Examining Healthcare Challenges: Aging & Inequality in Australia

This essay discusses the significant challenges facing the Australian healthcare system, focusing on the impact of an aging population and pervasive health inequalities. The aging population places immense pressure on healthcare resources, workforce, and funding, leading to concerns about sustainability and service delivery. Simultaneously, health inequalities persist across various demographics, including those in remote areas, low socioeconomic status groups, and Indigenous Australians, resulting in disparities in mortality rates and access to care. The essay highlights the need for collaborative strategies between the government and healthcare organizations to address these challenges and ensure equitable access to quality healthcare for all Australians. Desklib offers this solution and many other resources for students.

Running head: CHALLENGES IN AUSTRALIAN HEALTHCARE
CHALLENGES IN AUSTRALIAN HEALTHCARE
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Introduction:
In the present day healthcare system of Australia, different challenges are witnessed
which have imposed a great concern among the governmental health department. One of the
challenges is the increased population of the aging individuals in the nation which are imposing a
great burden on healthcare system. Another important concern is the healthcare inequality which
has affected the health of different disadvantaged cohorts of the nation. These two challenges
would be discussed in details in the assignments and more light would be shed on the different
important aspects associated with these challenges.
Aging population:
In the nation of Australia, life expectancy of the people in the present years is found to be
81.5 years which is one of the highest in the world. The advancements in the field of medicines
and technology with more and more healthcare researches being conducted every day, people are
being able to live longer number of days. Older people in the nation of Australia are accounting
for about an increased share in the population (Bloom et al., 2015). In the year 2013, 145 of the
population resulting for about 3.3 million people were found to be above the age 65 and 1.9% of
the population accounting for about 439600 were found to be above the age 85 and over.
Statistical studies conducted by Australian bureau of statistics are of the opinion that within the
year 2053, even if medium level growth assumptions are considered, about 21% of the people
accounting to about 8.3 million people would be aged 65 and over and 4.2% of the people
accounting for about 1.6 million people would be above the age 85 and over (Davies & James,
2016). This huge number of older cohorts of the people in the nation would result in humungous
impact on the healthcare. Such trends in the rise of the older population is believed to put

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unsustainable pressure on the public spending with particular concerns about the rising health
costs as well as the ability of the health system to serve the demands of the increasing number of
older people who would be needing the care.
The challenges regarding the healthcare services that would be demanded by the
increasing population of the older cohort would be two fold. The rapidly growing older people
belonging to the group of 85 years and above have typical age related health problems like that
arthritis, dementia and cancer. Secondly, the younger cohort who would be entering into the age
cohort of 65 years and above would be also requiring services regarding the larger burden of the
lifestyle related disorders like type 2 diabetes (Beard et al., 2015). Moreover, social changes
among the newer generation of the older people like that of the greater understanding as well as
awareness of the health issues and greater expectation from the health services are posing
additional challenges. These challenges would be influencing the future models of healthcare
delivery and engagement.
An increased demand in the healthcare services is witnessed mainly among the older
cohort of the nation. They are more likely to visit the health professionals than that of the
younger people. according to that data collected by AHS in the year 2011-2012, about 98% of
the people aged 65 and over had been found to have consulted to at least 1 professional in the
previous 1 year when compared to 90% people who are aged under 65. About 57% of the older
people had found to have consulted specialists within the last year in comparison to 285 people
who are aged fewer than 65 (Moffat et al., 2015). About 20% of the older people had been found
to have admitted to the hospital as an inpatient in comparison to that of 11% of the people who
are under the age of 65. As per the data available with AIWH, huge number of older people was
living in the permanent residential aged care services. It has been also found that between the

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years of 2003 to 2013, the older people seeking for permanent residential ca services rose by
20%. Within the total increase, it was found that the total number of people looking for
residential aged care services over the age of 85 increased by 37% (AIWH, 2016). These rises
mainly reflect the growth in the older population as well as associated increases in the
government-subsidized residential places (Hall, 2015). About 82% of the permanent residential
care services patients were seen to be requiring high level care. Circulatory disorders were found
to be common among 225 of the people with 19% people suffering with musco-skeletal disorder
and 8% suffering from endocrine disorders like diabetes. 52% of the people had been found to be
diagnosed with dementia. About half of the residents were found to be having depression.
Such higher use of the health services in the by the older cohorts have huge impacts on
the health workforce as well. Experts are of the opinion that an ageing population would be
requiring an adequate health workforce in the terms of numbers as well as distribution and skill
set for meeting the increased demands as well as the needs of the older people. They are also if
the opinion that future shortages of appropriately skilled workers are also expected to rise which
would create a huge challenge in the aged care sectors in the nation (Phillip, 2015). An increased
shortage in healthcare professionals would be found as the percentage of the registration of the
healthcare professionals are not aligning with the increases in the demands of the aged care
services. The nurse patient ratio is already found to be disrupted as lesser number of nurses is
now available to teat higher number of patients which impose threats in patient’s lives of the
patients but also on the mental and physical health of the healthcare professionals. The older
people are found to be high users of the health system and health costs are also found to be
higher in the older cohorts. Population ageing is expected to result in unsustainable pressure on
expenditure within the health system (Davis et al., 2016). Funding for health goods and services

