Analysis Of Australian Healthcare System †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Analysis Of Australian Healthcare System. Answer: Introduction The facilities related to healthcare in Australia are provided by the private practitioners or by the hospitals which are operated by the government. The costs related to medical services are provided by the insurance organizations of the private sector or the government agencies. The Australias universal Healthcare system is known as Medicare which provides subsidies for most of the medical costs in the country. The concept of Universal Health Coverage is related to the curative, preventive, rehabilitative services that are provided to the people and the communities. The services that are provided to the people need to be of sufficient quality so that it can be effective and at the same time it should not expose the people to financial problems (What is universal coverage?, 2018). The three major objectives of UHC are, equity in the access to the health services, the quality of the services need to be good and the people have to protected from the financial risks. The report will be based on the internal and the external analysis of the Australian Healthcare System. The strengths and the weaknesses of the healthcare system will be analysed in the report which are the internal factors of the organization. The opportunities and the threats of the system will be discussed which will help in the external analysis of the system. The SWOT Grid Strengths The Australian healthcare system holds the topmost position in the world. The Australian government has the responsibility to provide healthcare facilities. The healthcare system provides facilities to the doctors and the medical people along with the patients (Duckett Willcox, 2015). Weaknesses The long list of people waiting in the government hospitals. Concerns related to quality and safety of the healthcare services Outdated systems implemented in the government hospitals (Hermansyah, Sainsbury Krass, 2018). Opportunities High standards of living of the Australian citizens and excellence in the healthcare system. The healthcare sector provides huge number of jobs to the Australian citizens. The sector has given a huge boom to the economy of Australia (Baig, GholamHosseini Connolly, 2015). Threats Increase in the burden of chronic diseases in the country. Increase in the aged population of the country. High costs related to the healthcare services provided to Australians (Wiseman et al., 2016). Strengths of the healthcare system The healthcare system in Australia has held the position of one of the greatest healthcare system or structures in the entire world. The healthcare and the medical facilities are mainly provided by the Australian government with the help of Medicare. However, the Australian citizens require private insurance related facilities for dental issues that are faced by them. The Australian health care system therefore consists of private as well as public medical services. The health care facilities are easily accessible to the Australian citizens irrespective of their income levels or the type of insurance that are taken by them. The healthcare system of Australia is an important part of the country (Duckett Willcox, 2015). The responsibility to provide the best services to the citizens is the major responsibility of the Australian government. The government has keep in mind the convenience and the affordability related to the medical services provided to the people. The Australian health care services which are provided with the help of Medicare is guaranteed to all the citizens of the country. The major expenditures related to the health care of citizens are paid by the Australian government bodies. The services related healthcare are financed and further controlled by federal government of Australia. The Medicare named organization is mainly an insurance program for the use of Australian citizens which is free for them and it includes the hospital and physician facilities and the cost related to prescriptions (Gibson et al., 2015). The program also provides special benefits for the families of the insurance holders. The major role of the Australian government is providing funds, doctors and hospitals and to determine quality of the medicines. The health care related programs that are organised by the Australian government provide facilities not only to the patients, the physicians and doctors are also provided these benefits. The physicians and the doctors earn sa laries from these programs or receive additional fees for the diagnosis of the private patients in the public hospitals (Duckett Willcox, 2015). The doctors are sometimes provided with compensation on hourly basis if they provide private practice for the public patients. The facilities related to the private insurance are received by half of Australian population as additional coverage. This coverage is subsidized by the government which covers services like private hospitals and dental care (Falster et al., 2015). The rate of deaths in Australia related to medical care is the lowest. This depicts a positive picture of the society of Australia with respect to the equity of access to the facilities related to health care. Weaknesses of the healthcare system The health care system of Australia has also been facing many issues which are related to the long list of people waiting to receive health facilities. The people need to wait for quite a long time before getting the appointment of doctors. The patients had to wait to meet the doctors with whom they had scheduled appointments as well. The health care related system of Australia has been given the last rank by Commonwealth Fund