Access, quality and efficiency in healthcare

One of the leaders of health system reform in Australia over the past few decades, University of Southern Queensland alumnus Stephen Duckett, has worked tirelessly throughout his career to ensure healthcare is accessible and affordable for all Australians.

The renowned healthcare expert has held several operational and policy leadership positions, including Secretary of what is now the Commonwealth Department of Health and Chief Executive of the Queensland Health Centre for Health Improvement.

He was involved with the introduction of Medicare in the early 1980s, and his work on the universal healthcare system in Australia has continued in recent years as part of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce, providing recommendations on the highest priority improvements to primary care.

Duckett was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia this year for significant service to public health policy and management, and tertiary education.

The seeds for his success can be traced back to his time at UniSQ in the late 1970s – then the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education (DDIAE) – where Duckett completed a Graduate Diploma of Education (Tertiary) via distance education.

“It was an innovative program by distance education and also involved a couple of workshops in Toowoomba, including an annual tertiary education conference,” he said.

“The whole program was very applied and very relevant both to teaching improvement and understanding of higher education policy.”

“Its value was partly in giving me skills that I didn’t have, partly in opening my eyes to new literature, and partly in allowing me to practice a different way of teaching in a safe environment.”

The program included a teaching element that allowed Duckett to immediately apply his learnings at UNSW in Sydney, where he was an academic at the time.

Duckett went on to establish an international reputation for evidence-based innovation and reform in areas ranging from the introduction of activity-based funding for hospitals to new systems of accountability for the safety of hospital care.

He has written extensively on healthcare issues, including the need for reform in the Australian healthcare system, and has served as a consultant to organisations around the world on healthcare issues.

Duckett’s contribution to health workforce policy can be partly traced back to his Graduate Diploma at UniSQ.

His legacy is evident in the millions of people who have benefited from improvements in access, quality and efficiency in Australia and his ongoing efforts to improve the health of people around the world.

It is that theme that he regards as his standout achievement in a lengthy career.

“Equity, equality and efficiency – getting those in balance has been the main aim in my career and probably my best achievement,” he said.

As well as his recent AM, Duckett has been awarded numerous awards and honours for his contribution to healthcare, including the Sidney Sax Medal of the Australian Hospital and Health Association. He is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.