Local news

WEEK COMMENCING 31 OCTOBER 2009

Overseas students' alarming abortion rates

3 November 2009: One in three abortions at the Women's and Children's Hospital is performed on international students, University of Adelaide research has found. A paper by the Discipline of General Practice says the terminations are predominantly carried out on Chinese students. The high abortion rate has prompted calls for comprehensive sex education for the tens of thousands of students who make South Australia their temporary home.

Crime body demands teenagers' sex files

4 November 2009: One of the Northern Territory's largest Aboriginal health clinics has been ordered to hand over the records of eight sexually active teenage girls to the Australian Crime Commission. Health workers fear the move will drive girls away from clinics, leading to more under-age pregnancies and disease.

HIV rate up in Thai community

3 November 2009: Sydney’s Thai gay community has the highest number of new HIV notifications of any non-English speaking cultural group in the city. ACON has joined with its Thai counter-agency, Rainbow Sky, to address these figures with a new, playful HIV prevention campaign.

Overseas students' alarming abortion rates

3 November 2009: One in three abortions at the Women's and Children's Hospital is performed on international students, University of Adelaide research has found. A paper by the Discipline of General Practice says the terminations are predominantly carried out on Chinese students. The high abortion rate has prompted calls for comprehensive sex education for the tens of thousands of students who make South Australia their temporary home.

Crime body demands teenagers' sex files

4 November 2009: One of the Northern Territory's largest Aboriginal health clinics has been ordered to hand over the records of eight sexually active teenage girls to the Australian Crime Commission. Health workers fear the move will drive girls away from clinics, leading to more under-age pregnancies and disease.

HIV rate up in Thai community

3 November 2009: Sydney’s Thai gay community has the highest number of new HIV notifications of any non-English speaking cultural group in the city. ACON has joined with its Thai counter-agency, Rainbow Sky, to address these figures with a new, playful HIV prevention campaign.

Health costs balloon on eve of reform talks

3 November 2009: The Federal Government, already struggling to prune the cost of health, faces a $4.8 billion blow-out in the sector over the next four years.

Harrowing choice put a loving mother to the test

3 November 2009: Exhausted and depressed after devoting her life to caring for her severely disabled son Niall, Anita Cain took him to a respite centre - and left him there. Abandoning him to the state's welfare system 3½ years ago was the only way the single mother could get the support she needed.

Roxon: MYEFO points to rising health costs

2 November 2009: The 2009-10 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook includes an increase in estimated expenditure on Health and Ageing of $4.8 billion over four years – mainly due to increases in projected expenditure on Medicare Benefits, Pharmaceutical Benefits and the Private Health Insurance Rebate.

Arthritis injection rebates axed

2 November 2009: Sufferers of arthritis will no longer have their pain-relief injections specifically covered by Medicare. The Federal Government says the injections can be done by a GP during a standard consultation, so it has abolished the rebate, in a move it says will save $25 million over four years. But specialists say the procedure is not just a simple jab and requires particular expertise.

Government listening to aged care message

2 November 2009: The Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) is confident that the Rudd Government has been paying attention to its aged care campaign. The federation’s national secretary, Ged Kearney said the campaign has been well received by senior government figures including Health and Ageing Minister, Nicola Roxon.

Dose of access for immunisation files

No date (Retrieved 2 November 2009): Parents accessing the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register for their children’s health records would now be able to do so for children up to 14. The access rules previously limited the information to seven-year-olds and under.

Alcohol price rise 'will hurt public'

2 November 2009: THE Australian liquor industry has warned that raising taxes on alcohol and imposing tighter restrictions on sales will not change the national drinking culture or solve the problem of youth binge drinking. The liquor industry is urging against a new alcohol tax hike, fearing the Rudd government is determined to implement further increases under the banner of its "preventative health" campaign.

Snowden: Minister welcomes launch of new Urban Indigenous Health Institute

2 November 2009: The Minister for Indigenous Health, Rural and Regional Health and Regional Services Delivery, Warren Snowdon, today welcomed the establishment of the new Institute for Urban Indigenous Health in Brisbane. The Australian Government has provided funding totalling $312,618 toward the establishment and implementation of the initial phase of the Institute.

