Australia’s health system in the late stages of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic looks nothing like the health system of six months ago. All aspects of the system – primary care, mental health, and alcohol and other drug services – have embraced new ways of working because of spatial distancing. Health professionals took on new roles, services pivoted from waiting for people to make appointments to reaching out to patients, and many face-to-face consultations were replaced with phone or video consultations.
Disruptive change – advocated by many for decades – was implemented rapidly, and often embraced by patients and providers alike. But should these changes be part of a ‘new normal’, or should we just go back to the old ways? In this Grattan Institute/State Library of NSW Webinar, our Health Program Director Stephen Duckett and Dr Teresa Anderson, the Chief Executive of Sydney Local Health District, will discuss the new normal and take your questions on all aspects of the COVID-19 crisis and Australia’s response to it.
Event details
Wednesday 10 June, noon-1pm
Register now
Speakers
Stephen Duckett is Director of Grattan’s Health Program. He has held top operational and policy leadership positions in health care in Australia and Canada including as Secretary of what is now the Commonwealth Department of Health. He has a reputation for creativity, evidence-based innovation and reform in areas ranging from the introduction of activity-based funding for hospitals, to new systems of accountability for the safety of hospital care. An economist, he is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science.
Dr Teresa Anderson is the Chief Executive of Sydney Local Health District, one of the leading public health services in Australia. She has more than 35 years of experience as a clinician and health service executive. Dr Anderson is a Vice President and has been made a Fellow of the NSW Institute of Public Administration Australia, a member of seven Medical Research, Health and PHN boards and is an active member of the Sydney Health Partners Governing Council and Executive Management Group, one of the first four centres in Australia designated by NHMRC as an Advanced Health Research Translation Centre.
