International News

US: Trendy New York bistro Klee Brasserie offers breast milk cheese

10 March 2010: A chef at a trendy New York bistro is letting diners munch on fig and paprika cheese made from his wife's breast milk.

US: Nutrition services for older adults at home and in communities

8 March 2010: The Society for Nutrition Education (SNE) has partnered with the American Dietetic Association (ADA) and American Society for Nutrition (ASN) to publish a position paper, "Position of the American Dietetic Association, American Society for Nutrition, and Society for Nutrition Education: Food and Nutrition Programs for Community-Residing Older Adults," focusing on access to safe and adequate food and nutrition services, including nutrition education, for the increasing number of older adults who receive health care in their homes or communities rather than in nursing homes or other residential facilities.

UK: Nurse-led clinics the solution to rural healthcare, says RCN

7 March 2010: Healthcare in rural areas of Scotland must be designed to overcome traditional professional boundaries between nurses and doctors, the Royal College of Nursing Scotland told MSPs.

UK: Positive aging: Technology and positive attitudes improving older people's lives

5 March 2010: The population of the UK is ageing. Sixteen per cent of the UK population is 65 or older, and for the first time, there are more people over the age of 65 than there are under the age of 18. This raises a lot of questions on issues such as pension provision, health care and wellbeing. Ensuring that elderly people have access to medical and social support; the use of new technologies to make it easier for them to live independent lives; and helping the elderly to stay active within society. These are issues discussed during the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC) Festival of Social Science (12-21 March).

SPAIN: Rodent of the Week: Another advantage to nursing the baby

5 March 2010: Newborn mice who receive their mother's milk experience a biological process that boosts their metabolism, possibly lowering the risk of obesity and diabetes in adulthood, according to a new study.

US: Violence in Nursing

4 March 2010: Workplace violence against hospital nurses is so common, many healthcare practitioners don't bother to file reports. But that attitude is changing. HR leaders of healthcare facilities should increase training for nurses -- to equip them to deal with potentially volatile situation -- as well as enhance reporting and response mechanisms, experts say.

US: Feds set to start implementing health IT policies

4 March 2010: It's about time for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to transition from creating policy to facilitating the implementation of electronic health records, Dr. David Blumenthal told a packed house at the annual Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) convention in Atlanta.

FRG: Treatment errors

4 March 2010: Current health care is not as safe as it should be. In the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010; 107[6]: 92-9), Barbara Hoffmann and Julia Rohe explain the reasons for adverse events, as well as measures to ensure better patient safety.

US: Nursing initiative looks to better understand patients' cultures

4 March 2010: The American Nurses Association (ANA) plans to launch a diversity awareness resource center this year to better serve the "full complexity of the U.S. population" in healthcare settings, ANA officials say. The center will include a database of materials related to different ethnicities, cultures, sexes, and other information to enable nurses to better serve an increasingly diverse patient population. The resource center will give nurses the opportunity to ensure fair and equitable treatment of patients, particularly for individuals facing difficult health and financial issues, according to the ANA.

Local News

WEEK COMMENCING 06 MARCH 2010

Bed shortages bring danger – children at risk in hospitals

11 March 2010: Adult patients are sleeping alongside children in overstretched hospitals despite doctors condemning the practice.

Reduce waiting times, get bonus cash: Rudd

11 March 2010: Public hospitals which beat national standards on reducing patient waiting times will get bonus payments from the federal government, the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has revealed.

Rudd offers cash incentives to top hospitals

11 March 2010: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says the Government will offer incentive payments to outstanding hospitals under its new health plan.

Out of patience

11 March 2010: Victoria may have better public hospitals than other states, but they are still beset by problems that test people's faith in the system.

Adelaide University's medical school set to grow

11 March 2010: Adelaide University's medical school is expected to grow by 50 per cent to address doctor shortages, the head of health sciences says. Executive Dean Professor Justin Beilby said this would result in 100 extra student places from 2011.

Emergency departments fail to meet targets

11 March 2010: Emergency departments are failing to meet admission time targets in almost all the SA's major hospitals, the latest figures show.

King Kong health plan threatens the PM

11 March 2010: Health and hospitals policy is Kevin Rudd's King Kong and it could cause him as much damage as Kong did to the Empire State Building. This is a half-pregnant set of proposals, so expect ongoing changes in the health system's structure and funding.

