Doctors hit the headlines last week as seventy prominent nurses and clinicians formed the Hospital Reform Group – a consortium aimed to push for sweeping changes in the public hospital system, and stoke public debate about NSW’s health services. The Sydney Morning Herald has labelled it a “hospital revolution”, describing romantic scenes of a dozen conspirators in a busy restaurant, surrounded by the blissfully unaware as they prepare to unveil their secret plan…
The group calls for an end to the NSW Government’s “bandaid solutions”, making specific reference to a need for reclassifying jobs in hospitals and the possible closure of small emergency departments.
Two interesting issues have been raised in this episode. Firstly, through some of the press’ colourful imagery in describing the doctors, and the amount of publicity they have received (this story was featured in most of the radio news bulletins on the day of its release,) the NSW public seems to be craving some sort of valiant crusader to rescue the health system from its demise. Perhaps people see a Brutus in gastroenterologist and Sydney University emeritus professor Kerry Goulston, and a Caesar in the Australian Medical Association.
Probably more fascinating though, is seeing how media savvy these doctors are. The medical establishment knows how to get its agenda into the public arena, and force NSW Premier Morris Iemma and NSW Health Minister John Hatzistergos to comment on the issues they have forced into the spotlight. Indeed, if an event fails to make the evening news, it may as well have never existed. This media utilisation (not manipulation) in the health sector, should be an interesting area to track over the coming weeks.
