Every day, we publish a selection of your emails in our newsletter. We’d love to hear from you, you can email us at yoursay@theconversation.edu.au.

Monday December 1

Rural healthcare

“I worked in healthcare in Central West NSW from 1980 to 2016. During the earlier decades, there was a strong network among rural procedural doctors with colleagues in metropolitan hospitals. This afforded rapid phone discussion with distant specialists over problems, particularly cancer care and obstetric complications, leading to rapid treatment either locally or by ready transfer. Over the decades, the development of Area Health Authorities (AHA) often cut rural hospitals off from metropolitan hospitals. The previous sense of ‘ownership’ for the outcomes in rural hospitals – aligned to a parent metropolitan hospital – was broken and replaced with non-clinical, bureaucratic financial associations bearing little foundation in clinical practice. The huge developments in communication should allow ready return to the parent/metropolitan hospital, rural hospital paradigm with mutual clinical advantages and thus a return to improved patient outcomes.”

Chris Halloway, retired obstetrician and gynaecologist

Melbourne’s transport woes

“The article on the Melbourne Metro Tunnel got me thinking about why more people don’t use it. I visit friends in Melbourne from time to time and the transport situation from the airport is diabolical. Taxis/Ubers are usually over $65 and not always easy to get. When will the trains reach Tullamarine? Oh, and the signage at the airport is among the worst in the world. But oh, I do love Melbourne.”

Ilene

The Conversation