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Insight: Feb 24

This week, how do we create a more efficient patient-focused healthcare system?

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2014-06-26_1928

How do we create a more efficient patient-focused healthcare system?

Tonight on Insight Jenny Brockie brings together patients who feel jilted by the shortcomings of Australia’s medical system, and the doctors whose hands are tied by red tape.

Health experts discuss the solutions they believe could help save billions of dollars, end hospital bed shortages and improve access to patient records.

Doctors vent their frustrations with regulations they say are stopping them from working together, and the “waste” they see in the current system, including the over-abundance of Vitamin D testing.

Guests include:
Carly Stewart
Mother of patient: “I have very clear memories of hiding in the toilet with my son’s file because they [doctors] didn’t like you to look at it.”

Charlotte Hespe
General practitioner: “One of the big barriers has not been the willingness or the desire to share; it’s been the bureaucratic red tape.”

John Dwyer
Immunologist and Professor of Medicine: “We do not have a patient focused health care system.”

Stephen Duckett
Economist and Health Program Director at the Grattan Institute: “[The waste is about] 6 or 7 billion dollars.”

Terry Barnes
Public policy consultant and former adviser to two federal health ministers: “What has really frustrated me is that the debate about the co-payment has absolutely swamped the tougher conversation that we should be having about how the system should be working, how it should be financed, how people should get access to it.”

Tuesday, 24 February at 8.30pm on SBS ONE.

2 Responses

  1. The episode was missing a really good discussion on the quality of care of patients. Maybe the medical professionals in that room provide a good quality of care but that doesn’t mean that occurs everywhere. At times the discussion was too bogged down in dollars and sense and discussing the best ways to handle patient records. What needs to be discussed is how patients start getting treated like people and not numbers?

  2. Medical system has many major shortcomings. I would like to see some discussion about poor medical professionals (every profession has them), the dismissive natures of medical professionals when symptoms aren’t clear cut, the too short length of gp appointments, there should be clear guidelines as to what a medical professional can write on a patient record and what the can communicate to another medical professional and should not be allowed to comment on things they are not qualified to comment on. Not sure how open patient records should be as patients aren’t always allowed to view medical records and medical professionals don’t always get things write or make appropriate comments. I wonder where the discussion will head.

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