
2 minute read
How healthy is our health system? It's hard to know.
HOW healthy is our local health system? It’s can’t land on a true north view with this. hard to know.
When you work in a media organisation, you often get to view the world around you from the perspective of press releases and statistics. Mostly produced by government or union groups, who are looking to spread their version of the gospel, or as we sometimes like to term it, propaganda. Whilst the Publisher’s Point is an opinion piece and not to be confused with news reporting, it is a place where I freely express my view and invite you to share yours, both for and against. I am having trouble reconciling how our health system in Hervey Bay is performing. I can’t land on a true north view with this. Let me explain. As life sometimes dishes up, my family has had to access a myriad of professional medical services this year, the same as many other families in our region, I am sure. We have been exposed to public, private, specialists and GP’s. Overall, the quality of care, organisation and time to access has been overwhelmingly good. The flipside to that coin, I have heard of many first-hand accounts to the absolute contrary, including long wait times, impossibility to see a GP, Accident and Emergency debacles and ambulance parking stations at the hospital. How can it be at such extremes? As our population gets older across the country, Hervey Bay is in a very unique position. Our ‘new’ population is overwhelmingly slanted towards younger families. This creates a dichotomy in terms of our health needs versus many other communities across Australia. Our news cycles are filled with reports about Royal Commissions into Aged Care, Ambulance Ramping and response time, and hospital wait lists. Is that a broad sword across the Wide Bay health system that we sit under? I would love to know what you think. What have been your personal experiences? Send us a note and tell us.
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