Court battle over healthcare trademark: Australian General Practitioners Network

11 March 2010: Primary Health Care has taken Federal Court action against the Australian General Practitioners Network to prevent the network's use of the name Primary Health Care.

Rudd faces Senate strife on maternity leave

11 March 2010: Kevin Rudd will face a Senate ambush aimed at sweetening his 18-week paid maternity leave scheme as Tony Abbott's $2.7 billion six-month-leave policy wins support from the Greens, and a sympathetic hearing from the two independents.

Pain a chronic worry

11 March 2010: Chronic pain sufferers are waiting an average of six months to see a pain specialist in Australia's public health system. For many sufferers, the wait between being referred by a GP to seeing a pain specialist blows out to more than a year.

Drugs make AFL's big men cry

11 March 2010: Footy players busted for illicit drug use are often reduced to tears and are scared of what their mums will think, the AFL medical chief has said.

Senate block `letting dental rorts thrive'

11 March 2010: Health Minister Nicola Roxon has called on opposition senators to stop blocking attempts to shut down a Medicare scheme for dental treatment given fresh concerns that the program is being widely rorted.

Councillor cuts up club card

11 March 2010: A Lismore councillor has returned his membership to the Lismore Workers Club angry the community-based organisation is allowing its premises to be used to stage the controversial ‘cage fight’ later this month.

Rudd pledges more cash for hospitals

10 March 2010: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has promised to stump up extra cash to hospitals that outperform national benchmarks as part of his health reform proposals. And he has signalled the government is preparing to splash about the cash in a bid to get states to agree to the reform plan ahead of a Council of Australian Governments (CoAG) next month.

Nurses to make aged care an election year issue

10 March 2010: The massive $300 wages gap between aged care and public hospital nurses is set to become an election year issue with the launch of a national advertising campaign by the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) and the NSW Nurses' Association (NSWNA).

Rudd reform will not end the blame game, say health experts

10 March 2010: The health reform blueprint will not end blame-shifting between state and federal governments and may leave many hospitals in dire straits, two authorities on health warn. The pair, who published their views in articles in the electronic version of the Medical Journal of Australia yesterday, have also rejected the proposal for local hospital networks, built around central funding of one principal and several smaller hospitals.

NSW first for health identifiers

10 March 2010: NSW public hospital patients will be guinea pigs for the countrywide rollout of healthcare identifiers, with an estimated 4.5 million people signed onto the new system by the state within 18 months.

SA Lib leader makes Canberra health dash

10 March 2010: With 10 days until the election, Isobel Redmond has made a surprise visit to Parliament House to demand answers over the federal government's proposed national health plan and water allocations in the wake of flooding in the northern states.

Hospitals tackle emergency wait times

10 March 2010: WA hospitals are undergoing massive transformations to improve emergency department waiting times. A meeting this morning of some of WA’s most influential health leaders was told that about $7 million has been spent on improvements across hospital sites.

Abbott is obstructionist vandal: govt

10 March 2010: The Rudd government has attacked Tony Abbott's economic credibility, labelling him an obstructionist "vandal" who can't be trusted running the economy.

Sixty health staff lose jobs in salary rort probe

10 March 2010: The WA Health Department has announced that 60 staff members were either sacked or quit after an investigation into salary packaging rorts, in which workers were making fraudulent claims of meal and entertainment expenses.

Ministers savage 'just say no' Abbott

10 March 2010: The Federal Government has attacked Tony Abbott for heading "the most obstructionist Opposition in 30 years", accusing him of economic sabotage and threatening payments to families.

Rural concerns to be heard on hospitals

10 March 2010: Health Minister Nicola Roxon has promised to take the unique needs of rural communities into consideration when implementing the government's planned hospitals reform.

Scientology putting lives at risk, says Australian of the Year Pat McGorry

10 March 2010: AUSTRALIAN of the Year Pat McGorry has backed calls for a Senate inquiry into Scientology, saying its views on mental health are putting lives at risk.

Senate rejects health insurance changes

10 March 2010: The Federal Government has attacked the Opposition for rejecting its private health insurance changes, saying it will now be tougher to return the Budget to surplus.

