Medical professionals must find new ways of promoting the involvement of citizens in the delivery of healthcare if public trust in the sector is to be restored, the chairman of the Adelaide Hospital Society said.
In an address last night at the society's annual general meeting, Prof Ian Graham said the recent spate of scandals in areas such as blood contamination and organ retention had led to "a comprehensive erosion of trust".
Although healthcare was a public service, he said, it was shown to be ill-equipped to involve people.
Among the measures needed to restore trust were:
A change in Government policy from treating people as consumers to embracing the concept of active citizenship.
Accountability among all healthcare providers, whether statutory or voluntary. This should include involving citizens in the governance and management of healthcare.
Creating greater understanding by devoting more energy to communicating with citizens.
Prof Graham said: "We will have to challenge the assumptions behind our current health policies which have resulted in such poor levels of public trust. Our present policies have meant that we stagger from crisis to crisis with so many of our public patients being deprived of the healthcare they need and which our society can now afford."
A further element of trust-building, he said, would be to give voluntary or non-profit entities such as the Adelaide Hospital Society a more central role in the delivery of care.
