This text provides an overview of the Australian Health Care System at a level suitable for 1st year undergraduate students. It describes the 'architecture' of the system and its key components (public hospital sector, private hospital and health insurance, GPs and primary care, community health, public health), some of the things that shape the system and introduces key concepts that underpin it such as the idea of the welfare state or a universal health system.

Table of Contents

Section One: How health care is organised in Australia. 1. The Australian health care system; 2. The health of Australians; 3. The public hospital system; 4. Primary health care system; 5. The private sector and health insurance; 6. The health workforce; 7. The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme; 8. The aged care sector: residential and community care; 9. Public health in Australia; 10. Health promotion; 11. Rural and remote health; 12. Health care for Indigenous Australians; 13. Organising care for the mentally ill in Australia; 14. The complementary and alternative health care system in Australia; 15. Health care in the UK and USA: welfare versus the market. Section Two: Towards multidisciplinary care for a new century. 16. Progress in nursing: multidisciplinary and shared care; 17. The emergence of midwifery as a distinct discipline; 18. The professionalisation of paramedics: the development of pre-hospital care; 19. Health profession regulation: the case of physiotherapy; 20. Nutrition and dietetics: promoting health for all Australians; 21. Occupational therapy: working with individuals, groups and communities to enable occupation; 22. Podiatry in Australia: past, present and future; 23. Speech pathology and audiology: assessing and treating communication disorders; 24. Health managers in a changing system; 25. The profession of medicine; 26. Who's missing: where's the consumer?. Index.