Australia's pill-popping habit could cause more health problems

10 March 2010: Australians are increasingly popping over-the-counter painkillers - and many unaware that the pills could cause them health problems. Research shows more than 70 per cent of Australians who use non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) – which are available at the supermarket – are unaware of their associated risks.

Men likelier than women to enjoy sex in old age

10 March 2010: Men are more than twice as likely as women to be sexually active in old age but good health is the key for both to feeling naughty. A study published today by the British Medical Journal says doctors looked over two big probes into the health of the American population.

Taronga Zoo's baby elephant born alive despite expert predictions

10 March 2010: Taronga Zoo has released the first image of its miracle male elephant calf born this morning. The baby will spend the next 24 hours under critical care with handlers to ensure its survival.

Health ID allows people tracking: Democrats

9 March 2010 : The Australian Democrats party has warned that Health Minister Nicola Roxon's Health Identifiers Bill appears similar to the previous Howard government's ill-fated attempt to replace the Medicare Card with what it called an Access Card, which many saw as an attempt to create a national ID card.

Senate sinks Labor's health fund shake-up

9 March 2010: The Rudd government has yet another double-dissolution trigger in hand after the Senate sank plans to means test the private health insurance rebate. The defeat means individuals earning more than $75,000 a year and couples on more than $150,000 a year won't be forced to pay more for their health cover – unless Labor is prepared to call an early election on the issue.

Western Sydney nurse numbers drop to unsafe levels

9 March 2010: Nurses across the Western Sydney Area Health Service (WSAHS) will hold midday rallies at seven hospitals next Thursday, 18 March, to highlight the fact that nurse numbers at WSAHS hospitals and community health services have dropped to unsafe levels.

Confusion reigns on health ID: Heathcare Idenfiers Bill

9 March 2010: Software makers, doctors, consumer groups and lawyers remain perplexed by the design and context of the Healthcare Identifiers Bill being accorded a rushed Senate inquiry this week.

New $109m vow to cut waiting times

9 March 2010: A $109 million Labor election pledge to employ more than 100 new medical staff will cut emergency department waiting times to a maximum of four hours. SA Premier Mike Rann will today unveil the Four Hour Strategy for metropolitan hospitals in one of Labor's most expensive pledges.

Health minister and treasurer to outline hospital system in tour

8 March 2010: The health minister and treasurer will embark on a month-long tour of the country to explain the federal government's planned overhaul of the hospital system, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says.

Roxon gears up for hospitals stoush

8 March 2010: Health Minister Nicola Roxon says the Federal Government will hold off on announcing all the details of its health overhaul until it is convinced the states can manage a new funding system.

Private cover is costing an arm and a leg (Recommended reading)

8 March 2010: Rudd's health reform package is short on detail but if the Opposition can put sound economic management ahead of political opportunism, real change can be achieved, writes Ian McAuley.

The Maccas-Weight Watchers deal

8 March 2010: It’s one of the more bizarre business combinations but it says a lot about our values and about today’s problem of obesity. The deal between McDonalds and Weight Watchers, reportedly a world first, needs to be looked at carefully. Not only in terms of the way corporations work but also on how it reflects society’s values.

Health reform plan has rationalist fingerprints

8 March 2010: Just about everyone associated with healthcare professes to have a soul above money. It's only the best interests of patients they care about – unless they discover their incomes are threatened, of course.

WA Premier vents over hospitals proposal

8 March 2010: The federal government's proposed hospital reforms will create an inefficient system with too many levels of administration, West Australian Premier Colin Barnett says.

Fight for our hospitals

8 March 2010: The communities of Mudgee and Gulgong will fight hard to prevent the downgrading or possible closure of their hospitals under the Federal Government’s proposed reforms to health.

Victoria wants health overhaul details

8 March 2010: Victoria is demanding more details of the federal government's planned overhaul of the hospital system. And while a new poll shows the plan is popular with voters, many of the states remain sceptical. Meanwhile, NSW Premier Kristina Keneally says a poll showing almost 80 per cent of Australians back the federal government's hospital reforms isn't surprising.

Voters warm to Rudd's health plan

8 March 2010: Kevin Rudd has received a resounding endorsement of his health reform plan with eight out of 10 voters supporting the Commonwealth taking a greater role in funding the public hospital system.

Health is central issue in Tas poll: ALP

8 March 2010: Tasmanian Labor is jumping on the federal government's health policy bandwagon, staking it out as the most important issue at its election campaign launch in Hobart. The first three-quarters of Premier David Bartlett's speech on Monday to 200 faithful was about the state's health system.

