Health and Wellbeing
A Healthy Life
"Health is not valued till sickness comes." - Thomas Fuller
The Greens believe that access to a comprehensive, high quality health care system is a basic human right, and that a public health system is the best way to deliver health services.
Governments are responsible for ensuring that all people have access to the resources and opportunities essential for good health.
Health service provision should be equitable, socially just and responsive to changing needs.
Individual health outcomes are influenced by biological, social, economic and environmental factors and these must be addressed as part of a comprehensive health care system.
Lynn endorses the World Health Organisation definition of health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
She and the Greens seek a holistic approach to health that includes an emphasis on disease prevention, health promotion and social and environmental determinants of health.
“People who laugh actually live longer than those who don’t laugh. Few persons realize that health actually varies according to the amount of laughter.” – Campaigner and politician James J. Walsh
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Goals
- A universal public health care system that ensures access and equity for all Western Australians.
- Emphasise health promotion, illness prevention and early diagnosis.
- Full provision of government funded public hospitals developments being publically owned.
- To address pressing health problems, including hospital waiting lists, deficiencies in rural health services, dental health, mental health, substance abuse and the poor health and reduced lifespan of Aboriginal peoples and socio-economically disadvantaged people.
- To plan for increased pressures on the health system due to climate change, international food shortage and economic instability.
- To establish a holistic cancer control plan to provide timely and efficient accesss to all treatment modalities, especially radiotherapy and palliative care.
- To develop new programs to address the needs of patients with complex psychosocial needs who currently use emergency systems heavily as centres of last resort.
- Explicitly recognise the role of local government and require the development of state and local public health plans.
- Establish a Health Impact Assessment process for all major planning and industrial developments to run parallel with the current Environmental Impact Assessment process.
- Encourage and, where necessary, require all food services in hospitals, schools, universities and child care centres to offer a variety of healthy food choices.
- To implement a comprehensive apprach to addressing tobacco, alcohol and other drug use and their related harms.
- To substantially improve essential services such as access to safe water, all-weather access, adequate waste disposal and electricity, and fresh nutritious food in remote communities up to the standard expected by the wider community.
- To increase funding for a variety of structured school, work and community-based physical activity programs, and promote the importance of incidental activity.
- To protect the rights of women to access the ongoing provision of medical services for the prevention and termination of pregnancy.
- To review and implement effective measures to attract health professionals to rural and remote areas.
- To increase training of Australian graduates, in order to provide more doctors, nurses and health care professionals.
- To develop improved accommodation options for young people in aged care facilities.
Campaigns
Hon Lynn MacLaren MLC - Member for South Metropolitan Region Legislative Council, Parliament of Western Australia