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Comment - Councils need good health policies |
Health issues were conspicuously absent from candidates’ promises in the recent Council elections, but policies are needed urgently, according to GPSpeak medical editor, Dr Andrew Binns and guest editor, Robin Osborne.
Improving the community’s health is a team effort involving many players – Commonwealth and State departments, medical and health professionals, and our Councils, which used to play a significant role in health service delivery.
Functions such as immunisation and baby health clinics were once handled by local government. Now these roles have been taken over by community health agencies, under the auspices of Area Health Services, or local GPs, or a combination of the two. Our Councils might be relieved to shed responsibilities that are better handled by specialists but this doesn’t mean they have no role to play in the good-health equation.
On the contrary, Councils need to be an important partner in planning how the community faces the health challenges of today and the future.
The north coast has a significant number of ageing people: over 9 per cent of females and 7.5 per cent of males are over 65 years, much higher than the NSW average. The same applies for over-40s.
This places ever-higher demands on the health system and greater pressures on families and support networks.
We can all do more to get fitter and help ourselves stay well, to keep preventable illness at bay. And there is a need for Councils to develop health policies that contribute to these goals, yet the vision seems lacking at present.
Various Councils might have made a worthy commitment to lifestyle resources such as walking and cycle paths, but more needs to be done. There are plenty of opportunities in areas such as health promotion, Aboriginal health, mental health, diabetes and cardiac health.
Things as simple as planting (and maintaining) trees around sports fields ovals can help prevent skin cancer as well as make watching junior sports a more enjoyable experience for all.
The community’s mental health and wellbeing are also vital, so the ‘feel’, or ambience, of the city is important. To enhance social cohesion in these materialistic times, let’s give more encouragement to community organisations and volunteers. Thanking them on Australia Day is fine, but let’s remember they help society all year round. Many groups have a shortage of younger members and Councils are well placed to encourage recruitment by fostering a spirit of civic pride.
Councils could – indeed, should - work more actively with other major players in the health equation, including Southern Cross University, Northern Rivers Area Health Service and our many community groups, not least the sporting clubs.
Councils can be a more vocal lobbyist with State and Federal funding bodies to attract much needed services like radiotherapy facilities to the area.
Councils need to develop thoughtful policies addressing the health needs of our community. Gone are the days where we can rely just on ‘mainstream’ government to cater for all our health needs.
Becoming more self sufficient and resilient will reduce the burden on our finite health dollars, and Councils are ideally placed to advance the good-health agenda at all levels of the community.
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