International News

US: Nurse practitioner to open West Branch clinic

8 April 2010: The way Emily Patton sees things, the days of the small-town general practitioner who has a personal investment in the well-being of families are fading fast. Instead, the growth of specialized health care providers has meant many patients are not getting the big-picture guidance and individualized care they need, she says. "I passionately believe what I do should be the norm," Patton said. "I believe it's more like the classic, traditional GP of old who practiced in the community he or she lived in. That's not happening in our health care system now."

US: New virtual interactive tool takes nurse training high tech to help prepare and retain new nurses

8 April 2010: According to a July 2007 healthcare industry report(1), the average turnover rate in first-year nurses is more than 27 percent, which demonstrates the importance of providing support for this population. To help fill that need, Johnson & Johnson developed Your Future in Nursing.

The interactive training tool allows nurses to select a 3D nurse character and navigate through the rooms of a virtual hospital. As they tour the hospital, nurses interact with animated versions of the people who will shape their first year on the job -- hospital administrators, nurse managers, doctors, other nurses, patients and their families.

UK: Nurses instrumental in eliminating mixed sex accommodation

6 April 2010: Nurses have been praised for being at the centre of successful efforts to eliminate mixed sex accommodation in hospitals. Imperial College Healthcare Trust in London, which met the target, invested £10m over the last year to upgrade wards, bathrooms and toilets. Trust director of nursing Janice Sigsworth, who led the programme, said it had “been acknowledged by the trust board that the target had been delivered by nurses”.

UK: NHS to cut spending over next 3 years in Wales

2 April 2010: Thousands of frontline NHS roles in Wales are to go in a three-year cost-saving drive. The Royal College of Nursing in Wales has raised serious concerns about the devastating impact on patient care if nurses – the biggest staff group in the NHS – bear the brunt of the cuts.

Local News

WEEK COMMENCING 03 APRIL 2010

Kevin Rudd's health plan on verge of collapse

9 April 2010: Kevin Rudd's $50 billion health plan is on the brink of collapse. NSW Premier Kristina Keneally is now backing a counter plan – put up by her Victorian counterpart. The plan would require the Prime Minister to immediately commit an extra $1 billion a year in funding and keep hospitals under state control.

Snubbed: Roxon rejects Border cancer centre bid

9 April 2010: Albury-Wodonga Health has missed out on its bid for a $65 million cancer centre on the Border. In a major blow for the cross-border health service, Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon said yesterday Albury-Wodonga’s bid had been unsuccessful.

Roxon dismisses Brumby's health plan

9 April 2010: The Federal Government says it cannot agree to some of Victoria's demands for changes to the Commonwealth's health plan. Victorian Premier John Brumby wants a 50-50 funding split without any changes to the GST revenue.

Alcohol and junk food crackdown remains in play

9 April 2010: Remember when we all thought junk food advertising and sport sponsorship by grog companies were going to be banned? It was September 1, 2009, after the National Health Preventative Taskforce released its strategy for a healthier Australia by 2020. Now seven months later and with an election looming, it appears the government has lost its appetite to regulate the advertising and marketing industry on these topics.

Melbourne doctor investigated as 12 patients infected with hepatitis C

9 April 2010: A Melbourne doctor is being investigated over the infection of 12 patients - many pregnant - with hepatitis C from his own blood. Police are investigating how at least a dozen of the anaesthetist's patients contracted a strain of the blood-borne disease that is a perfect match to his DNA, the Herald Sun reports.

The Mother of all brands

9 April 2010: Not all the floor staff at Australia's first Mothercare store have been hired to sell maternity and children's wares. "I'm here to advise mothers-to-be," Melbourne midwife Malinda Morieson said at the Chadstone Shopping Centre's new attraction. "I'll also be working at the Doncaster Shopping Centre store." "We'll have a whole team of health professionals to advise on pregnancy and infant care," said Amanda McLean, branding manager.

