Challenges in Health

AUSTRALIA’S

HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

Australia’s healthcare system is one of the best in the world, providing quality, safe and affordable health care. Australians enjoy one of the longest life expectancies in the world.

Source: Riley (2005), Clio lnfra (2015), and UN Population Division (2019) OurWorldlnData.org/life-expectancy . cc BY Source: Riley (2005), Clio lnfra (2015), and UN Population Division (2019) OurWorldlnData.org/life-expectancy . cc BY Note: Shown is period life expectancy at birth, the average number of years a newborn would live if the pattern of mortality in the given year were to stay the same throughout its life. This text was recognized by the built-in Ocrad engine. A better transcription may be attained by right clicking on the selection and changing the OCR engine to ``Tesseract`` (under the ``Language`` menu). This message can be removed in the future by unchecking ``OCR Disclaimer`` (under the Options menu). More info: http://projectnaptha.com/ocrad

There are many providers in the Australian healthcare system

LOCAL DOCTOR

General Practitioner (GP)

MEDICAL SPECIALIST

eg. heart surgeon

NURSES AND ALLIED HEALTH WORKERS

eg. physiotherapist

CHALLENGES

IN FUTURE

Into the future, our health care system faces a number of challenges.

An increasing population, that is increasingly ageing

Increasing complexity of services and difficulties for patient access

Patient non-compliance with treatment and missed appointments

Increasing incidence of obesity, chronic health diseases

Increasing incidence of cancer. From 1986 to 2011, incidence rose 26% from 383 p/100,000 to 484 p/100,000)

Improving rates of survival from cancer. In 1986 the 5-year survival rate was 46% – in 2011 it was 67%

Increasing out-of-pocket costs for cancer patients. For example, patient’s in regional areas often need to travel further for treatment.

Low health literacy. Only about 40% of adults having a level of literacy they need to make well-informed health decisions.

Community demand for new technology and increasing costs of medical hardware and pharmaceuticals.

Imbalances in the supply and distribution of health professionals, which can lead to shortages in outer suburbs, rural, remote and in indigenous communities.

Almost 50% have a chronic disease, meaning a more frequent use of services, higher healthcare costs and poorer outcomes. (AIHW).

CHRONIC

DISEASE

Chronic diseases are the major cause of illness, disability and death. The term ‘chronic’ refers to those diseases or illnesses that are long-lasting and persistent. They include mild conditions like short-sightedness, dental decay or hearing loss to more serious arthritis, diabetes, asthma, back pain or more life-threatening, like heart disease or cancer.

Chronic diseases most often persist throughout someone’s life and the need for long-term and often complex management make them an increasing burden on the healthcare system.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) National Health Survey (2015) identified the following eight chronic diseases: