Analysis of Australian Society, Public Hospitals, and Policy Impact

This report examines the Australian public hospital system within the context of Australian society, focusing on its framework, theoretical foundations, and societal impact. It details the structure of public hospitals, outlining key aspects such as public health regulations, disaster preparedness, chronic disease prevention, and communicable disease control. The report explores the historical development of the hospital system, emphasizing the role of state governments and the evolution of medical care. It also discusses the theoretical underpinnings, including the key principles of consistency, evidence-based practices, and risk management. Furthermore, the report evaluates the impact of public hospitals on Australian society, addressing issues such as funding, waiting lists, and access to care. The analysis concludes with a summary of the challenges and limitations faced by the public hospital system in providing quality healthcare services to the Australian population. The report also references key stakeholders and relevant literature.

Running head: AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY SYSTEM AND POLICY
Australian Society System and Policy
Name of the Student:
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1AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY SYSTEM AND POLICY
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Framework of the social institution........................................................................................2
Theoretical underpinnings of the social institution................................................................3
Impact of the social institution on Australian society............................................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................4
References:.................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
Governance of the health system is comparatively a very new concept and also there
are some gaps regarding its understanding. This report is going to focus on the Public
Hospitals of Australia. It is going to elaborate on describing the framework of the chosen
social institution in the Australian society and demonstrating a clear understanding of the
theoretical underpinnings of the social institution. It would also evaluate the influence and
level of impact of it on the Australian society.
Discussion
Framework of the social institution
The framework of the Public Hospitals of Australia specifies all the requirements which must
be complied by all the HSPs (Health Service Providers) in the Australian society in order to
make sure that there is the people of Australia are getting consistent and effective services all
across the WA heath system (White et al., 2015). It is an organised response provided by the
society in order to promote and protect the health as well as for preventing injury, disability
and illness. The main purpose of this policy framework is to ensure the control of
transmission of infectious disease, prevention of the growth of complications of the chronic
disease and prevention of the diseases right before they take place. It is also aimed at
identifying and responding to the opportunities in order to reduce the issue of inequalities in
the status of health (Germov & Poole, 2015). This framework surrounds seven broad public
health areas and they are-
 Public Health Regulatory
 Disaster Preparedness and Management
 Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
 Medicines and Poisons Management

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 Environmental Health Management
 Genomics and Screening
 Communicable Disease Control
Theoretical underpinnings of the social institution
The Public Hospitals of Australia are operated and owned by the Australian State
governments. From the year 1942, Commonwealth started increasingly funding this
institutional system. Like most of the institutions in Australian region, the several public
hospital systems too have their origins in a total of six different colonies (Hall, 2015). The
first public hospital of Australia was built around the year 1816 in Sydney. However, as it is
explained by Walker and Rogers (2017), at time, the medical care in Australia was rough and
ready. It were only the richer people who used to go to the Sydney Hospital in early days as
they were only the ones who could afford it. As the population of the society and the other
colonies grew, hospitals were built in the other regions as well and each of the community
started developing their own different hospital system and that used to depend on the wealth
of the colony. Since the year 1840, the medical care in the Public Hospitals of Australia
began to improved, starting from the introduction of the germ theory and then the trained
nurses (Roder et al., 2015). At present, running hospitals have become highly expensive due
to the more sophisticated technologies at the work place. Also, for critical procedures, most
of the people at present want to come in to the hospitals and therefore, the cost of this
institutions have went up significantly. The key principals that are underpinning the policy
framework of the Public Hospitals of Australia are of consistency, evidence based, integrity,
population focused, objectivity and risk management. The institution identifies and manages
its risks and each of the public hospitals in Australia has its distinct and very different risk
profile. Identifying their risk exposure and then developing and implementing the risk

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prevention methods and remediation plans is very essential in order to make sure that the
organisations could operate efficiently and effectively for achieving their goals.
The Key stakeholders include the State and the Territory government, the
Commonwealth, the bureaucracies of the State and Territorial governments, the industrial and
the professional associations, the consumer representatives, hospitals, think tanks and the
research institutes.
Impact of the social institution on Australian society
Public Hospitals of Australia are considered to be the centrepiece of the health system
of Australia. This institution is marked by dedication of their staffs and is considered to be a
testament to their adaptability, inventiveness and ingenuity. However, most recently, it has
been argued by many that the present level of funding for the public hospitals of Australia is
insufficient for meeting the demands for several different services of theirs. With the same,
there are several issues with the Australian Public hospitals and they are- funding problem,
waiting lists, the Commonwealth and State relations, bed closures, rationing of the services
and the private health insurance, all work working together for highlighting the ever
increasing difficulties that are faced by the hospitals in providing better health care services
to the patients (Mays & Fitzpatrick, 2018). It is also to note that, as because of the fact that
these hospitals are publicly funded and that they are not for the sake of profit, these hospitals
are often more affordable for the common citizens of Australia than the other private
hospitals. Each and every citizen could afford their treatment in this institutions. However,
although the Public Hospitals of Australia have more employees than the private hospitals
present in Australia, the ratios of the patient-to-doctor do not tend to be that good. Also, there
is not much personalised care as it is there in the private ones. Hence, in these way these
limitations of this institution is influencing the health of the common citizen of Australia.

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Conclusion
Hence, from the above analysis it can be concluded that the Public Hospitals in
Australia are facing several challenges in their commitment towards providing better health
care to the patients. Some of the most significant are of the increased consumer demands and
availability of new technologies, acute admission of the older patients, shortage of hospital
beds and waiting lists. Although, this institution is much more affordable than the other profit
making health organisation, still these limitations are working as a barrier towards providing
quality health services to the common patients.

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References:
Germov, J. & Poole, M. (Eds.) (2015). Public Sociology: An Introduction to Australian
Society (3rd ed.). Crows Net, NSW: Allen & Unwin.
Hall, J. (2015). Australian health care—The challenge of reform in a fragmented
system. New England Journal of Medicine, 373(6), 493-497.
Mays, N., & Fitzpatrick, R. (2018). Assessing Health Care System Performance. Sociology
as Applied to Health and Medicine, 377.
Roder, D., Karapetis, C. S., Wattchow, D., Moore, J., Singhal, N., Joshi, R., ... & Price, T. J.
(2015). Colorectal cancer treatment and survival: the experience of major public hospitals in
South Australia over three decades. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 16(6), 2431-2440.
Walker, M. J., & Rogers, W. A. (2017). Reasonableness, Credibility, and Clinical
Disagreement. AMA journal of ethics, 19(2), 176.
White, K. M., Jimmieson, N. L., Obst, P. L., Graves, N., Barnett, A., Cockshaw, W., ... &
Martin, E. (2015). Using a theory of planned behaviour framework to explore hand hygiene
beliefs at the ‘5 critical moments’ among Australian hospital-based nurses. BMC health
services research, 15(1), 59.