Sustainable hospitals = healthier people

1 November 2009: With healthcare crises regularly in the media, everyone is acutely aware there are very few pennies in the public purse for building and operating health facilities. It’s therefore little wonder that governments are looking to eco design to deliver cost effective outcomes.

The booze busters

2 November 2009: The hard liquor industry is losing its influence in Canberra as the federal government considers changes to the taxation system and new ways to control the consumption of spirits, beer and wine. Under the slogan of preventive health, Rudd Labor is seizing the moment to do several things: reduce alcohol consumption across the community, build its brand as a health innovator, play on community fears about youth binge drinking and raise short-term revenue at a time of budget austerity.

Medicare cuts hit elderly sufferers hard

2 November 2009: Elderly patients face a double blow from Medicare cuts which took effect yesterday, hitting both cataract patients and arthritis sufferers needing injections for crippling pain.

Coalition backing patients on cataract

1 November 2009: The coalition is standing firm on the Rudd government's cut to the Medicare rebate for cataract surgery, because they are on the "side of patients", opposition health spokesman Peter Dutton says. Labor has introduced new regulations reducing the standard rebate for cataract surgery from $624 to $340.

Roxon urges more serious health debate

31 October 2009: Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon has accused the Opposition of failing to engage its best players in the debate over health reform. There are newspaper reports today that Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull offered the health portfolio to veteran Liberal MP Fran Bailey shortly after its health spokesman Peter Dutton lost a preselection contest for a safe Queensland seat.

Health Minister Roxon must go

1 November 2009: In the field of medical procedures, there are two operations that are considered truly liberating - cataract removal and hip replacement. Both have the capacity to rejuvenate and liberate the most disadvantaged people in our community - the elderly - and both are under siege by ideologically motivated, radical Left Health Minister Nicola Roxon. Cruelly and wilfully, those in need of these liberating procedures have been left to suffer as Roxon prosecutes her class war against the medical profession.

Hollow blow to cataract surgery

31 October 2009: Hospital waiting lists in regional and remote NSW are expected to blow out after Sydney eye surgeons performed their last cataract operation in the outback last Friday. The Federal Government last week slashed the Medicare rebate for cataract surgery, arguing that latest technology made the operation simpler and quicker.

Turnbull wanted Dutton portfolio trade

31 October 2009: The federal coalition has come under fire following claims by outgoing Liberal MP Fran Bailey that she was offered Peter Dutton's shadow health portfolio. The purported offer from Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull came shortly after the Mr Dutton failed to win preselection for the safe Liberal seat of McPherson on the Gold Coast, putting his future in federal politics on shaky ground.

Child abuse inquiry 'as public as possible'

31 October 2009: The Northern Territory's Minister for Women and Children, Malarndirri McCarthy, says an inquiry into the child protection system will be made as public as possible. The head of paedatrics at Royal Darwin Hospital says the child protection service has refused to investigate cases where children are at risk of dying, and the Australian Medical Association suspects the department has not enough resources.

Nurses want early action to fix aged Ccre, Australia

30 October 2009: 120 nurses from around Australia will today urge Federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon to take action and address major challenges facing the aged care sector in the next decade. Ged Kearney, Federal Secretary of the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) said that Ms Roxon will address the Biennial Australian Nursing Federation Conference in Manly this morning on the challenges facing health systems across Australia, in particular the challenge of the ageing population.

Nurse and midwife reforms face defeat

30 October 2009: Health minister Nicola Roxon has hinted that her landmark reforms to extend the roles of nurse practitioners and midwives may be defeated in the same way as her moves to cut cataract rebates. Speaking to a nurses conference today she called on the opposition not to vote against the legislation when it comes to a Senate vote in the near future.

Loophole has clinics pose problem: excessive testing

31 October 2009: Radiologists are calling on the federal government to halt the spread of joint-venture clinics owned by doctors who refer patients to them, warning a Medicare rebate about to be introduced will increase the potential for abuse. RANZCR president Mark Khangure says the joint venture model had been made possible by a loophole in legislation that was intended to prevent commercial arrangements under which radiologists were charged excessive rents in exchange for business from referring doctors. The new model that had sprung up -- particularly in Western Australia, Queensland and NSW -- involves small groups of as few as 30 referring doctors, often cardiologists, taking ownership stakes in private radiology practices.

