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Speaker 1: The Australian Medical Association is warning, well, we've known about

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Speaker 1: this for a long time. We've talked about these very issues,

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Speaker 1: that the healthcare in Australia across the country is at

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Speaker 1: breaking point, that basic care has become unaffordable, that hospitals,

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Speaker 1: as we certainly know here in South Australia are critically overloaded,

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Speaker 1: and you look at ramping and a whole range of

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Speaker 1: issues for that, not just here right across the country,

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Speaker 1: although he can sheat certainly some of it to the

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Speaker 1: Transforming Health debarcle of some years ago. But there's also

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Speaker 1: obviously the issue of chronic disease, and we've spoken at

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Speaker 1: length about a number of things in the past, obesity, diabetes,

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Speaker 1: all the health complications just from that particular issue. Let's

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Speaker 1: chat with Federal President Dr Steve Robson from the AMA. Steve,

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Speaker 1: good morning, Thanks for your time.

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Speaker 2: Good morning mate.

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Speaker 1: Are any of these issues insurmountable?

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Speaker 2: I don't think any of them are insurmountable, but I

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Speaker 2: think they are huge challenges and I'm sure your listeners

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Speaker 2: all all will have issues either with getting into see

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Speaker 2: a GP, waiting for surgery, having long waits in emergency,

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Speaker 2: having relatives who are facing these challenges, so I think

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Speaker 2: they're familiar to virtually every Australian.

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Speaker 1: Now, is it just money? Is that the answer? I

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Speaker 1: mean here in essay we're talking about mental health beds

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Speaker 1: needed because patients taken to eeds instead of separate facilities,

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Speaker 1: and that just adds to the q aged care beds

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Speaker 1: to get people out of hospital and into an environment

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Speaker 1: where they can be looked after. We just have a

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Speaker 1: demands in all sorts of areas I think across the

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Speaker 1: health system.

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Speaker 2: I think one of the issues for governments is they

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Speaker 2: tend to look upon spending on the health system as

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Speaker 2: a cost, but actually you need to see it as

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Speaker 2: an investment. If we have Australians who are healthy and well,

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Speaker 2: they're productive, they're contributing to the economy, They're making less

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Speaker 2: demands on their own family as cares and that allows

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Speaker 2: them to do other things. So I think if we

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Speaker 2: look on providing healthcare as a great investment in the

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Speaker 2: well being and the productivity of the community, it's a

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Speaker 2: better way to look at it. You certainly have to

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Speaker 2: be smart with the money you spend, but usually by

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Speaker 2: listening to the people in the health system, you get

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Speaker 2: a sense of great ways to invest and to keep

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Speaker 2: the whole community healthy.

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Speaker 1: The public system, as we know, stretch to the limit.

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Speaker 1: The private system now I read concerningly many on the

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Speaker 1: verge of going under, with just the thinnest of margins

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Speaker 1: operating to the edge of their capacity.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, and we're seeing this around the country. We've seen,

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Speaker 2: in fact, a lot of private hospitals closed, maternity hospitals,

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Speaker 2: mental health hospitals, many other hospitals are on the brink

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Speaker 2: of financial collapse. And the problem is that about two

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Speaker 2: thirds of all of the planned surgery in our country

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Speaker 2: is undertaken in private hospital settings, so that means if

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Speaker 2: those hospitals aren't available, then the crushing burden on the

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Speaker 2: health system and our public hospitals is just going to

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Speaker 2: get worse. So it's really important that we look at

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Speaker 2: the balance in the system. We give Australians who can

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Speaker 2: afford it the opportunity to have surgery and procedures away

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Speaker 2: to take some pressure off our public hospitals. But it's

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Speaker 2: all about balance, making sure every Australian who needs it

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Speaker 2: can access sealth care that they can afford.

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Speaker 1: You talk about people's personal responsibility to their own health,

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Speaker 1: and there's been certainly campaigns in the past on smoking,

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Speaker 1: and you know, you think back twenty thirty forty years

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Speaker 1: ago around a dinner party, eight out of ten people

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Speaker 1: with smokers today, if anything the other way around, if

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Speaker 1: it's even two. So that message has resonated. Do we

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Speaker 1: need to get just as tough on things like sugar

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Speaker 1: for instance, and put up put levies on soft drinks

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Speaker 1: and run campaigns on obesity? Is that where we're at.

