Media Releases

“The announcement of another 4.99% increase in Private Health Insurance (PHI) premiums is another blow to Australians struggling to pay for basics such as food and petrol and rising interest rates. Its also means another $180 million in taxes gifted to the private hospital industry (through the PHI rebate) to promote queue jumping for those Australians fortunate and/or desperate enough to afford Private Health Insurance,” said Dr Tim Woodruff, President, Doctors Reform Society.

“Whilst public patients wait years even to see a specialist at a public hospital, let alone get an operation, taxes are used to help those with PHI go private within weeks of deciding they need their operation.”

“What do I say to my patient whose hip needs replacing?, asked Dr Woodruff. ‘Go home, take some painkillers, get a walking frame, and get used to limping and not sleeping’, or ‘Go home, stop spending money on anything except basic food and shelter, and save up for PHI so you too can jump the queue.”

“How have we come to this,” asked Dr Woodruff, “that nearly $3 billion in taxes are spent every year to prop up such an unfair system which bleeds taxpayers, feeds the private health industry, and leaves our most needy in preventable pain for years.”

“Poor working families and the many pensioners and health care card holders who will never benefit from PHI should be asking the new Federal Government how this terrible injustice can be endorsed by a party which prides itself on an interest in working families. All Australians who end up needing a public hospital in an emergency such as a heart attack, major MVA etc are losing out under the current system of large public subsidy to the inefficient private health insurance system”

Dr Tim Woodruff
President
Doctors Reform Society

Dr Con Costa
Vice President
Doctors Reform Society

Dr Tracy Schrader
Vice President Qld
Doctors Reform Society

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The unfortunate demise of Heath Ledger should be a warning for us all. His death is not thought to be due to suicide but what seems the “accidental” ingestion of a combination of strong prescription medications. Certainly these drugs would have contributed to his untimely death.

Increasing use of strong morphine derivative medications – which are promoted widely by Big Pharma – poses a real risk to our community. It is well known that such medications can depress the respiratory system and are also very addictive, particularly so for depressed and susceptible patients.

There has been a strong marketing push for such medications over recent years and they are now in widespread use throughout the community. The Public Health Authorities have been slow to make it clear about the dangers posed by such wide spread use of strong Morphine derivatives for control of pain within the community.

“These drugs are not just very addictive” said Dr Con Costa, National Vice President of the Doctors’ Reform Society. “They are becoming the new designer drugs i.e. designer analgesics for the modern lifestyle, but they do come at a terrible cost – a cost which is often unnoticed until it affects someone rich or famous”.

These medications depress the respiratory system in even moderate doses and are highly addictive. Once you have been taking them for even several weeks it is very difficult to stop. The combination of strong morphine derivative analgesics eg OxyCodone, MS Contin etc when taken together with strong hypnotics such as Rohypnol becomes an even more lethal and deadly cocktail with effects much greater than when taken alone – and the combination of multiple of such medications will also lead to newer and more toxic side effects which are unpredictable and not present when using either drug alone,” said Dr Costa

“The bottom line is that Heath Ledger’s death was not just an unfortunate accidental overdose. Such deaths are unnecessary in that they could have been prevented – particularly with much stronger public health controls and public warning on the use of these medications – and restriction on the promotion on such prescription medications by pharmaceutical companies”.

“As stated by his father, Heath Ledger’s death should serve as a warning to us all. Heath Ledger’s death was a tragedy waiting to happen – but it would be an even greater tragedy should our Public Health Authorities now fail to act,” Dr Costa said.

Dr Con Costa
Vice President
Doctors Reform Society

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Doctors call on sporting heroes to support ban on junk food and alcohol advertising to kids in order to fight obesity epidemic and alcohol damage

The Doctors Reform Society notes with concern that amidst an obesity epidemic and calls for easier access to obesity surgery for teenagers, and increasing abuse of alcohol by our young, we see our sporting heroes advertising daily for products which feed directly into these major problems in our society.

“Our young people look up to these sporting heroes but our television screens are awash with these same heroes promoting alcohol and fat or sugar laden fast food,” said Dr Tim Woodruff, President of the Doctors Reform Society.

“Whilst there is a place for advertising of such products to adults, noted Dr Woodruff, “there is no one who would dispute the fact that many teenagers and younger children will be glued to the cricket this summer and cannot possibly miss their heroes advertising both alcohol and fat/suger laden fast food.”

“These problems will not be addressed by obesity surgery, which is best reserved for the more severe and resistant cases of morbid obesity – and often accompanied by serious risk of side effects, including death. We call on the Australian Medical Association, which does support a ban on junk food advertising to kids, to support our campaign to control advertising of alcohol and fast food by our sporting heroes. We also ask that these sports leaders and their associations consider the effects of their promotional activities on our youngsters who are our future”.

Dr Tim Woodruff
President
Doctors Reform Society

Dr Con Costa
Vice President
Doctors Reform Society

Dr Tracy Schrader
Vice President Qld
Doctors Reform Society

]]

The Doctors Reform Society today released a scorecard assessing the health policies of the parties.

