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By Marilyn Kerjean
Greater social equity in the provision of health care “is not occurring in many of the most socially disadvantaged areas”, says Fr Peter Norden SJ, the director of
Jesuit Social Services (JSS).
Introducing the new JSS report Unequal in Health, he said: “We need to address (these) issues before serious social disadvantage becomes entrenched in Australian society.”
The report found that the amount and quality of time GPs spent with vulnerable people living in disadvantaged suburbs compared relatively well with those in middle-ranged suburbs in NSW, but not in Victoria.
Unequal in Health, is a follow-on report from Unequal in Life which mapped out social disadvantage in NSW and Victoria by postcode, based on criteria such as unemployment, low income, low birth weight, child abuse,
emergency assistance, psychiatric hospital admissions and court convictions.
The Unequal in Health study uses that information to assess the effectiveness of the Enhanced Primary Care package, introduced in
1999, in terms of how many times GPs offered its services to people living in disadvantaged postcode areas compared with those in middle-range postcode areas.
It looks at the number of times each of the
services was made available to residents in disadvantaged areas.
The Enhanced Primary Care package includes three new Medicare services:
Health assessments (for people aged 75 and older; or 55 and older
for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders), and Multidisciplinary care plans and Multidisciplinary case conferences (both involve the GP and
other health or community care providers to provide integrated, ‘whole person’ care to a chronically ill or otherwise vulnerable individual).
The aim of the package is to allow GPs to focus on preventative
care for older people and to better coordinate care for people with chronic illness and multidisciplinary needs.
It is hoped that these new items will promote greater social equity in the provision of health
care.
The study found that 13 of the best scoring divisions of general practice accounted for five out of six of the top 30 disadvantaged areas in NSW.
However, there is still work to be done in NSW,
says the author, Tony Vinson.
“It is possible that the level of service extended to the disadvantaged in NSW should be even greater, but a first step is to at least ensure that equity-promoting health
services in Victoria more readily reach those with the greatest need of them,” he said.
Emeritus Professor Vinson also wrote Unequal in Life.
That study has inspired successful community renewal
schemes in Newcastle and Yarra, two areas identified as among the most socially disadvantaged neighbourhoods in NSW and Victoria.
Unequal in Health has been sent to health professionals, policy makers and the
Federal and State Governments.
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