Vic worse off under health takeover: AMA

8 April 2010: The Australian Medical Association's (AMA) Victorian branch has backed Premier John Brumby's opposition to the Federal Government's planned health takeover.

Unpaid health staff told to try charity

8 April 2010: Hospital workers in Queensland left without any pay have been sent a list of charities to approach for food and financial assistance. Around 300 of Queensland Health's 74,000 employees have received little or no pay in recent weeks.

WHO mobilises cities in health drive

8 April 2010: The UN health agency on Wednesday launched a global "1,000 cities" drive to counter a triple threat to health in fast growing urban areas that are now home to over half the world's population.

Rudd's team moves to fix grant imbalances

8 April  2010: The federal government yesterday moved to fix the lopsided allocation to Labor electorates of $3.2 billion in health and hospital investments by announcing new and refurbished cancer centres in non-urban areas. Nevertheless, Labor seats, and those notionally in the Rudd government's hands after recent electoral distributions, have won an overwhelming share from the nation-building Health and Hospitals Fund.

Song urges Aussie men to discuss health

8 April 2010: The songwriter behind such blokey hits as Up There Cazaly and One Day in September has produced an anthem calling for a collective man-up to health problems. Melbourne musician and radio personality Mike Brady has penned Talk About It in a call to Australian men to move beyond their traditional reluctance to discuss their health.

Australian Medical Association Victoria urges John Brumby to stand firm on health against Kevin Rudd

8 April 2010: The Victorian branch of the AMA has written to Premier John Brumby, urging him to continue his resistance of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's hospital reforms. AMA Victoria president Harry Hemley says Mr Rudd's National Health and Hospitals Network proposal raises many unanswered questions and would not provide better health care for the state.

Starving to slow death in hospital – family claims grandad ignored

8 April 2010: A woman spent an agonising week watching her father waste away in one of Sydney's top hospitals because there was no one rostered on that could insert a feeding tube. Stricken grandfather Max Miller went without food for eight days after the nasal tube providing him with life-giving sustenance failed last Tuesday while he was being treated at Royal North Shore Hospital.

ANF welcomes government support for aged care nurses

8 April 2010: Ged Kearney, Federal Secretary of the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) has welcomed the decision by Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard to write to aged care providers reminding them of their responsibilities under the award modernisation process.

Govt delivers on last years promise for regional cancer centres

7 April 2010: The Federal Government today announced funding for cancer centres in regional Australia; one of last year's budget promises. The Health minister, Nicola Roxon, says people in rural and regional Australia have far worse cancer survival rates than city-dwellers. She told the ABC's Chief Political Correspondent, Lyndal Curtis, that the centres being funded by the Federal Government would help turn that around.

TV ad spreads aged care message

7 April 2010: The ANF and NSWNA have launched a TV campaign to put pressure on the Federal Government to deliver funding to aged care.

PM skips summit to push for health deal

7 April 2010: Kevin Rudd will miss a high-level international nuclear summit next week as he faces an uphill battle to get the states to sign up to his public hospital funding overhaul.

Better medical care required in old age centres

7 April 2010: Doctors and nurses have said that, health care provided to Australians in old age care centers should be immediately enhanced and more strongly observed.

Woman wants Buddha statues banned from Hope Valley nursing home

7 April 2010: A Christian woman is demanding a nursing home in South Australia remove decorative Buddhist statues, saying they are "stressful" for Christian residents including her 89-year-old father-in-law.

PM announces towns to get cancer centres

7 April 2010: Kevin Rudd and his team have taken to regional Australia to spread the word about which bush centres will get new or upgraded cancer treatment facilities.

Lucas: Queensland shares cancer funding

7 April 2010: Deputy Premier and Health Minister, Mr Paul Lucas, has welcomed an announcement by the Federal Government to provide more than $70 million in capital funding to develop integrated cancer services in the Townsville region. Mr Lucas said the funding would support the Queensland Government’s contribution of almost $105 million to operate the regional cancer centre initiative over the next four years.

