Pork-barrelling or meeting community need?
How about this for a great political dodge?
ABC reporter asking the Prime Minister about his dark of night Youtube rescue of a Tasmanian hospital:
“Now Tasmania’s spent years preparing and now implementing a Clinical Services Plan for Tasmania, did you or your office read that before deciding to intervene in Mersey Hospital”.
Like a deft winger sidestepping an unsuspecting defender, Mr Howard’s replied: “Look, we’re aware of what the Tasmanian Government’s plan was, and that was to downgrade the hospital in Devonport”.
As if this was the entire master plan Tasmanian Health has been able to come up with. Sadly, the reporter let him get away with it.
Mr Howard went on to say that communities don’t care which level of government provides health services, and he’s right, but surely some one has to have a big picture view.
In the health-care arena, as in all areas of life, you can’t always get what you want no matter how often Mr Howard may say that “every community in the country should have a ‘legitimate expectation’ of a full range of services”.
But it’s simply not possible to have a fully equipped hospital in every small community given the workforce shortage, finite health dollar, and the need for practitioners to perform a sufficient volume of work to maintain their skills.
Of course, I haven’t fully read the Tasmanian plan either, but it appears to be the efforts of a small state with few doctors trying to best balance the budget and needs of all its constituents, not just those within the boundaries of the marginal electorate of Braddon, currently held by a 1.2% majority by the Libs.
As I understand it, the plan was to downgrade Mersey to a general practitioner care and a day-surgery unit, with patients having to travel 60km for further surgical facilities. The federal government is promising an ED, aged-care facilities obstetrics and surgery, although it’s yet to be seen where the staff will come from.
Whatever your political colours, operation Mersey must be seen as a piecemeal, Bandaid solution for a small community rather than a comprehensive, integrated health plan, which is what we need.
You’d think negotiating a new health care agreement with the states might be a good starting point, but Tony Abbott says there’s no point before the election, which to the government probably is the big picture.
ABC reporter asking the Prime Minister about his dark of night Youtube rescue of a Tasmanian hospital:
“Now Tasmania’s spent years preparing and now implementing a Clinical Services Plan for Tasmania, did you or your office read that before deciding to intervene in Mersey Hospital”.
Like a deft winger sidestepping an unsuspecting defender, Mr Howard’s replied: “Look, we’re aware of what the Tasmanian Government’s plan was, and that was to downgrade the hospital in Devonport”.
As if this was the entire master plan Tasmanian Health has been able to come up with. Sadly, the reporter let him get away with it.
Mr Howard went on to say that communities don’t care which level of government provides health services, and he’s right, but surely some one has to have a big picture view.
In the health-care arena, as in all areas of life, you can’t always get what you want no matter how often Mr Howard may say that “every community in the country should have a ‘legitimate expectation’ of a full range of services”.
But it’s simply not possible to have a fully equipped hospital in every small community given the workforce shortage, finite health dollar, and the need for practitioners to perform a sufficient volume of work to maintain their skills.
Of course, I haven’t fully read the Tasmanian plan either, but it appears to be the efforts of a small state with few doctors trying to best balance the budget and needs of all its constituents, not just those within the boundaries of the marginal electorate of Braddon, currently held by a 1.2% majority by the Libs.
As I understand it, the plan was to downgrade Mersey to a general practitioner care and a day-surgery unit, with patients having to travel 60km for further surgical facilities. The federal government is promising an ED, aged-care facilities obstetrics and surgery, although it’s yet to be seen where the staff will come from.
Whatever your political colours, operation Mersey must be seen as a piecemeal, Bandaid solution for a small community rather than a comprehensive, integrated health plan, which is what we need.
You’d think negotiating a new health care agreement with the states might be a good starting point, but Tony Abbott says there’s no point before the election, which to the government probably is the big picture.
posted by ozdocblog at 8:44 PM
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