What will 2026 bring? More improvement, we predict. As HSD shuts up shop for a few weeks we thank you, our readers, for your continued support and engagement.
Looking back on a year that has ended with one of the most horrific and sad weeks in modern Australian history, I have never had more respect for the people on the frontlines of our healthcare system.
At its very basic level – the saving of lives – the first responders at Bondi on Sunday afternoon, whether they were lifesavers, police, paramedics, off-duty doctors and nurses who just happened to be there – did that with calm professionalism and expertise. Thank you to them.
I found myself thinking, later in the week, of the nurses and doctors caring for the alleged shooter, no doubt with the same quality of care and high standards. Thank you to them, for seeing him through to the justice system’s hands.
Here at the Moose Republic, publisher of HSD and our sister publication The Medical Republic, we spend our working days poking the healthcare system, trying to nudge it towards improvement.
It can be easy to get lost in the problems and forget that we are witness to one of the best healthcare systems in the world, one that saves lives every minute of every day, not just because the doctors, nurses and allied health frontliners are superb, but because the systems supporting that care are pretty damn good too.
So, thank you to the administrators, policymakers, bureaucrats, public servants, and yes, even the politicians – all are giving everything to improve the system, even if we don’t always agree with the methods and pathways.
And to you, readers, thank you for your support at the end of this, our second full year of publication.
I received some constructive criticism this week, suggesting that we focus too much on the problems and not enough on the solutions, and I take that on board with a view to improving our approach in 2026.
Here are the top 15 articles we published this year, ranked by pageviews on our website:
- Why general practice keeps failing: the economics no one wants to discuss
- WA eReferral project collapses (again): SalesForce, Deloitte out
- Butler backflips: 20,000 home care packages to be released before 1 November
- Ramifications of BUPA controlling 30% of all member healthcare transactions
- Who are the richest bosses in healthcare?
- ‘Just words on paper’: Special Commission report pulls no punches
- Too many apps on the dancefloor: digital continuity, governance and productivity 101
- ‘Heartbreaking’: disability stalwart forced to cut services
- Telstra Health wins $33m contract to modernise MHR
- Freelander slammed as Thriving Kids hearing spirals into ‘disrespect’
- Aged Care Act start delayed four months to 1 November
- Whitewashed WentWest audit points to DoHDA PHN shortcomings
- Paying nurses and midwives what they want ‘won’t lead to fiscal disaster’: IRC showdown begins
- Mystery surrounds sudden departure of Bancroft from Best Practice
- A flat-out, pants-down, bum-kicking for the minister
We are a small crew at HSD and I want to thank my colleagues – Caitlin Wright and Mariella Attard for their efforts, as well as Holly Payne and Euan Kielly over at TMR whose work we share when appropriate. Others who have contributed more sporadically but no less valuably include Amanda Sheppeard, Helen Tobler, Lincoln Tracey and of course, our redoubtable and endlessly curious publisher, Jeremy Knibbs.
Whatever happens in 2026, our prediction is that, as Martin Luther King Jnr said: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice”.
Related
Nudge by nudge, inch by inch, the health system will improve. Big call, but that’s the aim.
We are done for the year, but never fear, we are not abandoning you for the summer. If major news breaks, we will be on it, and every Saturday you can expect a compilation of our best 2025 content in your inboxes.
We will be back on deck with our daily newsletters from Monday 12 January 2026.
Until then, from the HSD crew, have a fantastic summer and a restful, peaceful and love-filled festive season, however you celebrate.
Hooroo!