorm as a class.

Human rights and ethics

• Issues include:– IVF– Gene technology– Stem-cell research– Cloning– Abortion– Organ donation– Xenotransplantation– discrimination

Medical technology

• Use of technology raises significant issues:– Cost to the healthcare system– The effectiveness and benefits– Community expectations– Ethical issues– Access issues

Complementary / Alternative care

• These include services that ‘complement’ or work alongside conventional medical services

• Examples include:– Acupuncture– Homeopathy– Yoga– Naturopathy– Osteopathy– Aromatherapy– Herbal medicine

Environmental health

• The health of an individual or community is affected by the environment in which they live. Issues include:– Emergencies and disasters– Climate change– Drinking water supplies– Urban development– Lack of environmental health infrastructure in

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities

The ageing population

• An ageing population is one where older age groups make up an increasing proportion of the population

• There are two main factors influencing the ageing population in Australia:– Declining fertility rates – Increase in life expectancy

Rural health services

• More than half of the Australian population live in capital cities and many more live in other large cities

• Over 6 million people live outside of the cities in rural and remote areas

• Poor health status in these areas is influenced by: socioeconomic status, environment, access to healthcare, fewer healthcare personnel, access to goods and services, ageing population