Phocus posted on October 28, 2009 13:21
A key element of the government's approach to health care is encapsulated in the catch phrase "better, sooner, more convenient".
"Better" health care is something that no-one could argue against.
But is "more convenient" care an unalloyed good thing?
The Minister sees improved convenience being achieved by having the likes of "walk-in clinics" and "clinics with extended opening hours". But do walk-in clinics encourage an episodic approach to care and reinforce the existing emphasis on acute responsiveness, rather than supporting a transition towards proactive, planned management of the increasing burden of chronic disease?
And can walk in clinics, where one presumably takes whichever clinician happens to be rostered on duty, foster continuity of care? After all continuity of care is one of the things for which we do have evidence - that it improves health outcomes for patients.
Can "more convenient" care be gained without further reducing "continuity of care"? If so, how do we do this?