The Wire

With the debate over medicare, and Labor leader Mark Latham announcing his one billion dollar hospital package, health has become a major issue in this year’s election campaign. There’s little doubt that Australia’s public hospitals are overcrowded, and the AMA has long been pushing for more beds. But according to Professor Peter McDonald from Health Reform SA, more hospital beds are not the solution for our health system. He says about one third of hospital admissions could be prevented, and says if more money is spent on community health programs, the number of people needing hospitalisation would be greatly reduced.