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are seen to come from a range of services that include Australian Government; state and
territory, and local governments; non-government sources such as private health insurers and
injury compensation insurers; and out-of-pocket payments by individuals. Increased demand of
services will inevitably put pressure on healthcare resources and expenditure and therefore
funding would be also affected. Experts are of the opinion that more allocation of funds would
be required which had resulted in concerning situation in the nation.
Health inequality:
Health inequalities can be defined as the differences in the health status like that of the
rates of illness and death as well as self-related health resulting from economic, social as well as
geographical influences that are unfair, avoidable as well as unnecessary. Australia is a country
that shows significant health inequalities. As per the data by the Australian Institute of Health
and Welfare (AIHW), Australia is experiencing the highest life expectancy of 82 years which is
highest among the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
countries. This nation also enjoys the second lowest overall mortality rate among the OECD
countries (Whitty et al., 2015). However, inequalities are still found in the age standardized
mortality rates among the population groups. In the year 2009 to 2011, males were found to have
a mortality rate which was 1.5 times that of the females. People living in the remote areas as well
as very remote areas have a mortality rate which is about 1.4times than that of the people living
in the major cities. People belonging to the cohort of low SES or socio-economic status have
been found to have a mortality rate which was 1.3 times than that of the people belonging to
higher SES (Muscat et al., 2016). Again, the mortality rate of the indigenous Australian was
found to be double than that of the mortality rate of the non-indigenous people. I had been found
that if there were no differences in the mortality rate between the lower as well as the higher

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SES, there would have been 6013 fewer deaths from the conditions like lung cancer which was
the leading cause of all cancer deaths in 2009-2011. If people living both the major areas and
remote areas had same number of deaths then there would have been 825 fewer deaths die to
prostate cancer (AIWH, 208).
Health inequalities are complex but they can be explained by the unequal access to
certain cohorts of people towards material resources important for health like that of housing,
healthy foods as well as adequate income. They not only can result in direct impact on the health
of the people but may also result in various types of social and psychological situations that can
damage the health. Low income as well as unemployment can fail the individuals in accessing
healthcare services where they might not be able to pay fees. These aspects might also lead to
social isolation and exclusion (Hunt et al., 2015). These aspects will not allow people to buy
costly organic foods that can prevent them from disorders. Many of the aboriginal communities
have found to complain that they do not get access to healthcare services because they live in
remote places. Many of them complain that they do not receive culturally competent care by the
western healthcare professionals and fear if discrimination and stigmatization prevent them from
seeking services. Experts have provided a number of social and economic resources that
contribute to inequalities in health in the nation. These are lack of employment or low income,
lack of education and health literacy levels, absence of adequate housing and others. Other
factors include healthy foods, safety and justice, accessible health and community service
infrastructures and well as lack of opportunities of transportation in the remote areas. It is
thereby important for the health department of the nation to work in collaboration with the
healthcare organizations in the nation to devise out strategies that can be used in overcoming the
health inequality experiences by people in the healthcare sectors.

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Conclusion:
Increase in the aging population has imposed great concern on healthcare industry. It had
resulted in huge flow of healthcare resources which might impact the healthcare service delivery
in other sectors as well. Huge amount of workforce would be required to manage the needs of the
increased number of population. This would result in excessive burnouts of the present number
of professionals affecting their service delivery. Another important issue is healthcare inequality
which had resulted many specific cohorts of people like people belonging to minority groups,
people living in remote places, people belonging to low SES get poor quality services and face
low accessibility to healthcare than the other cohorts. All such issues need o be handled
successfully by proper policies and strategies to ensure development of better healthcare
structure of the nation.
References:

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Aihw.gov.au, 2016, Ageing and the health system: challenges, opportunities and adaptations,
AIWH, Retrieved from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/19dbc591-b1ef-4485-80ce-
029ff66d6930/6_9-health-ageing.pdf.aspx
Aihw.gov.au, 2018, Health inequalities in Australia: morbidity, health behaviours, risk factors
and health service use, AIWH, Retrieved from:
https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/0cbc6c45-b97a-44f7-ad1f-2517a1f0378c/
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