“We have a unique situation at the upcoming election”, said Dr Tim Woodruff, President, Doctors Reform Society, “in that there is no possibility of the Labor Party gaining an outright majority in the Senate. Thus even should they win the elections they will be powerless to pass legislation through the Senate to fix our ailing Public Hospitals and health system.”

“Our world class health system is in danger,” said Dr Woodruff. “A 50% increase in out of pocket costs over the last 10 years, combined with lack of access to quality health care for disadvantaged and geographically remote patients is leading to increasing disparities in health outcomes between rich and poor.”

“Our health workforce is at crisis point,” said Dr Woodruff. “The nursing workforce is aging and working conditions and career pathways are deterring many dedicated people from continuing their life saving work. Our medical workforce is inadequate and not distributed to areas of need. Our hospitals are struggling to cope with the increased demands”.

“Our health system is fragmented, inefficient, and hospital and disease focused. We need vision and national planning to address the health issues of the 21st century”.

“This assessment reveals some promising and some very worrying results,” said Dr Woodruff. “It is the minor parties that are demonstrating a much better vision for policies to bring equity, efficiency, universality, and quality to our health system. The Coalition is struggling to score many points on any of the key health issues confronting our politicians and our patients.”
“We note that the Labor Party has scored better than the Coalition on all issues we regard as priorities,” said Dr Woodruff “and we encourage voters concerned about our health system to take this into account when considering their vote for the House of Representatives”.

“The role of the senate, however, will be crucial in achieving the best health system outcomes over the next three years whichever party gains government” said Dr Woodruff. “As the Labor Party cannot possibly win balance of power in the Senate in this election, the choice is between the minor parties and the Coalition. Due to the encouraging scores of the Democrats and Greens, it will be imperative for progressive policies that the minor parties gain this role”

11 Issues, scored on 0-5 scale, maximum points 55.

0 – Policy or statements which conflict directly with addressing issue.
1 – No policy
2 – Vague statements which may address issue or significant mixture of policies which in sum are directed to addressing issue
3 – Appropriate policy suggestions with little detail, or moderately detailed policy suggestions partially addressing issue
4 – Policy suggestions with moderate detail or excellent policy suggestions addressing issue partially
5 – Excellent well thought out policy to address issue

	Coalition	Labor	Greens	Democrats
Universality	0	2	4	5
Equity of access	0	2	4	4
Equity of outcomes	0	2	4	5
Citizen engagement	0	2	4	5
National Health Policy Formation	0	3	5	5
Integrated primary health care focus	2	4	4	4
Health funds pooling and distribution	0	1	4	5
Indigenous health	2	3	5	5
Workforce    numbers/quality    distribution	2	3	4	4
Dental health	2	3	4	5
Mental health	2	3	4	5
Total	10	28	46	52

Dr Tim Woodruff
President
Doctors Reform Society

Dr Con Costa
Vice President
Doctors Reform Society

Dr Tracy Schrader
Vice President Qld
Doctors Reform Society

]]

“John Howard’s announcement today of increased Aged Care places which will ‘take the pressure off public hospitals’ is a belated admission that the Federal Government does bear some responsibility for the dire situations in our public hospitals” said Dr Tim Woodruff, President, Doctors Reform Society. “This is after years of saying that public hospitals are a State responsibility and that problems in these hospitals are down to the States.”

This comes on top of an admission by the Federal Government that it has underfunded the public hospitals compared to the States contribution,” said Dr Woodruff

“Mr Howard and Mr Abott (The Minister for Private Health) need to “come clean” and tell us if and how they will reverse their failed health policies.”

“They need to tell the public how they will staff such Aged Care places in a time of crucial nursing shortages across the county,” said Dr Woodruff.

“They also need to act on the 8.7% of admissions to hospitals which would not be happening if there was adequate primary care – for which the Federal Government is largely responsible”, said Dr Woodruff

Thursday, 1 November 2007

Howard still has nothing for Public Hospitals

“Yesterday’s announcement by the Prime Minister that 50 new ‘family medical centres’ will be set up to take the load off our under-resourced emergency departments is a sad indication of how ignorant the Federal Government is about the problems in emergency departments,” said Dr Tim Woodruff, President, Doctors Reform Society. “They will do nothing for our emergency departments.”

“GP type patients do not lead to the problems in emergency departments”, said Dr Woodruff, “Research consistently shows that the single major factor causing problems in emergency departments is a lack of beds in the hospitals for the patients who need admission to go to. There are no beds for them because

1. The Federal Government has admitted underfunding the public hospital system compared to the States by $2 billion per year

2. The Federal Government has not funded adequate GP based primary care to prevent people getting so sick they need admission to hospital unnecessarily. A 2007 Federal Government study suggested this accounted for 8.7% of admissions.

3. The Federal Government has not provided enough Aged Care places for patients waiting in expensive hospital beds

4. The States have not funded hospitals adequately to match the growing demand despite doubling their funding over the last four years”.

