International News

UK: Bus company criticised over sexy 'matron' adverts for hospital route

16 March 2010: A bus company has rejected calls for it to remove an advert featuring a sexy ''matron'' from its vehicles amid claims that it demeans the nursing profession.

US: Drag queen loses nursing job over 34-year-old arrest

15 March 2010: In South Florida's gay community, Ray Fetcho is known as drag queen "Tiny Tina." To the families of elderly dementia patients, he's a godsend, a compassionate caregiver. But now Fetcho is out of a job and his 35-year nursing career is in jeopardy, all because of a minor arrest — in 1976.

US: Families need to know their rights under the law

14 March 2010: “Nursing home drug use puts many at risk," about antipsychotics being given to nursing home patients, should be a real eye opener to patients’ families. What was misleading was the statement that “there is no barometer for what is considered an appropriate amount of antipsychotic use in nursing homes — and there is no law governing the matter.’’ 

HAITI: Old and poor in Haiti suffer mightily after the quake

13 March 2010: It was always hard to be old in Haiti, but after the earthquake, to be old and poor feels like a curse, say those who are both. In Haitian Creole, the old are called "gran moun," and they are relatively few. Those 65 and older make up just 3.4 percent of Haiti's population, compared to 13 percent in a developed country such as the United States.

Local News

WEEK COMMENCING 13 MARCH 2010

Silence on mental health draws ire

18 March 2010: The federal government's refusal to declare it would take over the struggling mental health system in its health-reform blueprint has drawn fire from two psychiatric leaders, Patrick McGorry and Ian Hickie.

Woman's 36 hours of living hell

18 March 2010: A Territory woman in pain after breaking her leg badly was forced to wait 36 hours for a medical flight to Darwin.

Health identifier bill delayed

17 March 2010: Senate consideration of the Rudd Government's controversial Healthcare Identifiers Bill will not take place until budget day on May 11. This follows a tumultuous week of testimony and a rushed report recommending adoption despite Coalition concerns and calls for amendments. The Healthcare Identifier service, to be run initially by Medicare Australia, is due to commence on July 1.

Midwife changes 'will lead to better healthcare'

17 March 2010: Medical workers in the ACT have welcomed new rules allowing nurse practitioners and midwives to prescribe drugs and order tests under Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Campaign against nursing home sale gets boost

17 March 2010: A small group of residents struggling to stop the sale of a nursing home in the south-west are closer to their goal after a visit to Sydney.

ACTU: New poll shows strong support for Rudd ‘health revolution’ with more workers the number one priority

17 March, 2010: New polling by the ACTU shows that working Australians are worried that our health system is getting worse and not better and improving Australia’s hospitals and healthcare system is now the top national issue.

Public desperate for health care improvements, poll shows

17 March 2010: Australians are desperate to see improvements in the health sector, with a call to implement national service standards and attract more doctors and nurses, one poll suggests.

Surgery limits at hospitals

17 March 2010: The Rudd government has stated that under the federal health reform plan, the number of operations at public hospitals would remain capped

Midwife changes welcome

17 March 2010: New rules allowing nurse practitioners and midwives to prescribe tests and drugs under Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme have been welcomed by medical workers working in the ACT.

Small rural hospitals wary of funding changes

17 March 2010: The Federal Govern­ment’s plan to change hospital funding could threaten services offered by the south-west’s smaller community health services, the Australian Medical Association has warned.

Hospital plan to keep surgery limits

17 March 2010: The number of operations at public hospitals would remain capped under the federal health reform plan, the Rudd government has admitted.

Midwives, nurses win new Medicare rights

17 March 2010: Midwives and nurse practitioners have won landmark Medicare and prescribing rights in the Senate, but pay issues and work relations with doctors are still to be settled.

Swine flu jabs may be wasted

17 March 2010: Millions of doses of the Commonwealth's swine flu vaccine could expire as people opt for the new seasonal flu vaccine, which provides broader protection for the year ahead, a Victorian doctor says.

Senate passes controversial birth bill

16 March 2010: Midwives will be able to provide Medicare-funded care for the first time under a dramatic but controversial reform passed by parliament. But while the government was lauding the Coalition's backflip as a major coup, homebirthing advocates were still venting their fury at the laws they say strip expectant mums of basic rights.

