HEALTH IS IN YOUR HANDS
RISING costs and ignorance are playing havoc with health.
In separate reports today, the Bulletin reveals how on the one hand far too many people are using the public health system as their first port of call when they feel offcolour; and on the other hand, families that recognise the value of sport for a child’s health are struggling to meet the costs.
Government advertising has been pushing the message that hospital emergency departments are for real emergencies.
Sorry, but colds and pimples just don’t measure up. That’s why we have GPs.
Even patients with chronic medical conditions have alternatives to hospital, at least until they reach the point that pain is unbearable and they require admission.
The AMA says that in many instances, GPs can still handle urgent cases. Afterhours services are available and some offer home visits. Despite this, Gold Coast public hospitals are dealing with ridiculous numbers of “preventable admissions’’ each year, which add to a blowout in waiting times and clog up the wards.
Among these are people who have not been vaccinated, or who are struggling with conditions that stem from lifestyle.
Indeed the best prevention is surely plenty of exercise, yet families are confronted by big bills just to get their kids on the field or indoor court at club level. They have to fork out to cover uniforms, shoes, travel, administration and registration fees, coaching and team photographs. In recent years it has been estimated the Gold Coast junior sports “industry’’ is worth more than $30 million annually. In some instances, households are forking out $1500 a child.
This requires sacrifices in other areas, and it is the parents who miss out in the first instance. But if the economy is in trouble and someone is made redundant, everyone loses. Just pulling a child out of sport sets in train consequences – including, eventually, a cost to the health system.
If federal and state governments are serious about containing escalating costs in the health sector, they have to invest more in junior sport and community fitness programs, ensuring families and individuals are doing all they can to help themselves forge a basis for quality of life.
That starts with the children. Junior sport deserves higher priority when it comes to state and federal budgets. It is all very well to worry about elite athletes and tip money into chasing gold. That makes everyone feel good about being Aussie and promotes role models. But the huge value will lie in developing a healthier population by investing in fitness for all.