Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Hierarchy and Power are Intrinsic to the Current Health Care System

Question: Discuss about theHierarchy and Power are Intrinsic to the Current Health Care System. Answer: The current Australian health care system was established in 1984. The system enables the citizens are not charged to get treatment in all the public hospitals in the country and at the same time the citizens get subsidies to access other health care services (Hall, 2015). The health care system usually gets funding from the government whereby the general public pays for it through taxation. The system has borne fruits of the country since its life expectancy is positioned third globally. However, the country still has some health problems similar to other developed countries and the problems include management of the chronic diseases, obesity, majority of the population has aged, and mental illness (Apparri and Johnson, 2010). Funding the health care system has not been a simple responsibility to the Australian government because the country has a federal system of governance. The health care has been devolved to be under the different state government while on the other hand, the r ole of collecting revenue belongs to the national government (Commonwealthfund.org, 2017). As a result, the state government depends on the national government funding to run an effective health care system (Keleher, 2001). This makes the essence of this paper as it focuses on the importance of hierarchy and power in the Australian health care system. Hierarchy is important in the Australian health care system is important because it helps in giving responsibilities for each level of the government to the proper management of the system. Even though the health care system in Australia has been devolved, the leadership of the country ensured that all the levels of governance had a role to play (Smith et al, 2012). As a result, the commonwealth government, also known as the national government was given the role of ensuring that it made provision for the funds required to run an effective system. The national government, specifically makes provision for dental care, elderly health care, and basic health care (Kolehmainen-Aitken, 2004). Additionally, the national government caters for all the health care needs of people living in Torress Straight island and Aboriginal people. Furthermore, the national government has been given another hierarchical responsibility of ensuring that the health care providers have been financed. This includes offering them favorable working conditions through the provision of all their needs (Mossiolos et al, 2002). In other words, the commonwealth government must ensure that the health care providers have all the equipments that they require in order to deliver their services, which include of the drugs, syringes, gloves, and all other basic equipments (Almalki, FitzGerald, and Clark, 2011). Additionally, the national government has the responsibility of ensuring that the patients are comfortable when they access the hospitals to access the services. Hence, there should be provision of enough beds in the wards for the in-patients, enough number of health care providers, basic needs should be met such as availability of water in the hospital (Joumard, Andr, and Nicq, 2010). Also, the government should ensure that hospitals hav e all the machines that are required to diagnose different illness and also machines that are required in treating some of the diseases (Legido-Quigley, 2008). All the provisions are important in ensuring that the government has an effective health care system. Another hierarchical importance of the Australian government in delivering an effective health care system for all the patients, the federal government has been assigned the role of meeting the cost of all the outpatient Australians (Hu et al, 2008). Additionally, the federal government has also been assigned the role of meeting 40 percent of the cost of the patients that have been admitted in the public hospitals. The remaining 60 percent of the cost is usually covered by the national government (Hurley et al, 2002). Another role that has been assigned to the federal government is ensuring that the health care system is running smoothly in all the health institutions and all the patients get the health that they need. The federal government also has the role of identifying different areas that require some improvement in the health care system and propose the changes to the national government (Joumard, and Kongsrud, 2003). In case the proposals being made by the federal government are meant to improve the lives of the Australian citizens, then the national government has the role of debating whether there are some changes that should be implemented. The power of the national government in the health care system is manifested when there is some adjustment that requires to be made especially with the funding of the health care system. The aspect is important since it helps the health care system to be consolidated in one place (Palmer and Short, 2002). As a result, the entire country is empowered to get access of uniform health care services and under similar conditions such that there is no region that will be disadvantaged. Additionally, the commonwealth government ensures that the health care system has been channeled to all the areas of the country. Changes in the health care system in Australia cut randomly across all the states through directives from the national government (Porter and Teisberg, 2006). Additionally, the national government ensures that the health care system has been uniformly coordinated across all the country. As a result, when the government intends to upgrade the health care institutions, it does it thr oughout the country and all the hospitals are given equal treatment such that there is no group of people will be disadvantaged (Doctauer and Oxley, 2003). Functionalism is one of the sociological theories that is manifested by the health care system in Australia. The health system must be effective to ensure that the society experiences good health and as a result, the society will be