Poor heart health more common in country

16 March 2010: Australians living in country areas have the poorest cardiovascular health yet city dwellers are more likely to have a heart check-up.

ANF: Historic win as senate passes NP and midwife legislation

16 March 2010: The Australian Nursing Federation has welcomed the decision to pass legislation giving nurse practitioners and eligible midwives access to MBS and PBS.

Nurse reforms confirmed

16 March 2010: Health minister Nicola Roxon has proclaimed today the start of a 'historic new era' as the Senate finally passed legislation giving nurses and midwives access to Medicare and PBS prescribing rights.

'Just Ask' campaign to improve consumer health literacy

16 March 2010: ACT Health Minister, Katy Gallagher MLA, has joined the Pharmacy Guild of Australia in reminding health care consumers that it is okay to ask your pharmacist for consumer medication information when purchasing prescription medicines.

Greens: Major parties unite against midwives and homebirths

16 March 2010: The Federal Government and Coalition have united to ensure that homebirth in Australia will be further marginalised by rejecting amendments to provide midwives with access to indemnity insurance irrespective of the location or venue of the births that they attend, the Australian Greens say.

Rudd must detail health plans to clinch deal

16 March 2010: Governments are not inclined to give each other free kicks. Kevin Rudd and John Brumby both face elections this year and the Premier has been openly suspicious of the federal push for sweeping health reform, even after weekend talks with Mr Rudd.

Indigenous health gets $1m donation

16 March 2010: Pharmaceutical body Medicines Australia is donating $1 million accrued from fines to boost indigenous health in remote communities. The organisation promised that all the money raised from breaches of its code of conduct would go towards a worthy cause, minus administrative costs.

Learn from Cuba's health system, PM told

16 March 2010: A local GP has left the Prime Minister a little red-faced by suggesting he take a leaf out of Cuba's book when formulating the Federal Government's public health overhaul.

Rudd's big cash boost for GP training

16 March 2010: The Rudd government has committed $632 million over four years to train thousands more doctors, as it throws out carrots to woo the states to back its hospitals reform package. But Victoria is still holding out for more incentives, amid warnings from doctors that the state stands to lose much more under the deal than previously estimated.

Rudd hones razor to fund new doctors

16 March 2010: Kevin Rudd has raised the stakes in the health wars by promising ''tough decisions'' in the budget in May to fund more than 6000 extra doctors and specialists at a cost of $632 million.

GPs angry about 'bypass' program on web

16 March 2010: Australian researchers have developed a world-first program that allows people to bypass GPs and be assessed, diagnosed and treated by psychologists over the internet.

Doctors hail medical training scheme, but critics still doubt

16 March 2010: Doctors and health organisations have welcomed the boost to training place numbers, but some are asking whether the reform policy is enough to solve the system's most glaring holes.

Australians politicians urged to act on obesity and climate change

16 March 2010: Australians politicians must act quickly to combat the rise of obesity and its life-threatening disease consequences, and the global climate changes' great threats to health, based on a letter published in the Medical Journal of Australia, a publication of the Australian Medical Association.

Cash boost for Monash Children's Hospital

16 March 2010: The Federal Government may finance a new Monash Children's hospital in its health reform deal, if the overhaul goes ahead.

'Expect five-year wait' before services improve

16 March 2010: General practitioners and specialists have lauded the boost to doctor numbers but believe it will be at least four to five years before it will make any difference to services and that rural shortages will remain.

Reality throws Rudd a hospital pass

16 March 2010: The Prime Minister came face to face with the nation's hospitals woes yesterday when he visited a hospital using just 20 per cent of its operating theatre capacity, met an angry doctor and caused a patient to wait five hours for emergency care.

Time to clean up prisoner drug use, says Anex

16 March 2010: Australia's jails are a major source of new blood-borne infection, a harm reduction group says in a call for a controlled needle exchange for inmates.

Five people bitten in spider attacks

16 March 2010: Five people in NSW were bitten by spiders in as many hours yesterday in a "highly unusual" spate of bites experts attributed to wet weather.

Health reform plan not perfect: Keneally

15 March 2010: The federal government's proposed reform of hospital funding is a generational opportunity to improve the health system, but it's not perfect, NSW Premier Kristina Keneally has told a seminar of health experts.