as compared to the other developed countries like, UK, USA and Canada (Hermansyah, Sainsbury Krass, 2018). The distribution and supply of the workforce for providing health care services in Australia has been facing many difficulties and problems. There have many concerns related to the quality and the safety of the health services which have affected the basis of the health care system of Australia (Jokanovic et al., 2016). Many uncertainties and doubts have risen related to the possibilities of stabilizing the balance between the private and the public secto rs in delivering and funding of health services. The Australian government has been facing many challenges and is concerned about the role played by urban planning in the creation of a sustainable and healthy community. The extra care required by the indigenous population of the country was another major challenge for the Australian government. The funding related issues and the provisions related to health care are other challenges faced by the Australian government. The Australian health care system has been ranked high in the average rates of life expectancy and the mortality rates of the infants (Hermansyah, Sainsbury Krass, 2018). These positive features of the system are also under risk as the ageing population of the country is increasing with the increasing burden of the chronic diseases. The Australian health care organization and the services provided by this system are becoming outdated and this is putting stress of the health care system. The Australian system of health care is also affected by the inequalities in the health between the most privileged and the least privileged citizens of the country. This depicts that the health care system of the country requires lot of improvements and the services need to be equal for all the levels of people in the society (Willis, Reynolds Keleher, 2016). Opportunities of the healthcare system The healthcare system of Australia is under huge pressure. The Australian system of healthcare ranks quite high as compared to the other health care facilities provided by the other developed countries. The system has received the sixth rank in the entire world as compared to the other countries in terms of efficiency. The country however constantly holds the topmost position with respect to the Better Life Index of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Pearce Bainbridge, 2014). This organization helps in the measurement of the ways by which the citizens perceive their mental, physical and the social well-being. The high standards of living of the Australian citizens and the excellent system of healthcare can bring major benefits to the population of the country. The Australian citizens live longer due to their health and ageing population can pose a major problem on the healthcare facilities that are provided by the government (Baig, GholamHosseini Connolly, 2015). The older population will require longer stays in the hospitals and much more care. The Australian health care system can however become the major contributor in the Australian economy if it is managed in a proper manner. The healthcare sector already provides huge number of jobs to the Australian citizens and it ranks as the fifth contributor to the GDP of the country. The sector can contribute much more to the Australian economy by attracting the foreign investment in the research and development related area of the sector (Pearce Bainbridge, 2014). The Australian healthcare sector can also become the major export industry of the country and can further make much more positive contribution to the economy. The industry has given a huge boom to the Australian economy in the past few years and it has the potential to contribute much more to the Australian economy (Hall, 2015). The building of research and development related facilities of the leading local pharma companies wi thin the country itself will help the industry in contributing to the growth process of the country. The public and the private sector can be a major part of the local research and development facilities and can help in attracting foreign investment towards the sector. The high standards of health care in Australia can further help in providing the world class facilities to the foreign tourists who visit the country (Baig, GholamHosseini Connolly, 2015). Threats related to the healthcare system The Australian government will face huge challenges in the delivery of healthcare facilities to the citizens. The healthcare system of the country has ranked quite well on the international basis. The burden related to chronic illness has increased in the country and the health services provided by the organizations have been under stress due to these factors. The inequalities in health among the Australian citizens have been a major threat to the health care system. The changes in the demography of Australia and the patterns of diseases are also major threats to the healthcare system of the country. This has increased the amount of time that is spent by the aged population in the hospitals (Wang, Kung Byrd, 2018). The ageing population and the increase in the rate of chronic diseases have posed major challenges towards the medical system of Australia. The preventive initiatives that need to reach the citizens who are at risk related to the chronic diseases. The costs related to hea lthcare have further increased due to the advancement in the technologies that are used in the hospitals. The advances related to the equipments used for the purpose of therapeutic and diagnostic purposes are related to huge costs. These costs need to be subsidised by the government based organizations which provide health care services. The failure