Biomedical Model Of Health Care

The Australian health care system is not a very complicated one, it is solely based on two main sectors which are the ‘public’ and ‘private’. The public sector allows one to claim health care benefits and payments through the universal health coverage developed by the Australian government, called Medicare. Medicare is completely free and paid by the government through income tax received to help pay for medical, optical and hospital care (Humanservicesgovau, 2016). It also has a sub-division called the ‘Medicare safety net’ which is more so given to those on significantly low incomes to aid in financial distress. Similarly, the private sector is made up of different companies entitling different benefits, usually consisting of two plans, ‘hospital’ and ‘generic’ (Privatehealthgovau, 2016). The private health care system is more so for people who need immediate attention as the public health system has a waiting list for many different types of operations. Private health system is also customisable in circumstances such as

The Australian healthcare system has been evolving since the beginning of the colonisation of Australia. Today, Australia has an extremely efficient healthcare system although it still has several issues. The influencing factors, structure, and current issues of the Australian healthcare system will be throughly discussed and explained in this essay.

The Australian Medicare system is essentially based around private practice and fee-for-service. In England, they have the National Health Service, which is a publicly funded healthcare system, this is the oldest and biggest

As a people, our rate of chronic disease is still 2.5 times higher than that of other Australians, and Indigenous people in this country die 15 to 20 years younger than those in mainstream Australia. More than half of

The Australian health care system is a highly functioning and accessible system based on universal principles of access and equity. In this essay I will discuss the historical evolution and current structure of our health system, identifying current health service models of delivery and look at its strengths, weaknesses, policies and health priorities currently in Australia. I will discuss the roles of government and non-government health services in service provision and funding sources of Australian health. We will get a better insight of the role of standards for residential aged care and look into a broad range of professions that consumers may engage with in health service delivery, their roles and functions of each profession.

How we define health differs to how Indigenous Australians define health. The World Health Organisation defines health as “not only the absence of infirmity and disease but also a state of physical, mental and social well-being” (WHO, 1946) However, the National Aboriginal Health Strategy Working Party (1989)

“The status of Indigenous health in contemporary Australia is a result of historic factors as well as contemporary socio-economic issues” (Hampton & Toombs, 2013, p. 1).

As health professionals, we must look beyond individual attributes of Indigenous Australians to gain a greater understanding and a possible explanation of why there are such high rates of ill health issues such as alcoholism, depression, abuse, shorter life expectancy and higher prevalence of diseases including diabetes, heart disease and obesity in our indigenous population. Looking at just the individual aspects and the biomedical health model, we don’t get the context of Aboriginal health. This is why we need to explore in further detail what events could have created such inequities in Aboriginal health. Other details that we should consider are the historical and cultural factors such as, ‘terra nullius’, dispossession and social

I believe that everyone should have equal access to all health services they require, no matter their cultural background, or where they live. When thinking about the poor health outcomes due to the lack of access that Australians, particularly Indigenous Australians, in rural areas it makes me wonder how the health care system can fail to deliver care to those people.

The Indigenous Australian people have practiced traditional “healthcare” for thousands of years, only since 1811, when the first hospital was built by convicts in Sydney, has there been any sort of “structured” healthcare, albeit basic. Nurses, both male and female convicts, that cared for the sick and infirm, were untrained and said to be of questionable character.

The inequalities in today’s indigenous communities are still strongly evident. Heard, Khoo & Birrell (2009), argued that while there has been an attempt in narrowing the gap between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians, a barrier still exists in appropriate health care reaching indigenous people. The Indigenous people believe, health is more than the individual, it is

al., 2011). Health service accessibility by individuals in rural and remote areas is a problem central to both countries. Reports indicate that compared with metropolitan populations, non-metropolitan populations, in both Australia and the UK, experience poor access to health services (Watt, Franks, Sheldon, 1994, p. 16). As in the primary care sector of the UK, majority of the doctors in Australia are self-employed and reimbursed on a fee-for-service approach (Gillies, 2003, p. 77). GP’s are the initial point of contact for patients in both Australia and the UK. Additional specialist medical services such as physiotherapy and optometry are only available when patients are provided with a formal referral from their GPs (Piterman, Koritsas, 2005). Although the NHS is similar to the Australian health system in certain ways, both systems also possess some differences.

Throughout this essay an evaluation will be deducted on the health inequalities among Australians. Secondly, a further evaluation to appraise and identify the causes, scope and impact on the health and well-being of [the] individual (s), families and community. Thirdly, describe the paradigms and accountabilities that Government and non-Government Organisations [NGO] assume across community services and health sectors to improve the health and wellbeing of Australians. Additionally, reviewing the over-all health and wellbeing issues from service- operators and counselors to assist in the ongoing [future] development of better health-care for Australians. Finally, differentiate professional practices and reactions to appropriated community

Evidence-based practice is a decision making process in which you combine scientific data with clinical expertise, patient values and circumstances of the patient. (Hoffmann, Bennett 2017). The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines chronic diseases as those which are caused by non-reversible pathological changes in the body, are permanent and leave a lingering disability, those that require ongoing rehabilitation or care. Indigenous Australians experience very high prevalence, morbidity and mortality from chronic health conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular, renal and chronic respiratory disease. Multi morbid and comorbid chronic diseases are increasingly placing a greater burden on individuals, communities and health care services

Key Historical, Key political and Key socio-cultural influence that have shaped healthcare access in contemporary Australian society.