Nationwide we are seeing an aging population, an obesity epidemic, and people living longer, often with chronic disease. As we age we often need more frequent and more expensive health care, which is the reason health insurance companies want to sign us all up in our twenties, not our seventies. With obesity comes a whole range of health issues including diabetes (which in turn leads to eye disease, vascular disease, chronic wounds and amputation), heart disease, stroke, and more complex care and prolonged recovery times associated with all medical care.
Within the workforce we are dealing with a chronic shortage of healthcare workers, an aging workforce, and (among nurses especially) high levels of pre-existing injuries. These are workers we need to look after. not over-burden with chronic staff shortages.
While a lot of people equate the quality of our health service with the length of elective surgery waiting lists, or how long we wait in ED, the real success of the Health system is measured by community wellbeing. How many people we keep out of the acute service due to preventable conditions is the key measure, but one which is very difficult to quantify.
What we can measure is the rise in disease when we take our foot off the health promotion and preventative health pedal. An example many would be familiar with is the rise in sexually transmitted diseases following a reduced focus on education and prevention.
Many have predicted that the obesity epidemic runs the risk of bankrupting health services around the world.
The answer is obvious… a shift more towards health promotion and preventive health (primary health services) and away from dealing with the consequences of poor health choices or ill-health in general (tertiary health).
How does that translate to Campbell Newman’s definition of 'frontline workers', and his Government’s actions in the North Queensland region?
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- The Health promotion unit in Townsville is essentially gone
- Tropical Population Health is under threat
- Dieticians removed from the community health service in the Burdekin
- New primary prevention strategies and initiatives have had all sources of funding frozen
- Health and Safety jobs in the Goldfields are under threat
And more cuts to come.
Campbell Newman needs to clarify his definition of frontline workers… are they the workers who are keeping people well and out of hospital, or are they the under-resourced clinicians who are steeling themselves for the large influx of acutely ill people who the LNP have failed?