“Howard and Abbott remain in denial about their responsibility for the plight of public hospitals,” said Dr Woodruff.

“We’ve heard it all before: ‘we will take the load off public hospitals with the PHI rebate’. It didn’t work, and now the same claim is being made: ‘we will take the load off emergency departments’. It won’t work until there is a re-investment directly in public hospitals rather than in private hospitals and personal tax cuts, and new investment in providing adequate primary GP based care and adequate Aged Care.”

Dr Tim Woodruff
President
Doctors Reform Society

Dr Con Costa
Vice President
Doctors Reform Society

Dr Tracy Schrader
Vice President Qld
Doctors Reform Society

]]

“As we await a public debate between Tony Abbott, the Health Minister and Nicola Roxon, the Shadow Minister, these questions must be asked,” said Dr Tim Woodruff, President, Doctors Reform Society.

“In the face of overwhelming evidence that our public hospitals and public health system are under enormous strain, which politicians are prepared to commit to the immediate and long term survival and strengthening of our public hospital and health system?”

“Which politicians will continue to play the blame game and confuse the electorate with the claim that they can provide massive taxpayer support for the private health system, maintain a quality public system for all AND provide massive personal tax cuts?”

“Who amongst them will be the first to accept that the public are way ahead of them in wanting quality public hospital and health services, not our taxes spent on propping up the expensive and inequitable private health system or personal tax cuts that will quickly be eaten up by escalating private health costs or escalating out of pocket expenses for public patients ?”

“Who amongst these politicians will realise that the public knows that tax cuts, no matter how large, will be of no use at all when Australians find themselves in a public emergency department which is under-resourced and overcrowded?”

“We are at a cross-roads,” said Dr Woodruff. “The alternatives are an expensive American style ‘Sicko’ health system with a growing infant mortality rate and bankruptcy a common occurrence amongst the sick desperately trying to pay medical bills, or a stronger public system delivering world class care to all Australians based on need and irrespective of their credit card.”

“After 11 years of health policy emphasising “the market” and an increased role for the private sector, the situation is desperate but not irredeemable.”

“We call on the politicians to stop confusing the electorate and to commit to policies which recognise Australians want and deserve a quality public health system – not more private insurance that is no use in an emergency or when you are really sick, or personal tax cuts that will be quickly swamped by exorbitant private health costs and an inflationary economic spiral.”

“Australia deserves better. Our patients and their carers deserve better.”

Dr Tim Woodruff
President
Doctors Reform Society

Dr Con Costa
Vice President
Doctors Reform Society

Dr Tracy Schrader
Vice President Qld
Doctors Reform Society

]]

The report from the Australian Medical Association detailing the problems of the health system and of our public hospitals identifies many important issues and deficiencies, said Dr Tim Woodruff, President, Doctors Reform Society, but its stance is staggering hypocritical.

It is extraordinary that the AMA’s recommendations for support of the public hospital system ignores its own support for the private health industry and the income of its members to the detriment of the public hospital system, said Dr Woodruff.

The taxpayer funded private hospital system has expanded massively since the Private Health Insurance rebate was introduced, said Dr Woodruff. It costs taxpayers over $3 billion per year, just the amount the AMA suggests the public hospitals need and yet the AMA continues to support this gross misuse of taxes which expands the private system and drags doctors and nurses from the resource starved public system.

Additionally the AMA has supported the grossly inequitable Medicare ‘safety net’ which distributes taxes to specialists in the richest areas of Australia and fails to address the reasons for the need for such a ‘safety net’ ie the exorbitant out of pocket costs patients have to pay for health care. Since 1996 these out of pocket costs have increased by 50%.

It’s time for the AMA to come clean and admit that taxes used to promote the growth of the private health industry is in direct conflict with its claim that it wants a better public hospital system.

Dr Tim Woodruff
President
Doctors Reform Society

Dr Con Costa
Vice President
Doctors Reform Society

Dr Tracy Schrader
Vice President Qld
Doctors Reform Society

]]

The announcement of $34 billion in tax cuts by the Howard Government appears to miss the whole point that our patients and the people of Australia have been making for years, said Dr Tim Woodruff, President, Doctors Reform Society. They’re telling us that they want better services.

The idea that the public want a fist full of dollars has had its day, said Dr Woodruff. A fist full of dollars is useless in an overcrowded understaffed emergency department. It’s useless when there is no GP with the time to see you when you’re sick. It’s useless when there is no Aged Care place to suit your needs. And as private health insurance premiums continue to rise, it struggles to match those rises if you can afford the insurance in the first place.

If there’s that much money for tax relief why, after 11 years, are our patients spending nights in storage rooms in emergency departments, struggling to find and afford a GP especially after hours, with the time to give proper attention, struggling for 12 months in debilitating pain from an arthritic hip waiting for an operation.

This is a recipe for private affluence and public squalor. We hope they can do better very soon.

Dr Tim Woodruff
President
Doctors Reform Society

Dr Con Costa
Vice President
Doctors Reform Society

Dr Tracy Schrader
Vice President Qld
Doctors Reform Society

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