Labor backs off cataract rebate cut

29 October 2009: Eye doctors say patients will postpone planned cataract surgery for a fortnight after the Rudd government overruled the Senate and cut Medicare rebates by slightly less than half. Labor has introduced new regulations reducing the standard rebate from $624 to $340.

Roxon: Senate stalls Preventative Health Agency

29 October 2009: Preventative health has been dealt a blow today with the Bill to establish Australia's first ever Preventative Health Agency stalled in the Senate. We know that the Liberal and National parties have turned their back on prevention through statements made this week.

A cost-based equity weight for use in the economic evaluation of primary health care interventions: case study of the Australian Indigenous population

29 October, 2009: Efficiency and equity are both important policy objectives in resource allocation. The discipline of health economics has traditionally focused on maximising efficiency, however addressing inequities in health also requires consideration. Methods to incorporate equity within economic evaluation techniques range from qualitative judgements to quantitative outcomes-based equity weights. Yet, due to definitional uncertainties and other inherent limitations, no method has been universally adopted to date. This paper proposes an alternative cost-based equity weight for use in the economic evaluation of interventions delivered from primary health care services.

Medical graduates see crisis looming

30 October 2009: Medical schools are warning that time is running out to boost hospital training places, as figures show the number of graduates will soar by nearly 80 per cent over the next five years. The heads of Australia's 19 medical schools say while the increase is warranted to make up serious shortfalls in many medical specialties, state and federal governments have so far done too little to ensure the flood of trainees coming through the system will be properly trained.

Cataract rebate slashed, for now

30 October 2009: Patients face paying hundreds of dollars more for cataract surgery after Health Minister Nicola Roxon sidestepped the Senate and slashed the Medicare rebate. From Sunday, the rebate for a cataract operation will drop from $623.70 to $340.76.

Australian Medical Association urges senate to pass preventative health agency bill

29 October 2009: AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, today said the creation of the National Preventative Health Agency was an important first step towards reducing preventable chronic diseases in Australia.

Snowdon: More funding to support rural health infrastructure

29 October 2009: The Rudd Government will inject a further $6.1 million to improve local health infrastructure in 40 rural and remote communities throughout Australia.

Roxon: $500 million boost to health and medical research

29 October 2009: The Rudd Government today announced $487 million funding to boost the nation’s health and medical research effort. This is in addition to $21 million announced by the Prime Minister and during a recent visit to Tasmania, taking the total to $508 million.

International news

US: Patient-Centered Medical Home Demonstration: A Prospective, Quasi-Experimental, Before and After Evaluation

September 2009: Background: A patient-centered medical home (PCMH) demonstration was undertaken at 1 healthcare system, with the goals of improving patient experience, lessening staff burnout, improving quality, and reducing downstream costs. Five design principles guided development of the PCMH changes to staffing, scheduling, point-of-care, outreach, and management.

FIJI (Reported by Deutsche Press):

3 November 2009: Fiji's military ruler, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, ordered senior diplomats from New Zealand and Australia out of the country Tuesday, accusing them of waging a negative campaign against his government, which seized power in a bloodless coup nearly three years ago.

UK: Aspirin ‘only for people with heart problems’

3 November 2009: People who don’t have obvious cardiovascular disease and are taking aspirin for prevention of heart attacks and strokes should abandon the practice, researchers have advised. The Drugs and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB) study said the drug can lead to serious internal bleeding and does not put off cardiovascular disease deaths.

UK: Two jobs just to get by – our overworked nurses

3 November 2009: One in four Welsh nurses is working at two jobs just to make ends meet, figures today reveal. The results of the Royal College of Nursing’s employment survey found most nurses who take on extra work are doing extra bank and agency nursing shifts. Nurse leaders today said the ongoing high demand for bank and agency nurses indicates that the NHS in Wales is still not employing enough nurses.

CAN: Chris Selley's Full Pundit: On the bright side, at least it's not 1918

2 November 2009: Let’s play the H1N1 blame game!

The Toronto Star’s James Travers thinks “pregnant women, worried parents [and] patients with underlying conditions” are too stupid or hormone-addled to realize that the vaccination queue they’re standing in isn’t entirely Stephen Harper’s and Leona Aglukkaq’s fault, and thus that there’s significant risk to the Conservative government in Ottawa that this vaccine roll-out is proving to be a typical Canadian health care snafu.

