Developing healthcare policies in Australia
1. Developing healthcare Policies in Australia has for a long time had many problems. First, there has been a rise in the costs of the new technology which has led to difficulties in formulating health care policies in Australia. As medical technology advances in the country, so as the rise in costs related to health care. Some of the medical advances in technology include therapeutic and diagnostic advances that comprise simple biological therapeutics and new radiological scanners. All these diagnostic and therapeutic advances come at a significant cost.
In most cases, the government has listed the above medical advances as subsidies to increase their availability since they are essential to the community which translates to more cost to the society. Failure by the government to subsidize the diagnostic and therapeutic advances can lead to questioning why the government is not providing the new medical advances to all citizens of Australia hence generating unnecessary political pressure. The government is therefore under pressure to improve the health care in Australia and also ensure that the costs of the new medical advances are cut down.
The second problem in developing healthcare policies in Australia has been the private-public mix in funding health care. In Australia, people do not get equitable health care services. Patients are forced to fund up to more than 50% of their medical costs which presents a tremendous barrier to developing health care policies. For many years, the country has relied on both private and the general public in financing healthcare(Health policy in Australia, 2015). The government has always been relieved since the private sector has been the considerable financier. However, there have been concerns that the private sector has been surcharging which is costly to the folks in the rural areas where there is limited access to health facilities. This has presented a massive problem to the government in developing health care policies in the country.
Another problem that Australia is facing in the formulation and development of its healthcare policies is the rapid urbanization issues. There has been increased urbanization across Australia. Many urban centers have come up as a result of the government’s initiative to achieve its 2020 goals(Health policy in Australia, 2015). This has created numerous challenges to the government in planning and formulating health care policies to cater to these urban centers. For example, the increase in urbanization has made it difficult to access fresh food, increased asthma rates, increased the rates of obesity in the country and increased the numbers of mental cases in the country. In conclusion, the above three problems have made it difficult to enact policies that will address the health care issue in the country.
Core principles of health planning
2(a).Power has been on different occasion and separate times had entirely distinct meaning based by individuals with different school of thought. This has everything to do with its complexity and enormous difficulties experienced in fully comprehending the sense of this word. Steven Lukes to expertly define the term power he had to use dimension to achieve his objective. Luke factored in three sizes in what is referred to as conceptual analysis. First and foremost he identified pluralist as the first view of power (Pringle, 2007). This word was coined about the proposal sought by different individuals and interest groups to ascend to power while preserving their selfish agendas.
The second dimension acknowledged by Lukes was an elitist power advanced by Bachrach and Baratz. It spells out clearly and explicitly that power is sought and exercised by individuals and its, not at any particular time discussed. Matters that have to do with conflict are avoided by individuals when force is being applied by individuals (Pringle, 2007). Decision making is achieved by the identifying set of alternatives of which the best are selected to represent the interests of the entire group of individuals. This kind of representations conceals lots of information from the public domain. There lies a boundary from what is observed from outside to the likely what is going on through the system.
The third entity of power dimension suggested analyses closely and keenly the terms and conditions set by the two aspects of power and comes with the best policies with subjective interests and policy preferences that are likely to be ignored (Pringle, 2007). Lukes accepts that this form of power has to operate efficiently and effectively and has to works in line with the suggested regulations and guidelines of the status quo. It attains its set objective by working with adaptive.
b.Elitism and pluralism are two different schools of thoughts that explain the manner in which power is spread between different groups or individuals in society. Pluralism is a theory that explains the spread of power between different groups in a given community (“What is the difference between pluralism and elitism? | MyTutor”, 2018). Pluralism suggests that the pushing and pulling that take place between these different groups explains the manner in which the decisions are arrived at and the influence it has on the government of the day. An excellent example of pluralism is interest groups or powerful pressure since they prove how power is spread among different competing groups and not a single organization. On the other hand, elitism is where power is concentrated among a few groups or individuals. These also include the government of the day.
Obesity policy in Australia
and institutions. Crenson began by demonstrating that action or inaction on pollution in American cities could not be attributed to differences in actual pollution levels, or to differences in social attributes of the populations in different cities.
In this study Crenson investigated two neighbouring cities which were both equally polluted and had similar demographic profiles. City 1 had acted to deal with air pollution in 1949, while City 2 did nothing until 1962.
