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Just Caring Equity & Access in Healthcare
Jun, 05
The Government's Health Strategy Quality and Fairness A Health System For You, launched in 2001, has totally failed to achieve its stated goals of making equity central to our health system and achieving fair access to health services for all.

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The Government's Health Strategy Quality and Fairness A Health System For You, launched in 2001, has totally failed to achieve its stated goals of making equity central to our health system and achieving fair access to health services for all. Today (Wednesday, 8th June 2005) the Adelaide Hospital Society publishes a major Policy Paper entitled Just Caring Equity and Access in Healthcare A Prescription for Change which sets out a number of radical policy recommendations in the light of the Health Strategy's failure.

The 'Prescription for Change' set out in Just Caring includes

• A Cabinet Minister for Population Health

• Reform of the existing Department of Health and Children into a new Department for Population Health

• The appointment of an Independent Expert Inquiry to report to the Oireachtas on health inequalities

• A key developmental role for the Department of Finance in assessing whether expenditure is achieving population health targets

• A recommendation that the new Health Services Executive 'design in' under the Health Act, 2004 the extensive community and voluntary healthcare sector in creating healthy public policies and in providing more equal and accessible services

• Government to set the goal of a free comprehensive primary care service for the entire population to be achieved in planned stages

• Immediately the Government should raise the medical card income guidelines above the poverty line for all households

• Provision of free access to primary care for all children from 2007

• The development of a common waiting list for access to publicly funded hospitals according to medical priority

• A 'crash' programme to build and service a further 3000 acute hospital beds

The Adelaide Hospital Society calls for an urgent public debate in respect of the 'creeping' privatisation of healthcare. The Society has written to the leaders of all political parties seeking their response to the fundamental policy recommendations set out in the Policy Paper.

 Download full report (PDF 145kb)

 

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