States demand answers, and money

8 March 2010: The Federal Health Minister says the Commonwealth wants an assurance that the states will agree to the change in the funding model before it reveals the Commonwealth's plans for the rest of the system.  The Federal Government is confident that it has public support. The New South Wales Government, though, is now working on its own survey of public opinion.

Keneally defies Rudd on health funding plan over Henry tax review

8 March 2010: NSW Premier Kristina Keneally is leading state defiance against Kevin Rudd's proposed health funding reform, refusing to sign up to the plan before seeing details of the Henry tax review.

Lack of government regulation in traditional medicine 'alarming'

7 March 2010: The absence of national registration standards for traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, herbalists, and even naturopaths is putting consumers at risk, says the former president of the Australian Medical Association.

beyondblue survey: Nurses working with men with prostate cancer

No date: A key priority for beyondblue: the national depression initiative is to raise awareness of depression and anxiety in men with prostate cancer. beyondblue is conducting a survey to determine how beyondblue can best support nurses to identify depression and anxiety in men with prostate cancer and provide appropriate follow up. The online survey is open until 14 March 2010.

Survey on health issues affecting same sex attracted youth

No date: Nurses who work with young people are invited to promote the ‘Writing Themselves In’ survey (WTI3) which is currently online. The survey will be used to gather information on the sexuality, health and wellbeing of young people aged 14 to 21 who experience some form of attraction to members of their own sex. The survey is online until April 2010 at www.wti3.org.au and same-sex attracted young people are encouraged to participate.

Time for a fresh start, Redmond tells Liberal faithful at campaign launch

8 March 2010:  Hospital spending [in SA], especially over the Liberal plans to redevelop the existing Royal Adelaide Hospital, has become a key issue in the campaign with less than two weeks to go. Isobel Redmond also made it clear she would not be agreeing to the Rudd health plan "on the strength of one phone call from Canberra".

Kevin Rudd's hospital plan to increase GST, says Ken Baxter

8 March 2010: GST would have to be increased from 10 to 12.5 per cent to pay for Kevin Rudd's health overhaul, a former top bureaucrat has warned. Ken Baxter, the former head of premiers' departments in NSW and Victoria, said the heath system needed reform but argued the money needed would not "grow on trees".

Advertiser Editorial: Health-cost promises need scrutiny

8 March 2010: Health spending at both a federal and state level is rising faster than a candidate's heart rate on election night. Hospitals and other medical services are chewing up money faster than the tax collectors can gather it, so every promise by a politician about providing more money for health has to be fully costed and scrutinised.

Up to 15,000 public service jobs in NSW Health department in firing line under health reforms

8 March 2010: Mr Rudd also wants to shift state health bureaucrats out of downtown Sydney and into the regions, working from offices in hospitals and not "new Taj Mahals". "Too much money is chewed up by bureaucrats - by state health bureaucrats - on the way through, frankly," Mr Rudd said. "State health bureaucracies are bloated. That's my view."

Troubled teen's care costs $40,000 a week

8 March 2010: A team of 25 carers is providing around-the-clock supervision for a mentally ill 17-year-old girl, costing the state up to $40,000 a week. Youth workers say the teenager has been dumped by the state's failing mental health system.

Child health test 'may cause worry'

8 March 2010: A $25 million government program to screen four-year-olds for health problems could be worrying parents unnecessarily, a Melbourne doctor says.

Rudd health plan just might work

8 March 2010: More money for our region is what Rockhampton surgeon Dr Kim Bulwinkel believes will result from the announcement of a major health services shake-up last week.

PM's obsession rolls on, taking hospitals in the wrong direction

8 March 2010: Jane Halton has 5000 people working to her as secretary of the Department of Health and Ageing in Canberra, plus hundreds of consultants that hang off the department. The jobs of these administrators is not to run hospitals or deliver primary health care, yet the Rudd government wants the department to assume responsibility for about 750 hospitals while at the same time reinventing the delivery of healthcare.

Humans found to have sixth taste: fat

8 March 2010: Australian scientists have shown that humans can detect a sixth taste: fat. And it appears that those people who are highly sensitive to the taste of fat tend to eat less of it, and have significantly lower body mass indexes.