Health reform seminar a farce: Skinner

15 March 2010: A brief meeting of hand-picked health professionals won't ask the tough questions about how Canberra's healthcare reforms will affect NSW's public hospitals, the state opposition says.

Rudd, Roxon media release: Building a National Health and Hospitals Network – Training a Record Number of Doctors

15 March 2010: The Rudd Government will invest $632 million to train a record number of doctors – to tackle doctor shortages, expand capacity and deliver better health and better hospitals.

Rudd, Roxon media release: Building a National Health and Hospitals Network – Training Record Numbers of GPs

15 March 2010: The Rudd Government will invest $339 million to increase GP training places to record levels to deliver better health and better hospitals for all Australians.

Rudd, Roxon media release: Building A National Health And Hospitals Network – Training Record Numbers Of Junior Doctors In General Practice

15 March 2010: The Rudd Government will invest $148 million to ensure that more junior doctors can experience a career in general practice before they become a fully fledged doctor.

Rudd, Roxon media release: Building A National Health And Hospitals Network – Training Record Numbers of Specialist Doctors

15 March 2010: The Rudd Government will invest $145 million to train more specialist doctors where the community needs them, to deliver better health and better hospitals for all Australians.

Doctors defend 'dangerous' CT scans

15 March 2010: Doctors believe Australians should not shy away from CT scans after concerns were raised about the imaging tests being overused.

Govt commits $632m to boost GP numbers

15 March 2010:The Australian Medical Association welcomed today's announcement but warned the states and territories needed to "come on board". Association president Andrew Pesce said it was important hospitals released junior doctors to take up the pre-vocational GP training "so they can have that exposure to help them make up their mind what career path they want to choose".

Roxon’s vision for pharmacy

15 March 2010: Health Minister Nicola Roxon has told pharmacists there would be opportunities for them to make a much greater contribution in a reformed health system.

Medical groups welcome training funding

15 March 2010: Medical groups have welcomed $632 million in new training places for specialists and GPs, but say many graduates will never access them if a shortage of intern places is not addressed.

Premier Bligh welcomes pledge

15 March 2010: Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has welcomed the federal government's pledge to inject an extra $632 million into GP and specialist training.

7.30 Report: Rudd promises more doctors

15 March 2010: The Rudd Government has promised to spend more than $600 million over the next four years to employ more General Practitioners. But will the latest government health promise deliver doctors where they're needed?

Abbott doorstop – Health reform announcement

15 March 2010: I’m very pleased to be here with the Shadow Health Minister, Peter Dutton, just to offer an initial response to the announcement earlier today from the government. Everyone likes the idea of more health professionals, we all like that idea, but as always the devil is in the detail. This is a government which is very good at announcements, but very bad at programme delivery and you’ve got to suspect that this is another case of the government being all announcement and no follow through.

Premiers hit Rudd for more health cash

15 March 2010: Pressure is mounting on Kevin Rudd from key cross-bench senators and state premiers to stump up more cash immediately for health care and to negotiate with the Senate over his proposed federal health takeover.

Here’s a tip for improving health with a politically popular tax

15 March 2010: The current media and political focus on hospitals is distracting attention from relatively simple measures the government could take that would result in significant health gains – and minimum political pain.

Liberal RAH rebuild costed too low: AMA

15 March 2010: The Australian Medical Association (AMA) says the Liberal Party's estimated cost of $700 million to rebuild the Royal Adelaide Hospital is too low.

Medicare gets tough on unnecessary CT scans

15 March 2010: Medicare watchdog has expressed "alarm" over the widespread and unnecessary ordering of high-radiation CT scans that can trigger cancer, after a near-trebling in the number of doctors and other health workers referred to the agency for investigation.

Doctors dispute talk of prostate test disaster

15 March 2010: The creator of the blood test used to detect prostate cancer has admitted it has become a ''hugely expensive public health disaster'' and should be abandoned.

Universal healthcare in Australia may become unaffordable

15 March 2010: In seeking to curb rising costs, we can learn from the Singapore model. Few would argue against the need to change the cumbersome arrangements for funding and governance of Australia's hospitals. Unfortunately, the changes proposed by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd do not address the main challenge to our health system – the need to constrain the ever-rising health costs of an ageing population.

