A lack of palliative care beds in Gippsland means terminally ill patients may be missing out on vital early care, a palliative care co-ordinator has warned. Cassandra White reports.
Hospitals
healthcare 
Beyond hospital bed tallies: how about some innovation?
According to most media coverage, health reform is all about having more hospital beds and more doctors. The debate of course extends a lot further than that, and some answers for Australia could be found in the US health care system, writes Dr Lesley Russell.
Diary of a Surgeon: How to set a world standard for health care
Surgical checklists cost almost nothing, yet have been shown to almost halve mortality and mortality in hospitals in which they are used, writes Professor Guy Maddern.
The true truth about truth in advertising
You may need to have a Sausageologist perform a chopectomy on you
Health care ain’t just hospitals
When will we move on from the simplistic focus on hospitals when discussing health reform? asks Trevor Carr from the Victorian Healthcare Association. Instead, let’s focus on industrial relations, primary care and prevention.
Ruddivirus: coming to a hospital near you
Public hospitals are the battleground in Kevin Rudd’s re-election campaign — and the “cooperative federalist” is targeting state governments.
Hospitals win votes — the devil is in the details
Of course the government is focusing on hospitals in its health care reform announcements — few voters are gripped by establishing Primary Health Care Organisations, says Professor Philip Davies. It’s what comes next that counts.
Hospital reform: forget state v fed, it’s all about accountability
While all the focus is on the carve-up of funding between the Commonwealth and the states, the real drivers of reform are elsewhere in the health reform package.
Memo to Rudd: here is how you can win cred on health reform
What if the sum total of health reform in the Rudd government’s first term amounts to a big fat zilch? Health ministers are meeting today and Croakey’s experts have gathered to give their advice.
Forget about My School — what about MyHospital.com.au?
Health economist Gavin Mooney — tongue firmly in cheek — imagines if the government applied the “logic” of its My School website to hospitals, comparing what comes out, but definitely not what goes in.
What we can learn from the US on hospitals
Croakey’s correspondent on all matters North American, Dr Lesley Russell, reports on health initiatives in the US aimed at improving patient safety in the US that has some useful pointers for Australia.
Another missed opportunity for health reform
Systemic health problems don’t usually grab daily headlines, but the state of our national health system will nevertheless emerge as an important concern in the next national election, predicts Professior Ian Hickie.
Devine: The rot infecting our hospitals
The major issue affecting our hospitals isn’t lack of funding, it’s dealing with the insane and complicated bureaucracy that entangles multiple hospitals together. Time for communities to take back ownership of their local hospital, writes Miranda Devine.
Political snippets: Time for the Libs to exploit the government on health
Are the Liberals finally basing their attacks on the Rudd Government around health policy after months of missing out on the opportunity? Even just a look at the last week of reporting shows rich pickings.
Tasmanian health minister’s appointments under a cloud
Did Tasmania’s health minister Lara Giddings take a close enough look at her department secretary’s resume? asks Margaretta Pos. He used to head one of the most controversial hospitals in the UK.
The fees war must have Hippocrates turning in his grave
The health of patients with cataracts is being forgotten by both major parties in the debate about Medicare rebates for cataract surgery and for joint injections, writes Dr Tim Woodruff.
How much cash will the states get under the CPRS? Zero.
Unfortunately for those of us who ever rely on the public health, education or transport systems, the CPRS is estimated to cost state budgets more than $2.1 billion in 2013, writes executive director of the Australia Institute, Dr Richard Denniss.
Here’s how Rudd could resuscitate our public hospitals
In 2007, Kevin Rudd promised to fix Australia’s public hospitals if the states had not done so in a year. He would be foolish to blindly follow his National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission’s recommendations, writes David Penington.
Abortion in Queensland: an illegal ambiguity
Abortion is still technically a crime in Queensland. The longer Premier Anna Bligh hesitates to decriminalise abortion, the more she loses support from Queensland women, writes Professor Caroline de Costa.
Health reform report: big on efficiency but what about quality?
Many policy analysts (including myself) would argue that a Commonwealth take over of the whole caboodle is the way to go with health care. However, what is all this talk of “efficiency costs”? asks Gavin Mooney.
Pollies v doctors in hospital battle
Today’s national health report stops short of recommending that hospitals be completely 100% federally funded. Opposition leader Turnbull says it represents “one broken promise after another” from PM Kevin Rudd.
Diary of a Surgeon: The under-valued heroes of the health system
The Federal Government has recently approved and almost doubling of medical student numbers without much planning how they would gain the necessary clinical experience, and the so-called tsunami of students is now washing over the system.
We have 38% fewer hospital beds than in 1981: it’s a scandal
When there is a lack of beds, patients suffer. It’s that simple, writes Professor Peter Collignon.
Spin cycle: tasers in hospitals — who paid for the research?
The media went crazy for the Tasers in hospitals story yesterday, but they made one glaring ommission, writes freelance journalist Amy Corderoy.
