Health sector alliance calls for community input

Posted May 16th 2007

by DPS

An alliance of 46 consumer, clinical and academic organisations in the health sector says that community input into health reform is essential to ensure that our health system can meet future challenges.

This research appears in the latest edition of the Australian Health Review, the policy journal of the Australian Healthcare Association.

“Australia’s health system has a number of strengths, but it is failing in many areas to meet the growing demands of our population for health care,” Ms Viola Korczak, a member of the Australian Health Care Reform Alliance Executive, said.

“For example, despite having the resources to be able to train enough health care professionals to meet demand, we continue to rely on doctors and nurses from other countries to address our workforce shortages. Currently, 25% of doctors working in Australia are trained overseas.”

Tony McBride, also a member of the Executive and co-author, said these problems must be solved to ensure the future viability of our health care system.

“However, a successful solution will require widespread reform which takes into account the needs and views of consumers and the community as a whole,” Mr McBride said.

“The Australian Health Care Reform Alliance (AHCRA) believes that informed debate on health care reform, involving a broad spectrum of the community, will enhance the accountability of funding decisions and ensure that principles such as equity of access are preserved in future health system reforms. Increasing community engagement will also help to build consensus around health care reform issues and increase community trust in the reform process.

“AHCRA believes that effective health reform planning requires both federal and state governments to jointly fund a community consultation process, involving a broad spectrum of the community and overseen by an independent organisation. The process needs to start now. Australia’s health care system is in urgent need of reform and the first step of this reform process should involve the government engaging the community,” Mr McBride said.