Chronic Illness in Australia: Rules, Regulations, and Literature Review

Chronic diseases are the leading causes of illness and death in Australia. This paper discusses the burden of chronic diseases, rules and regulations, statistics and gaps, and literature review. The review highlights the importance of reorienting health policies towards chronic diseases and the need for a strong primary care system.

Chronic illness

Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Keywords...........................................................................................................................................3
Chronic illness in Australia.....................................................................................................................3
Literature review...................................................................................................................................4
Rules and regulations............................................................................................................................5
Statistics and gaps.................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................6
References.............................................................................................................................................7

Introduction
Chronic diseases are the leading causes of illness and it leads to disability as well as
deaths in Australia. The burden of chronic diseases is increasing at an alarming rate in the
country and according to the statistics of the government of Australia one in two Australians
are living with any kind of chronic health condition. Even, the chronic health conditions are
accounted for even 90% of deaths across the country, according to the report in the year 2011
(Sav, Salehi, Mair & McMillan, 2017). However, government has set various rules and
regulations on the healthcare need of the people but at the same time, various rights and
obligations of the people living in the country are also there. According to the government
constitution of Australia, various healthcare rights of Australians are there. Simultaneously,
there should be a balance between the rights and obligation ns in this regard and the
following section of this paper discusses the topic in brief.
Keywords: In order to search the detail about the topic chronic illness in Australia,
some specific keywords have been used and they are chronic, disease, illness, Australia,
statistics, government, rule, rights, people, obligations.
Chronic illness in Australia
Chronic diseases are the long lasting adverse health conditions with some persistent
effects. The impacts of these chronic diseases can hamper the quality of life of the people
suffering from it because the diseases not only affect the health, but also the social and
economic status also (Barrett et al., 2016). Australian health department has divided the
chronic diseases into eight major groups. The job of the healthcare professionals has become
more complicated as sometimes people are experiencing two or more diseases concurrently.
According to many literatures, healthcare professionals do not find more complexity while
dealing with the patients with chronic diseases but they face more difficulties in bringing

them to a normal as well as common life like others. Some authors indicated that various
factors contribute to the treatment burden of chronic diseases which includes, age, gender,
socio-economic status, environment and others (Zwar et al., 2017). Treatment characteristics,
dose of medications as well as the family circumstances are also responsible among the
factors affecting the treatment of chronic diseases. Again, some other literatures indicated the
sociological aspects of treatment burden and it suggests that the burden is not only associated
with the workload brought about but also the impact of the workload on the activities of daily
life as well as on the identity of patients. For example it can be stated that older adults are
more likely to accept the treatment burden when compared to the younger adults (Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare, n.d).
Literature review
Addressing the chronic diseases is one of the major challenges of the healthcare
professionals across the world healthcare system. Chronic diseases are required a supervision
and assistance of long time. Evidences from various literatures highlight the importance of
reorienting health policies as well as the rules and regulations of government health system
towards the chronic diseases and the people suffering from this. Literature suggests that a
strong primary care system is always helpful in improving the overall health outcome of the
people living in the country (Australian Government Department of Health, 2009). Authors
indicated that in the year 1990, a chronic care model was developed as a framework to
improve the quality of the healthcare provided by the professionals (NSW government,
2018). This model is an organizational approach to care for the people suffering from chronic
health conditions. The model consists of six different elements applicable in the primary
health setting. The elements operate within the context of the individual, community,
organization of healthcare provider and the healthcare systems. Some literatures suggested

that the elements are more likely to improve the health outcome of the people with chronic
health conditions when applied in the healthcare system.
Rules and regulations
Australian Government has set up a National strategic Framework for chronic illness
that provides the guidance for the development as well as the implementation of various
policies, actions, strategies, and services that is helpful in reducing the impact of chronic
health disorders among the people living in Australia. This framework also provides a
national direction which is applicable to a broad range of chronic conditions found among the
people over there. The framework was endorsed by all the health ministers and it was
publicly released in the year May, 2017 through the COAG health council (Reynolds et al.,
2018).
Statistics and gaps
According to the statics of World Health Organization, more than 70% deaths occur
due to chronic diseases. It directly affects the overall healthcare budget, economy as well as
the employee productivity of any country. Health professionals play a major role in
preventing chronic diseases as well as in promoting health (Wei & Coumarelos, 2009).
People with chronic diseases as well as disabilities suffer from multiple disadvantages and
some Australian census data shows that people with ill-health are more likely to be suffered
from crime, unemployment, educational attainment and others. Some authors also argued that
people suffering from chronic diseases also face multiple types of social as well as economic
disadvantages. However, some large-scale legal need surveys measured illness as well as
disability status showed that they face a wide range of legal problems that includes problems
related to criminal, civil and family laws (Foster & Mitchell, 2015). Although, various
literatures and information can be found from various databases regarding the data on chronic

illness and rights and obligations of people, but there is a gap in the literatures regarding the
acts and laws for the rights and obligations of the people suffering from chronic diseases.
However, the main strength of literature review is that various literatures are there containing
the information related to chronic illness in Australia (Jaarsma, Cameron, Riegel &
Stromberg, 2017).
Conclusion
In the literatures, the writers agree with the needs and laws for the people suffering
from chronic illness or disabilities. The review of literatures provided evidences on the facts
of chronic illness and consequences of it. On the other hand it also explained the rules and
laws set by the Australian government in this regard. However, the literatures contain gaps
regarding the rights and obligations of public despite of this. It is obvious, that government
intervention and support can be more helpful in preventing the affects of chronic illness
which in turn will also be effective in improving the health outcome as well as the economic
productivity of the country.

References
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