Versatile collapsible rabbit cage.

The cage was designed for holding and breeding rabbits, and can also be used for holding cats for short periods. Single cages can be joined back to back: this larger cage can also be used for breeding rabbits, and the longer-term holding of cats. When not in use cages fold into compact units, saving storage space and labour, as many cages may be autoclaved, boiled or steamed at once. Repair, maintenance and replacement costs of the cages are lower than for conventional cages.

Health services in Australia.

To summarise, many of our health problems in Australia are associated with our affluence, industrialisation, urban living and with the special circumstances of the disadvantaged people. In addition, we are beset with problems of necessary cost containment in operating our health services, vast distances, isolated communities and urban sprawl. To meet these problems we are giving greater emphasis to improved coordination, quality control and integration of health services, the prevention of accidents and disease, the development of community services, and the encouragement of individuals to adopt healthier lifestyles and to accept responsibility for their own health.

Planning health services: cooperation between professionals and health authority.

This paper describes an exercise in cooperative research between the Health Commission of New South Wales and a professional body - the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia. This exercise has provided an encouraging example of a professional body accepting responsibility for, and monitoring, its own standards of health care, assisted with data and advice from the health authority. The Neurosurgical Society used the Commission's extensive data from the hospital morbidity data collection system. This system is briefly described. The results of this work were presented to an international symposium on head injuries. Several major problems existing in this field of neurosurgery were identified, and their various clinical and organizational aspects are being further researched, for the Society of formulate recommendations for solutions. This experience demonstrates the value of such cooperation and provides an example which could be followed by other disciplines of surgery. The need to supply the highest quality of care, the high cost of medical services, and increasing consumer interest in the outcome of treatment, indicate an increasing need for review of the results of surgical treatment. It is preferable that such a review is conducted by the profession, in cooperation with a governmental health authority, rather than by the latter body alone.

Planning health services--demand or need?

This paper discusses the currently popular approach to planning health services which is based on demand predictions. From a consideration of the demand concept, the problems of measuring present demand and forecasting future demand, it is concluded that this approach to planning will not provide health care which serves the best interest of patients, or achieves an overall efficient use of scarce resources. The development of an approach which is based on need rather than demand is seen as compatible with providing health services in the best interests of the individual as patient, and the community as tax payers.

Planning for state health in Australia. Part 2: Health services organization--overseas experience.

Although the majority of articles which are published in Australian Family Physician emphasize the clinical dimension of medical practice, it should be remembered that the policy of the journal is to report on a wide spectrum of topics which have a bearing on patient care. Because of this, and also in response to those readers who have requested information on state health services, we are publishing a series of three articles by Roderick McEwin and Paul Gross in consecutive issues of the journal. This paper is the second of the series.