There’s a legal means of creating a pandemic that could kill millions. By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 8th February 2023 If you wanted to kill as many people as possible, deniably and with no criminal consequences, what would you do? You’d do well to start with a bird flu. Bird flus are responsible […]
Health
The vehemence with which the medical profession opposes any moves on behalf of nurses and other health professionals to move legitimately into Primary Health Care in their own right is telling. A system in which some professional groups spend an inordinate amount of time propping up the work of another is not to be abandoned Continue reading »
The fall-out of the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria continues, with NGOs warning of the long-term impact on children and families who have lost everything
A judge has ordered full disclosure in a case which deprived 50,000 NHS doctors of legal whistleblowing protection
The Medicare Review contains welcome aspirations, but the instruments to achieve them are poorly delineated. An early statement in the Medicare Review report is challengeable. “Most Australians enjoy ready access to quality Primary Care services and with that good health outcomes”. That is certainly not true for the 33% of Australians who live in rural Continue reading »
Hardly a month goes by without a new media report (and here) of alleged scandalous conduct of some doctors who call themselves ‘cosmetic surgeons’ but who lack recognised specialised surgical training. These reports have tended to focus on the harm done to patients and generally failed to explain to the public how and why the Continue reading »
Right-wingers hammered in Socialist Health Association elections said to be aiming to disaffiliate SHA on pretext after organisation condemned Starmer and sidekick Streeting for appalling health policy The Labour right is angling to kick the Socialist Health Association (SHA) out of the party after the faction was crushed in the SHA’s internal elections – and […]
Three years into the Covid -19 pandemic the many weaknesses and disconnections within the jurisdictional decision-making arrangements are clear. These fault lines significantly impair our national capacity to reliably detect and respond to this ongoing outbreak in a timely, effective and efficient manner. We urgently need to develop integrated national and international responses to disease Continue reading »
The recommendations of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce released last week, like almost any serious health reform in Australia, require joint Commonwealth and state action. Unfortunately, going into last Friday’s National Cabinet meeting state responses were at the juvenile end of the spectrum – the Commonwealth should give them and doctors more money – with no Continue reading »
As we start a new year, it is a good time to reflect on the lessons of 2022 – not just from the Covid pandemic but also the floods that wreaked havoc on communities all down the east coast of Australia. That Australia needs to be better prepared for the next crisis is a key Continue reading »