The 'Dispatched' Podcast

Budget Estimates and officials acknowledge the slow uptake of 60-day prescriptions. The 'professionally edited' HTA review final report is with the minister, more evidence of the need to watch the diabetes tender and the need for action to ensure the legitimacy of Australia's new National Immunisation Strategy.

The deeper issue revealed by the failure to consult on Australia's new National Immunisation Strategy. One year on from the health minister's admission that people die waiting for access to health technologies and disappointment for patients in New Zealand.

We discuss the BPD Annual Conference, our favourite speakers and panels, including Pharmacy Guild National President Professor Trent Twomey and Dr Ian Watt AC, and the focus on women's health and New Zealand.  Why we should encourage more straight-talking and the connectivity that links so many different parts of the health system.

Rather than dismissing Budget realities, stakeholders could be invited into the Government's confidence and told to prepare for a mature conversation about the challenge of funding the PBS and a serious reform agenda to facilitate faster access to health technologies as Australia enters a period of serious fiscal consolidation.

Patients and pharmacies are the winners, but the Budget raises more questions than it answers, with a large Contingency Reserve and what appears to be a raft of decisions taken but not announced.

Budget week is upon us. We share our experiences working on Budgets and discuss the behind-the-scenes process Governments undertake to develop their major annual set-piece announcement. Budgets have changed over the years with the increasing use of 'hidden' measures - which is why caution is required. Who should be telling who about communicating with patients?

Some important messages and learnings from this week's 'Valuing Life—Medicines Access Summit' in Wellington, with patients and clinicians leading with a straight-talking critique of decision-making that has clearly resonated with New Zealand's political leaders.

The importance of scrutinising claims involving data, particularly regarding health care, and the double standard regarding productivity. Kudos to a company for welcoming a new listing but calling out that it has taken over 650 days since TGA registration. The challenge of social media for vulnerable communities.

The 2024-25 Budget is fast approaching. We discuss what to look for, where to exercise caution, and what to ignore.  More examples of where informing is confused with consulting leading to the problematic implementation of reform.

The health department is allowing employees to vote on a new name for its main building. We have some suggestions. Is our health system capable of learning from patient experience and the challenges many severely immunocompromised patients face battling to access treatments and immunisation?