Young medics in the dark about radiation dangers

15 March 2010: More than half of medical students and junior doctors underestimate the amounts of radiation involved in commonly ordered scans, and 25 per cent wrongly believe that magnetic resonance imaging emits radiation.

                

Men's Shed facing closure

15 March 2010: Itmight be tools down for the Men's Shed movement in Australia unless its funding needs are urgently addressed.

Reducing blood alcohol limit to 0.02 won't stop car crashes, say experts

15 March 2010: The Queensland Government's proposal to see the alcohol limit cut to 0.02 across Australia has been labelled as "nonsense" by alcohol and accident experts.

Unsafe drivers 'should face panel'

15 March 2010: The burden of deciding when a person's health makes them unfit to drive should rest with transport authorities and not their doctor, says the head of a hospital epilepsy clinic.

Indigenous eye health 'still lagging'

15 March 2010: The situation has improved, but many indigenous Australians are still going blind from preventable causes.

AMA tells Liberals to scrap Royal Adelaide Hospital policy

15 March 2010: Liberal Party plans to rebuild the Royal Adelaide Hospital for $700 million should be scrapped, the Australian Medical Association says.

Budget declares war on drug cost

15 March 2010: Commonly used blood pressure, cholesterol-lowering and reflux drugs could become cheaper to patients as the Rudd Government prepares to cut as much as $2 billion off what it is prepared to pay pharmaceutical companies in its subsidy scheme.

                

Small talk can damage your health

14 March 2010: Miserable at work? The problem may not be your job but the conversations you are having in the lift.

                

Rudd a 'bully' over hospital plan

14 March 2010: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is trying to bully premiers into accepting the federal government's health reform, says Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

New children's hospital for Melbourne's southeast

14  March 2010: A new children's hospital will be built in Melbourne's southeast to ease the pressure on paediatric services. Plans for the $220 million, 200-bed Monash Children's, to be the nation's third largest paediatric hospital, are being finalised by Southern Health.

AMAQ backs Rudd health plan

14 March 2010: The Australian Medical Association Queensland (AMAQ) wants the Queensland Government to support the Commonwealth's proposed health plan.

Bligh says health meeting productive

13 March 2010: Queensland Premier Anna Bligh says a meeting with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd over a proposed major overhaul of the health system has been productive.

Roxon not in favour of sex selection proposal

13 March 2010:Health Minister Nicola Roxon reveals that the federal government isn't pushing for a ban on baby gender selection technology to be lifted, posting her personal uncomfortability with the proposal, granting a huge relief to couples in Australia who seek to have fertility treatment.

Roxon 'uncomfortable' over parents picking children's sex

13 March 2010: The Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon says she would be very uncomfortable about allowing parents to choose their children's sex.

Roxon uncomfortable with sex selection

13 March 2010: Health Minister Nicola Roxon says the federal government isn't pushing for a ban on baby gender selection technology to be lifted and she's personally very uncomfortable with the proposal. The practice of choosing the sex of a baby has been banned for the last five years.

Dentists health experts fail to prevent Medicare scheme exploitation

13 March 2010: Dental health experts have suggested that the Federal Government has failed to prevent dentists from exploiting the Medicare dental scheme.

Roxon folds and releases draft health identifier rules

12 March 2010: Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon has buckled and released proposed draft regulations for the Healthcare Identifiers service, after privacy and security experts told a Senate inquiry the HI Bill could not rationally be considered without the accompanying rules that underpin the legislation.

Medicare dental scheme not working properly

13 March 2010: The Australian government has come under heavy fire from health experts who have criticized the administration over its inability to properly employ the Medicare dental scheme. 

Medicare dentistry full of holes

13 March 2010: Runaway uptake of the scandal-plagued Medicare dental scheme is spreading nationwide, with latest figures showing claims for expensive crowns and bridges soaring in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia.

                

Obesity to 'overwhelm' health budgets

13 March 2010: The cost of treating Australia's diabetes "epidemic" will blow out by 400 per cent, with doctors warning it will overwhelm health budgets within 20 years.

                

Pesce: Kevin Rudd's reform a good first step

13 March 2010: The government's National Health and Hospitals Network is the biggest recasting in more than 30 years of the way health care is funded in this country. It's a bold plan that gives the commonwealth greater responsibility and a greater stake in the complicated processes by which governments fund our public hospitals.

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