Govt still talks tough on health reform

7 March 2010: The federal government vows its health overhaul will not lead to an increased GST, but is still under attack for not ruling out income tax increases.

The dangers for rural health in Rudd’s proposed health care takeover

7 March 2010: The number of hospitals in the RRARA ‘local area networks’ will be higher than the metro networks. Which means the area covered by regional networks will be massive, making it hard to manage, and meaning ‘locals’ won’t be managing your hospital at all, it’ll be one of your locals and a bunch of other people who may never have been to your town. Rural communities will compete as they currently do with bigger regional centres usually more than an hours drive away for resources and services, and anyone with more than a broken bone or in need of more than a few stitches will be told to go down the road to the bigger centre.

States will agree to health reform, says Roxon

7 March 2010: Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon says she is confident the states will come on board with the Government's reform plan for the nation's hospitals.

PM delivers ultimatum to the states

7 March 2010: The Prime Minister has rubbished the states' complaints about lack of health funding as ''absolute nonsense'', saying they should accept his reform package and concentrate on fixing their underfunded transport and infrastructure.

Ruddy spell required to sell Labor's healthy approach

7 March 2010: A week ago Kevin Rudd was all apologies for not meeting his hospital reform timetable. Now that his plan has been released, he's a man on a mission to sell it to the states and the public, pushing the message in a huge media blitz.

Awful tooth about sports drinks

7 March 2010: Dentists warn that the acidity of sports drinks attacks enamel and contributes to tooth erosion. Athletes are more at risk because when they become dehydrated during competition or training, they produce less saliva, which protects teeth.

Abbott warns against 'disastrous' health shake-up

7 Mar 2010: Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says all Australians should be very concerned about the Government's $50 billion shake-up of the health system.

PM lashes Brumby on health

7 March 2010: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has strongly rebuked Victorian Premier John Brumby, warning that the state is facing a health funding blow-out and will need the cash freed up by the federal government's proposed hospital takeover to fix the transport and law and order pains inflicted on ''the long-suffering residents of Melbourne''.

Urgent, risky and complex, just like going into hospital

6 March 2010: Kevin Rudd and Nicola Roxon have swung the election year decisively to Labor's terrain of health and hospitals with a reform blueprint that is risky, complex and a huge change in power within Australia's system of government.

NSW demands no hospital closures

6 March 2010: NSW may refuse to sign up to the federal health reforms until Prime Minister Kevin Rudd guarantees no small hospitals will be forced to close.

NSW Premier Kristina Keneally denies health conspiracy claims

6 March 2010: NSW Premier Kristina Keneally has denied a secret campaign is being mounted against the federal government's hospital reforms. Instead, she says NSW needs more details before committing to the plan.

NSW demands no hospital closures

6 March 2010: NSW may refuse to sign up to the federal health reforms until Prime Minister Kevin Rudd guarantees no small hospitals will be forced to close.

Health could prove terminal for the states

6 March 2010: With the commonwealth holding the purse strings, co-operative federalism is wearing thin. Kevin Rudd did more than announce big bang health reform this week: he kicked off what he called "one of the most significant reforms to the federation in its history".

Nats seize on fears of hospital closures

6 March 2010: State fears that commonwealth health reforms will put more pressure on regional and remote services, or force their closure, have provided the conservatives with another means of destabilising Labor governments.

A grand script but detail is sketchy

6 March 2010: Whether the reforms will really transform healthcare and the behaviour of doctors and patients will depend on the promised expansion of primary health services. Crucially, the government is hoping to temper Australians' love affair with hospitals. We use hospitals more than the Europeans do and at double the rate of Canadians.

PM blasts Victoria on hospitals

6 March 2010: Kevin Rudd has lashed out at the Victorian government for resisting his hospital package, declaring it is ''deluded'' if it thinks the state system doesn't need improving.

Prelude to more blame

6 March 2010: Even if the Prime Minister can convince the states to support his health reform package, he is unlikely to convince the federal opposition to allow it to pass through the Senate. More likely the states will block the package (or enough of it to neuter it), forcing Rudd to act on his threat to call a referendum on the issue. It is hard to see the referendum succeeding (more than 80 per cent have failed) if a number of state governments and the federal opposition are opposed to the scheme. That would be the end of the matter.

