2 October 2010

Surgical centre planned for Deakin

| johnboy
Join the conversation
4

The Canberra Times informs us that a “surgical centre” is planning to challenge the hospitals when it opens up in Deakin.

The chairman of the company that owns two of Canberra’s private hospitals has expressed concern about the impact on the local market of the ”corporatised medicine” model to be used by the new player.

Orthopaedic Group director and Canberra Orthopaedic Group orthopaedic surgeon Kevin Woods said the state-of-the-art centre would help ease specialist shortages by creating opportunities for young surgeons who wanted to operate in Canberra.

”It’s done with the aim of firstly creating a facility which we think is going to be far superior to any that any of us work in currently because it’s been custom-designed for orthopaedics,” Dr Woods said.

Competition is always great until you’re the one being competed against.

Join the conversation

4
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

Funny thing – I saw a protest in the US wanting it to introduce a version of universal health care – looks like they don’t like the way it is there any more than we want it introduced in Aus.

Taninaus – yep, that’s what I’m talking about: if you have the dough you go straight in; if you don’t, good luck. It’s the American Way.

This PDF should be required reading:

How the U.S, Health Care System Compares Internationally, 2010 Update

The U.S. health system is the most expensive in the world, but comparative analyses consistently show the United States underperforms relative to other countries on most dimensions of performance.

But even when access and equity measures are not considered, the U.S. ranks behind most of the other countries on most measures.

As I said, this is just one more step along the path to a US-style system.

Freddy – we already have that with the 3 private hospitals and many private clinics in town already. Unfortunately I believe many of those on the long waiting list are public patients not private. I have seen many people get quick and timely treatment if they have private health insurance – it isn’t them waiting a long time for treatment. As such this will be a great addition for orth treatment (which there is a pronblem in) but it still won’t help the public patients who are the real problem group in the waiting list issue.

And so we take another small step down the American path to high-quality private health care for those who can afford it and third world care, if any, for the rest.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.