more productive (Cockerham, 2014). For the theory to be manifested, the health care providers are given the responsibility of ensuring that the patients get the instructions, which they should adhere to. As a result, the practitioners therefore have to ensure that they deliver with efficiency when treating their patients. Another theory that manifests itself in the Australian health care system is the conflict theory. Usually the social class of people defines the quality of health care that a patient is likely to get (Tommey, 2009). However, the government of Australia has tried to solve this conflict and come up with a system that is all inclusive. As a result, the health practitioners must ensure that the patients get equal treatment regardless of thei r social class. The two theories require that health practitioners should be competent in the delivery of health services such that their knowledge and authority will be manifested. In conclusion, it should be noted that the health care system in Australia has its major challenges. For instance, it is difficult to identify the roles that each level of government has been assigned a specific task (Ducket and Willcockx, 2015). As a result, the Australians are denied a chance to come up with petitions that demands improvements in the delivery of a specific service, which they feel need to be improved.Yet,these improvements could affect the efficiency and effectiveness of the delivery of services to the Austalians In addition, it should be noted that the health care institutions in Australia lacks the presence of leaders due to the influence of the political forces (Leape et al, 2009).Leaders are helpful since they are the eyes on the ground and will therefore have an experience and thus have reforms that are sensitive to the people. As a result, it is likely that the similar programs can be implemented severally since there is no management in place and this is a w aste of the revenue (Gunter and Terry, 2005). However, the health care system in Australia is working for the good of the people who are able to access free or affordable medical services. The system has played a huge role in ensuring that the people have access to one of their basic need regardless of a persons financial status. Additionally, the system has played an important role of ensuring that the entire country enjoys access to uniform health care services. As a result, the patients do not have to travel long distances to access a service since similar services are offered.These is an important and thoughtful since all classes/status doesnt matter. The system has also ensured that the country has avoided the problems in the health care system that comes along with financial provision for the health care providers. References Almalki, M., FitzGerald, G., Clark, M. (2011). Health care system in Saudi Arabia:an overview/Aperu du systme de sant en Arabie saoudite. Eastern Mediterranean health journal, 17(10), 784. Appari, A., Johnson, M. E. (2010). Information security and privacy in healthcare:current state of research. International journal of Internet and enterprise management, 6(4), 279-314. Cockerham, W. C. (2014). Medical sociology. John Wiley Sons, Ltd. Commonwealthfund.org. (2017). Health Care System and Health Policy inAustralia. [online] Available at:https://www.commonwealthfund.org/grants-and-fellowships/fellowships/ australian-american-health-policy-fellowship/health-care-system-and-health-policy-in-australia [Accessed 9 Oct. 2017]. Docteur, E., Oxley, H. (2003). Health-care systems: lessons from the reform experience. Duckett, S., Willcox, S. (2015). The Australian health care system (No. Ed. 5).Oxford University Press. Gunter, T. D., Terry, N. P. (2005). The emergence of national electronic health record architectures in the United States and Australia: models, costs, andquestions. Journal of medical Internet research, 7(1). Hall, J. (2015). Australian health careThe challenge of reform in a fragmented system. New England Journal of Medicine, 373(6), 493-497. Hu, S., Tang, S., Liu, Y., Zhao, Y., Escobar, M. L., De Ferranti, D. (2008). Reform of how health care is paid for in China: challenges and opportunities. The Lancet, 372(9652), 1846-1853. Hurley, J., Vaithianathan, R., Crossley, T. F., Cobb-Clark, D. A. (2002). Parallel private health insurance in Australia: A cautionary tale and lessons for Canada. Joumard, I., Andr, C., Nicq, C. (2010). Health care systems: efficiency and institutions. Joumard, I., Kongsrud, P. M. (2003). Fiscal relations across government levels. OECD Economic Studies, 2003(1), 155-229. Keleher, H. (2001). Why primary health care offers a more comprehensive approach totackling health inequities than primary care. Australian journal of primaryhealth, 7(2), 57-61. Kolehmainen-Aitken, R. L. (2004). Decentralization's impact on the health workforce: Perspectives of managers, workers and national leaders. Human Resources for Health, 2(1), 5. Leape, L., Berwick, D., Clancy, C., Conway, J., Gluck, P., Guest, J., ... Pinakiewicz,(2009). Transforming healthcare: a safety imperative. Quality and Safety in Health Care, 18(6), 424-428. Legido-Quigley, H. (2008). Assuring the quality of health care in the European Union:a case for action (No. 12). World Health Organization. Mossialos, E., Dixon, A., Figueras, J., Kutzin, J. (Eds.). (2002). Funding health care:options for Europe. Palmer, G. R., Short, S. D. (2000). Health care and public policy: an Australian analysis. Macmillan Education AU. Porter, M. E., Teisberg, E. O. (2006). Redefining health care: creating value-based competition on results. Harvard Business Press. Runciman, W. B., Hunt, T. D., Hannaford, N. A., Hibbert, P. D., Westbrook, J. I., Coiera,W., ... Braithwaite, J. (2012). CareTrack: assessing the appropriateness of health care delivery in Australia. The Medical Journal of Australia, 197(2), 100-105. Smith, P. C., Anell, A., Busse, R., Crivelli, L., Healy, J., Lindahl, A. K., ... Kene, T. (2012). Leadership and governance in seven developed health systems.Health policy, 106(1), 37-49. Tomey, A. M. (2009). Nursing management and leadership. Elsevier, Missouri.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.