of the organizations to provide subsidies for these equipments can raise questions and increase the political pressure (Wiseman et al., 2016). The lack of the willingness of the doctors for providing services in the government healthcare organizations is a threat towards the entire system. The proportion of women in the workforce providing healthcare services have increased in the recent times and this has increased the pressure to balance the work and the family life (Wang, Kung Byrd, 2018). The social, work related and the educational aspirations of the health sector professionals and the families of these people have influenced the d ecisions about the areas they wish to practice. The workforce of the healthcare organizations has been facing serious shortages in the urban as well as the remote areas. The safety and quality of the services provided by the government organizations is a major threat towards the future of healthcare system in Australia (Freund et al., 2015). Another major threat towards the healthcare system of Australia is the mix of the public and private funding of the health services. The access to the health services provided are becoming less equitable. The high costs related to healthcare services have increased in the past ten years. The Australian healthcare system relies of the financing provided by private and public organizations. The surcharge that has been imposed on the private health insurance is unfair for the people who live in the rural areas. The mortality rates of children had decreased in the last few years, however the health of children is under threat due to a set of the mod ern conditions that decrease the quality of life (Davy et al., 2015). The rapid expansion related to the Australian population in the urban areas has been creating challenges in the planning for the sustainable and healthy communities. The increase in urbanization has posed major challenges towards the public health of the citizens (Freund et al., 2015). Conclusion The report can be concluded by stating that the Australian healthcare system has been in a favourable position and has received the topmost position on an international basis. The sector has been contributing a lot to the economy of Australia by providing jobs to a huge number of people. The major strengths of the system are related to the various services that are provided by the Australian government. The healthcare system however had to face many challenges in the recent times due to the increase on the ageing population on the country. The healthcare sector of the country however hah many opportunities of growth in the near future. References Baig, M. M., GholamHosseini, H., Connolly, M. J. (2015). Mobile healthcare applications: system design review, critical issues and challenges.Australasian physical engineering sciences in medicine,38(1), 23-38. Davy, C., Bleasel, J., Liu, H., Tchan, M., Ponniah, S., Brown, A. (2015). Effectiveness of chronic care models: opportunities for improving healthcare practice and health outcomes: a systematic review.BMC health services research,15(1), 194. Duckett, S., Willcox, S. (2015).The Australian health care system(No. Ed. 5). Oxford University Press. Falster, M. O., Jorm, L. R., Douglas, K. A., Blyth, F. M., Elliott, R. F., Leyland, A. H. (2015). Sociodemographic and health characteristics, rather than primary care supply, are major drivers of geographic variation in preventable hospitalizations in Australia.Medical care,53(5), 436. Freund, T., Everett, C., Griffiths, P., Hudon, C., Naccarella, L., Laurant, M. (2015). Skill mix, roles and remuneration in the primary care workforce: who are the healthcare professionals in the primary care teams across the world?.International journal of nursing studies,52(3), 727-743. Gibson, O., Lisy, K., Davy, C., Aromataris, E., Kite, E., Lockwood, C., ... Brown, A. (2015). Enablers and barriers to the implementation of primary health care interventions for Indigenous people with chronic diseases: a systematic review.Implementation Science,10(1), 71. Hall, J. (2015). Australian health careThe Challenge of reform in a fragmented system.New England Journal of Medicine,373(6), 493-497. Hermansyah, A., Sainsbury, E., Krass, I. (2018). Investigating the impact of the universal healthcare coverage programme on community pharmacy practice.Health social care in the community,26(2). Jokanovic, N., Tan, E. C., Dooley, M. J., Kirkpatrick, C. M., Elliott, R. A., Bell, J. S. (2016). Why is polypharmacy increasing in aged care facilities? The views of Australian health care professionals.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice,22(5), 677-682. McCormack, B., McCance, T. (Eds.). (2016).Person-centred practice in nursing and health care: Theory and practice. John Wiley Sons. Pearce, C., Bainbridge, M. (2014). A personally controlled electronic health record for Australia.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association,21(4), 707-713. Wang, Y., Kung, L., Byrd, T. A. (2018). Big data analytics: Understanding its capabilities and potential benefits for healthcare organizations.Technological Forecasting and Social Change,126, 3-13. What is universal coverage?. (2018).World Health Organization. Retrieved 20 March 2018, from https://www.who.int/health_financing/universal_coverage_definition/en/ Willis, E., Reynolds, L., Keleher, H. (Eds.). (2016).Understanding the Australian health care system. Elsevier Health Sciences. Wiseman, V., Mitton, C., Doyle?Waters, M. M., Drake, T., Conteh, L., Newall, A. T., ... Jan, S. (2016). Using economic evidence to set healthcare priorities in low?income and lower?middle?income countries: a systematic review of methodological frameworks.Health economics,25(S1), 140-161.