There is an urgent need to reassert care as the dominant value in our health services and in health policy, according to Prof Ian Graham, chairman of the Adelaide Hospital Society.
He was speaking at the presentation yesterday of the society's submission to the Health Strategy: "Citizens and Care". The submission outlines a number of key directions which the society says are vital for the future development of the health services.
The Adelaide Hospital Society is an independent voluntary organisation which has been involved in all-island healthcare since 1839.
In order to end the unacceptable "two-tier" health system and to ensure future investment in healthcare, it calls for a compulsorily-funded health insurance system.
The society also calls for the establishment of a National Health Forum with a strong citizen voice. There should also be mandatory citizen-based boards to govern all health-providing agencies, it says.
Prof Graham pointed out that the last health strategy published in 1994, "Shaping a Healthy Future", had as its core principles equity, quality and accountability. "Why were these 1994 principles not honoured in the period of unparalleled prosperity which we have enjoyed?" he asked.
The submission also criticises the dominance of the language of the "market place" in the health services and calls for the restoration of care as the key value which drives the system.
"Access to effective healthcare is a basic human right and should be included in the Constitution and citizens should be engaged in the governance of their own health services," it states.
Calling for the integration of public policies in respect of income distribution, housing, education and other areas with health policy, the strategy submission points to research which shows that egalitarian societies have the best health outcomes.
"Primary care must be the basic foundation of the new health service which emerges from Health Strategy 2001," according to the society.
Speaking during the simultaneous presentation of the Adelaide Hospital Society annual report, Prof Graham called for the society to move beyond being a watchdog of the Adelaide Hospital Charter. "It is time for the society to contribute on a broader basis to health planning and health service implementation," he said.