Crenson argued that the difference arose because City 1 had several steel companies with no strong connections to political party organisations when it passed its air pollution legislation in
3. There are many principles of health care planning in Australia. It is important to note the health care services in Australia are coordinated across the broader health care system. The first principle of healthcare planning in Australia is to come up with strategic engagement protocols and strategic plans that govern both local hospital network and the Medicare Locals. This is meant to create a conducive environment that will enable the government to provide medical services to its citizens. The local hospital network and the Medicare locals will work jointly with the citizens to develop strategic plans that will ensure that medical services are available at the local area. Besides, the government will get essential data and knowledge about acute health care, the primary Healthcare, providers, and consumers on the need and priorities of the local communities regarding health care services. Joint decision making and planning by all the sectors concerned provides an ethical framework that will help the citizens or the consumers use the Healthcare system more effectively. Joint planning and decision making also help direct the limited available resources to healthcare sector that achieve the best outcomes (Guide to health service planning, 2015). It is also important to note that joint planning and decision making will engage the consumers who will give the best recommendations on how the health care system of the country can be structured.
The second principle is to identify the health needs of each in the country to come up with measures of prevention of diseases, self-care, health promotion, and intervention. Different groups of people within a population usually require different types of support from the health care system. The risk of contracting diseases in the society varies according to cultural background, sex, the social-economic status of the group and the geographical location (Guide to health service planning, 2015). In any given population there are people who are likely to use the hospital more than others. Besides, there are those who are prone to multiple healthcare risks such as obesity smoking and risky sexual behaviour. These people need different kinds of support from the health system.
Luke’s dimensions of power and schools of thought on power distribution
There exist many differences between healthcare planning and population planning. Population planning refers to the deliberate control of the growth of the human population. The government of a country lets us say Australia may use some measure such as family planning to control the growth of population. On the other hand, healthcare planning refers to rules that are put in place to create high-quality environments that are financially and clinically sustainable regarding providing health care services to the people.
Doctors Union
Doctors play a viable and significant role as far as healthy of any country is concerned. The duties they offer range from identifying the illness the patient is subjected to and giving the best prescription or treatment to enable efficient and effective recovery process. In the modern world, this profession has been categorized into various sub-sections including pharmacy, nursing, dental surgery to mention but a few. Every section is tasked with specific functions of which they have to perform flawlessly for the benefit of the clients (latinovic, 2013). First and foremost, the doctor will identify the disease which is vulnerable and susceptible in the country, undertake active research on the process of medication, calculate the budgetary allocation and advise the government on the remedy plans that can be adopted for the benefit of citizens of the country. Also, they are also charged with the responsibility of recruiting employees best suited to perform the allocated task.
Counsellors and Psychologist
Currently, according to the statistics based on the ongoing research individuals are reported to be suffering much from depressions, mental illness, and other psychological related disorders. It is said that out of a hundred individuals ten are likely to be experiencing psychological severe tormenting. This has everything to do with family problems, financial matters, and job stress. These reported cases have so far led to increased individuals pursuing psychology related courses to address this ever-increasing puzzle in the society.
Psychologists and counsellors since they have firsthand experience amassed from daily trying to solve the social issues. They are therefore better placed to give the ministry better advise on the diseases that are mainly causing lots of difficulties to citizens and how they can be solved in the current settings. Psychologists furthermore are informed of the current trends that are being experienced in the country and the menace they are likely to cause hence provide prefect and excellent solutions for them.
Citizens
The citizens in specific society are critical and paramount in decision making since they are the ones undergoing the problem which is being addressed (latinovic, 2013). Therefore, it is worth noting that a panel of stakeholders shoulder comprises a sample of individuals with massive experience in community policy formulation picked from different parts of the country to enable equal and adequate representation by all the individuals. However, matters concerning policy formulation are severe and thus demands that people selected should be capable of reading and be conversant with modern issues affecting society.
References
latinovic, l. (2013). Public health strategy against overweight and obesity in Mexico’s National Agreement for Nutritional Health [Ebook].
Health policy in Australia. (2015). [Ebook].
Pringle, B. (2007). Steven Lukes and the ‘Three-Dimensional [Ebook].
What is the difference between pluralism and elitism? | MyTutor. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.mytutor.co.uk/answers/13049/A-Level/Politics/What-is-the-difference-between-pluralism-and-elitism/https://www.mytutor.co.uk/answers/13049/A-Level/Politics/What-is-the-difference-between-pluralism-and-elitism/
Guide to health service planning. (2015). [Ebook].
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