S. AFRICA: Zuma rallies S. Africa to fight AIDS

31 October 2009: In a culmination of his party’s major shift on AIDS, a disease that has led to plunging life expectancies here, President Jacob Zuma last week definitively rejected his predecessor’s denial of the viral cause of AIDS and of the critical role of antiretroviral drugs in treating it.

US: Depression in LTC often goes untreated

2 November 2009: Older adults living in long-term care face a sad state of affairs. As many as 50% of residents of LTC have depression, and only about 25% of them are identified and receive treatment, according to Neva L. Crogan, RN, PhD, GCNS-BC, GNP-BC, FNGNA, secretary of the National Gerontological Nursing Association and research associate professor, University of Arizona in Tucson.

UK: RCN – Nursing update

2 November 2009: The Royal College of Nursing has published a Nurses Manifesto and is calling on prospective Parliamentary Candidates in the next General Election to support it. The document, Nursing Counts, sets out six key areas which the college believes any incoming administration should prioritise, in order to ensure the delivery of UK healthcare is high quality and safe.

US: Study: Tai Chi can help lower glucose levels

2 November 2, 2009: A University of Florida study says a regular tai chi exercise program can help people better control their diabetes and lower glucose levels, according to a news release.

US: Intervals between lung cancer diagnosis and treatment displays a health care disparity

1 November 2009: Research published in the November 2009 issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology has found that intervals between lung cancer suspicion, diagnosis and treatment may be attributed to health care system discrepancies.

Nursing homes straining to serve older, sicker clients

31 October 2009: The seniors entering West Virginia nursing homes are older and sicker than they were 10 years ago, representatives with the state Health Care Association said Saturday. West Virginia has some of the nation's highest percentage of people with diabetes and heart disease, in addition to an aging population, said Jesse Samples, chief executive of the West Virginia Health Care Association.

UK: Nursing chair in pledge

31 October 2009: THE new chairwoman of the Edinburgh-based Royal College of Nursing has vowed to help members through the recession.

UK: Profession backs college but its remit remains undecided

30 October 2009: The profession is firmly behind a new national college for social work, but the exact model it should adopt is still open to debate. Kirsty McGregor examines the options. The Social Work Task Force is considering a multitude of reforms, but the strongest idea to emerge from the panel of experts so far is its proposal for a new organisation to improve standards, influence policy and provide a national voice for the profession. In its interim report in July, the taskforce said this would take the form of a national college for social work, based on the royal college model in medicine and related professions.

US: Health information not communicated well to minority populations, MU researcher finds

30 October 2009: According to the Institute of Medicine, more than 90 million Americans suffer from low health literacy¬, a mismatch between patients' abilities to understand healthcare information and providers' abilities to communicate complex medical information in an understandable manner. In two recent studies, researchers at the University of Missouri found that two groups — those with limited English proficiency and those with disabilities — experience significantly lower health literacy than the general population.

IBM to provide employees with 100% primary health care coverage, new wellness rebate

29 October 2009: IBM today announced that it will provide U.S. employees with 100 percent coverage for primary health care, beginning in 2010. Employees enrolled in IBM plans will receive full coverage throughout the year – no coinsurance or deductible – for in-network primary care with their internist, family practitioner, pediatrician, general practitioner or primary osteopath. IBM will be among the first U.S. companies to cover primary care at 100 percent.

UK: How student nurses’ supernumerary status affects the way they think about nursing: a qualitative study

29 October 2009: Identifying the mismatched views of student and qualified nurses on what nursing is and what students need to learn from their time on the ward.

CAN: The provocateur’s prescription

29 October 2009: Back in February, Heather Smith was ready to like Stephen Duckett. Alberta’s recently created health superboard had just poached Duckett, an Australian health economist, from his government job in the state of Queensland. Smith, president of the United Nurses of Alberta, heard good things about the man who was about to become Alberta Health Services’ new president and CEO. ht months later, Smith has a different view. The nurses have filed a complaint with Alberta Health Services accusing Duckett of “bullying,” spreading “mistruths” and causing “serious morale issues” in the health system. This, after Duckett told media that much “of what a nurse does in a hospital ward could be done by someone else” and made other remarks about disparaging nurses’ coffee breaks. “We have been disappointed,” says Smith.

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