Prioritizing Health Issues in Australia: A Detailed Analysis

This report provides an analysis of the influential factors impacting health issues in Australia. It examines the dynamics of public and private healthcare funding, highlighting the challenges faced by the Australian healthcare system. The report discusses the shortage of healthcare professionals, particularly in rural areas, and the implications of an aging workforce. It also delves into the impact of political and economic factors, such as neoliberal policies, on healthcare delivery and the prioritization of health issues. The report references scholarly sources to support its findings and offers a comprehensive overview of the complexities within the Australian healthcare landscape, focusing on the need for improved access to elective surgeries, and the critical need to address shortages in the healthcare workforce.

Running head: POLICY POLITICS
Influential factors in prioritizing health issues in Australia
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POLICY POLITICS
Australia has witnessed tremendous amount of socio-economic forms it the past
20years, with major political parties inclining towards neo- liberal policies however these
reforms have no much drastically affected the populate heath outcome and Australia still
stand out to be extremely strong in their health service globally (Duckett & Willcox, 2015).
According to research scholar Vicente Navarro Australia along with varied other Anglo-
Saxon countries began shifting towards neo-liberalism in 1980’s which altogether gave a
boost to the health sector being more open to private sector principles and practices with
greater emphasis on transparency , accountability in their operations and introducing
managerial activities like casemix-based hospital funding (Mayes, et al. 2016).
However with the passage of time the Australia Government has identified certain key
influential factors which have a fare share of impact on the country’s health issues. Firstly
there is a strong presence of public as well as private mix in the health care funding of
Australia. However there are certain areas like certain surgeries which are performed only in
the private health insurance and more than 57% of Australia are found without private health
insurance who need to wait for months for accessing elective surgery in the public system
and altogether cause a lot of trouble to the general mass (Torchia, Calabrò & Morner, 2015).
The government and the political framework operating in Australia have also largely
overlooked the problem of the health workforce operating in this 21st Century in Australia.
There is an extreme shortage of general practitioners, doctors, nurses especially in the rural
regions, among Indigenous communities, and in particular areas of mental health care, health
care facilities for the elderly and for the disabled. The trained health professionals who are
working for ages have also aged creating a strong crisis in the demand and supply cycle of
the medical fraternity (Lincoln, et al. 2014)

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References:
Duckett, S., & Willcox, S. (2015). The Australian health care system (No. Ed. 5).
Oxford University Press.
Lincoln, M., Gallego, G., Dew, A., Bulkeley, K., Veitch, C., Bundy, A., ... &
Griffiths, S. (2014). Recruitment and retention of allied health professionals in the disability
sector in rural and remote New South Wales, Australia. Journal of Intellectual and
Developmental Disability, 39(1), 86-97.
Mayes, C., Kerridge, I., Habibi, R., & Lipworth, W. (2016). Conflicts of interest in
neoliberal times: perspectives of Australian medical students. Health Sociology
Review, 25(3), 256-271.
Torchia, M., Calabrò, A., & Morner, M. (2015). Public–private partnerships in the
health care sector: a systematic review of the literature. Public Management Review, 17(2),
236-261.