Perils of Place Report identifies hotspots of inequality

A new report by the Grattan Institute has found that hospitalisation rates for diabetes, tooth decay and other conditions that should be treatable or manageable out of hospital, reveal that Australia’s health system is consistently failing some communities.

Perils of place: identifying hotspots of health inequality shows that places such as Frankston and Broadmeadows in Victoria and Mount Isa and Palm Island in Queensland have had potentially preventable hospitalisation rates at least 50% above the state average in every year for a decade.

The report suggests a trial of place-based interventions, developed locally, with the support of Primary Health Networks. If potentially preventable hospitalisations in priority places were reduced to average levels in the two states that were studied, the estimated direct savings could be at least $10-$15 million a year.

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Source: http://grattan.edu.au/