CPD Fellow Mark Bahnisch puts Queensland’s health policy on the examination table and finds that the government’s health could be at stake.
Adverse stakeholder reaction to the government’s health policy could determine the political health of the government itself, according to CPD Fellow Mark Bahnisch. Vast budget cuts and departmental restructuring have raised the ire of health sector representatives who predict that a “tsunami of ill health” will be visited upon the state’s population.
The forceful criticism directed at the new government by medical groups and esteemed and senior clinicians points to a need to strike a balance between centralised policy and oversight – and regional and local autonomy and flexibility.
“The questions Minister Springborg and Premier Campbell Newman need to answer go to whether the changes to Queensland Health have been driven by a political narrative of ‘Labor debt’ and what could almost be characterised as palliative care to keep healthcare rage off the front pages and the radio waves.”