Not telling

5 March 2010: Health Minister Nicola Roxon refuses to tell 3AW’s Neil Mitchell what she might or might know about a critical part of her health plan.

Merck loses Australian Vioxx lawsuit

5 March 2010: Bloomberg News is reporting that Merck & Co.’s Australian unit neglected to warn a physician about cardiac risks associated with the controversial painkiller, citing the findings of a Melbourne court. The drug giant could be ordered to pay the equivalent of about $261,000 in damages, noted Bloomberg News.

As I see it with Robyn Sykes

5 March 2010: The health system is complex, and reforming it will not be easy. I am certainly willing to entertain the possibility this reform may well have benefits for the long-suffering folk who are forced to use the NSW health system – and that covers most of us around Yass! A local bonus may be that a national system should work to eliminate cross-border issues that seem to crop up from time to time.

Top bureaucrat casts doubt on hospital overhaul

5 March 2010: As Ms Roxon and the Prime Minister stepped out to promote their plan, Stephen Duckett, a former federal Health Department head, said the government might have underestimated the difficulty of implementing two key elements: national price-setting for hospital services and local hospital networks. He warned of problems ahead, and said the roof insulation fiasco had shown the government was ''not strong on implementation'' of services on the ground.

Labor has secret tax agenda: Hockey

5 March 2010: For Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, yesterday was meant to be a public relations blitz on health reform, but the political debate became snagged on the whereabouts of the Henry tax review. Health Minister Nicola Roxon started the tax debate early, failing to rule out future tax increases to pay for rising health costs.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd indulges in a day of high theatre

5 March 2010: Taxes could rise to pay for Kevin Rudd's multi billion dollar health reform takeover, sparking Opposition demands to release his tax review. As Mr Rudd promised patients he would push his controversial reforms through, Health Minister Nicola Roxon did not rule out that taxes may have to rise to pay for the $15 billion hit to the Federal Budget.

Private hospitals to take overload

5 March 2010: The WA Health Minister Kim Hames has announced a plan to treat patients overdue for elective surgery at other hospitals that can fit them in, including private facilities. The announcement comes after Dr Hames labelled as unacceptable, a report on the number of elective procedures carried out in January.

Australia may hike taxes to fund health plan: paper

5 March 2010: The Australian federal government may raise taxes to pay for an ambitious takeover of the nation's ailing public heath care system, local media reported on Friday.

Private care for wait list patients

5 March 2010: The WA State Government is promising a major shake-up of how it manages elective surgery waiting lists, including paying for public patients to be treated in private hospitals, in the wake of horror figures for January.

Health Minister says plan allows for local control of hospitals

4 March 2010: Nicola Roxon: I think it's absolutely fair that what we're talking about is the foundation stones for the system. How the financing will work, how the governance will work, how the Federal Government will take on the lion's share of the funding, but we'll require that services be locally run and locally responsive. That's really important structural work and that's a key issue that we want to resolve with the states and territories.

Politics or a plan to help patients?

4 March 2010: The Prime Minister is spruiking the government's new hospital plan to voters but concedes convincing state premiers will be much harder.

GP network backs health reform plan

4 March 2010: The Great Southern GP Network has welcomed the Commonwealth Government's plan for national health and hospital reform, but says it needs to act fast to strengthen the primary health care sector.

Concern in regional areas over health reforms

4 March 4, 2010: If it does come into effect, Kevin Rudd's proposed shake-up of health care funding will mean huge changes to the way that hospitals are run, particularly in rural areas.

Opinion: Health care reform should top the agenda

4 March 2010: Health reform is a critical issue for Australia. The population is ageing and the number of people with serious chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes will increase. Concerns about the impact of lifestyle, particularly obesity, on health are growing.  As a result, demand for health services will grow dramatically over the next 25 years.

St Vincent's hospital in Bathurst to close

4 March 2010: Catholic Healthcare has confirmed that Bathurst's private St Vincent's hospital is to close on June 1. There are plans to eventually convert it into an aged care service.

Health reforms a 'political fix'

3 March 2010: Shadow Health Minister Peter Dutton says the Government's health reforms are based on a flawed system and are little more than a re-election ploy.

Brumby could veto health deal

No date: Kevin Rudd is on a collision course with John Brumby over a radical health blueprint that promises to cut surgery waiting times and keep more people out of hospital.

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