Description:
IN NOVEMBER 2006 the Queensland Centre forPublic Health and the Brisbane Institute cohosteda public forum titled ?What can weexpect of our health care system??The intention of the forum was to promotepublic discussion on serious questions about thelong-term sustainability of the health care system.Even as health care expenditure has grown,demand for service remains unmet and appearsinexhaustible. Expensive new technologies anddrugs, a population living longer with morechronic disease, and declining workforce capacityindicate a worsening of the current situation.The gap between our demand for health careand the capacity of the system appears likely toincrease.In light of such a scenario, this forum consideredwhat citizens can reasonably expect of theirhealth system. Consumer expectations are alarge part of the health care equation. In Australia,a wealthy society with egalitarian traditions,the great majority of people expect to beprovided with the most advanced medical treatmentavailable. In contrast with an earlier historicalperiod in which life was viewed as far morecontingent and unpredictable, we now routinelyexpect to live long and fulfilled lives, with theaid of sophisticated health care.Are contemporary expectations realistic? Arewe entitled to believe that expensive technologyand drugs should be available to everyone,irrespective of time, place, or stage of life? Havewe arrived at a situation in which life has beenvalued too highly? Do current trends risk creatingan inequitable and dysfunctional health caresystem? Is it possible to constrain expectationswithout compromising standards of care?The forum featured presentations and a paneldiscussion involving a range of expert speakers,decision makers, analysts and stakeholders. Thefollowing two papers by Dr Stephen Begg andProfessor Peter Brooks have been submitted asan outcome of the forum.Dr Martin LeetSenior Research Officer, The Brisbane InstituteKathleen LilleyManager, Queensland Centre for Public Health