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Speaker 2: It's a fantastic point that you're making there, and if

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Speaker 2: you look around the country at the moment, there is

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Speaker 2: an absolute wave of these chronic conditions, overweight and obese

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Speaker 2: and having high blood pressure, having diabetes. They're also associated

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Speaker 2: with mental health problems. A lot of these are completely

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Speaker 2: preventable if people in our community get the right advice.

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Speaker 2: I think one of the huge problems has been the

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Speaker 2: rise of social media. A lot of people don't even

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Speaker 2: understand or recognize that they're actually seeing ads across social

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Speaker 2: media and we know everything from online gambling to eating

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Speaker 2: unhealthy food, these sugar filled, unhealthy drinks, they're all affecting

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Speaker 2: Australia's health and that of course puts further burden on

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Speaker 2: the health system. So I agree with you one hundred percent.

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Speaker 2: It's a great point you're making.

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Speaker 1: There, all right. So along with the system being stretched,

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Speaker 1: that leads to individuals within it burning out and doctors particularly,

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Speaker 1: Are we send nurses too for that matter, Are we

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Speaker 1: seeing medical staff leave the profession which just adds to

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Speaker 1: the pressure.

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Speaker 2: Ultimately, yeah, I agree with you again on that. Across

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Speaker 2: the pandemic, the healthcare sector faced a huge burden and

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Speaker 2: I think it affected many people. We had a number,

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Speaker 2: perhaps more senior people, nurses, Allied health doctors all make

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Speaker 2: a call to end their careers. Then it's been really

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Speaker 2: difficult to get back on track. And we know that

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Speaker 2: providing healthcare is all about that human contact. It can't

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Speaker 2: be artificial intelligence or robots or whatever. It's people. And

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Speaker 2: when Australians want healthcare, they want to see a fellow

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Speaker 2: Australian healthcare worker providing that. We really need to make

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Speaker 2: sure we look after nurses, doctors, Allied health, paramedicsse everybody

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Speaker 2: who's providing healthcare support them at a difficult time. Australians

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Speaker 2: really appreciate those who provide health care for them and

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Speaker 2: I think we just need to value them and make

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Speaker 2: sure we look after them just as much as we

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Speaker 2: look after our patients.

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Speaker 1: Is there an overall picture, Steve? With governments for instance,

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Speaker 1: and here in South Australia, over successive budgets, we have

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Speaker 1: spent billions of dollars per budget pouring it into health,

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Speaker 1: whether it's building new hospitals or opening new beds in

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Speaker 1: other hospitals, whatever it is. We are pouring billions into

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Speaker 1: health every single year and we don't seem to be

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Speaker 1: making a scrap of difference.

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Speaker 2: Look, I think it's an incredibly good point, and we

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Speaker 2: see this around the country. The point I'd make is

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Speaker 2: that it is much that it makes much more economic

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Speaker 2: sense to prevent ill health in the first place, and

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Speaker 2: that was that great point you made earlier on about

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Speaker 2: prevention and keeping Australians healthy in the first place, so

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Speaker 2: they're not having to seek health care or be in hospital.

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Speaker 2: But I think the other thing is to really listen

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Speaker 2: to the people who provide health care and take their advice.

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Speaker 2: And it's really easy for politicians to look for ribbon

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Speaker 2: cutting opportunities and publicity when they're funding things, but engaging

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Speaker 2: the people who provide the health care in those funding

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Speaker 2: decisions just makes great sense and I think you're likely

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Speaker 2: to end up with a health system that meets the

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Speaker 2: needs of everybody in the community if you do that.

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Speaker 2: So I agree with you again.

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Speaker 1: The most important thing that needs to happen, Steve, what

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Speaker 1: would it be if you could click your fingers today

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Speaker 1: and make one substantial change. What is it?

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Speaker 2: I think the thing that I do is make sure

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Speaker 2: that every Australian had access to affordable general practice visits,

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Speaker 2: because we know that's really the engine room of healthcare.

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Speaker 2: Our gps keep people healthy in the first place. They

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Speaker 2: keep them away from emergency departments, they keep people away

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Speaker 2: from needing hospital treatments and things. So the one thing

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Speaker 2: I do is make general practice affordable and accessible for

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Speaker 2: every Australian, and I think if we do that, a

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Speaker 2: lot of other things will fall into place.

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Speaker 1: Matthew, all right, appreciate your time.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, it's a real pleasure.

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Speaker 1: Doctor Steve Robson there, who is AMA Federal President.