Prevention the best strategy against Dengue Fever

6 April 2010: People planning to visit tropical or sub-tropical countries are being strongly advised to protect themselves from mosquitoes, with six confirmed cases of dengue fever acquired overseas being reported via the Northern Territory's Notifiable Disease Surveillance System in the past two weeks. 

H1N1 Pandemic influenza vaccine

No date:  The Australian Government's Department of Health and Ageing is coordinating a national vaccination campaign to protect people from the pandemic influenza virus (also known as human swine influenza). The vaccine is called the H1N1 Pandemic influenza vaccine (Panvax ® and Panvax® Junior).

GPs call for better nursing-home medical care

7 April 2010: Medical care delivered to Australians in aged care centres should be urgently improved and more closely monitored, doctors and nurses say. The Australian Medical Association has called for a new accreditation system for nursing homes after a government report showed a quarter of complaints made to the Department of Health and Ageing in 2008-09 were about the health and personal care of residents.

Push for blanket 1am lockout

7 April 2010: A coalition of groups representing NSW emergency services has called for drastic restrictions on Sydney’s nightlife. The Last Drinks campaign consists of the Australian Medical Association (NSW), the Police Association of NSW, the NSW Nurses’ Association and the Health Services Union.

Eat your fruit and veggies, but they might not prevent cancer

7 April 2010: An international study of almost half a million people has confirmed that eating fruit and vegetables does not ward off cancer. The conclusion debunks a 20-year-old edict by the World Health Organisation and casts a shadow over the federal government's $4.8 million advertising campaign, launched five years ago, to encourage people to eat two pieces of fruit and five servings of vegetables each day.

Seasonal flu jab linked to increased H1N1 risk – study

7 April 2010: People vaccinated against seasonal flu appeared to have been at increased risk of the H1N1 pandemic flu that killed thousands worldwide in 2009. However, they said in their findings published in the journal PLoS Medicine that the link between seasonal flu vaccinations and subsequent pandemic flu illness is tenuous.

Cell research bears fruit

7 April 2010: Standing in a field of rockmelons in Mildura in 40C heat, Kerrie McDonald decided she had surfed the wave of opportunity in botany for long enough. That's when she turned to studying brain tumours, a move that has landed her the newly created chair in neuro-oncology at the University of NSW's school of medicine, based at the Lowy Cancer Research Centre.

Kevin Rudd on attack over health system

7 April 2010: Kevin Rudd has intensified his attack on Tony Abbott for refusing to back his threat to hold a referendum on the health system if the states fail to support his $50 billion health and hospitals network reform plan.

Alliance fishes for new stroke treatment

7 April 2010: A study of the amazing self-healing ability of the zebra fish by Australian scientists collaborating with Europe's leading life sciences research institute could deliver new treatments for heart disease and stroke.

Health benefits of breastfeeding continue to add up

6 April 2010: About 18 per cent of Australian mothers are still breastfeeding their infants at six months of age, a figure many health professionals want increased. The World Health Organisation and the National Health and Medical Research Council recommend babies be exclusively breastfed for the first six months.

Health showdown looms as states resist

6 April 2010: The federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, yesterday confirmed the Herald's report that the government was prepared to stage prolonged talks on its reform plan and, if agreement with the premiers could not be reached, to push for a referendum to get federal control of health funding.

PM faces a woo or whack health dilemma

6 April 2010: Kevin Rudd doesn't seem clear whether he wants to woo or whack the premiers into agreeing with his plan for Canberra to take the major responsibility for hospital funding. The government's talk about an early recall of Parliament to consider legislation for a referendum if the states jack up is surely just huffing and puffing.

Good health begins at childhood

5 April 2010: Although it is true that health-care costs are rising partly because of an ageing population, there is also strong evidence that investing in children’s health will reduce adult health costs. The classic example is childhood cancer, where survival rates are far higher. Five-year survival in the commonest variety of childhood leukaemia now exceeds 80%. Perhaps a better example is childhood obesity.

NSW Health admits its patient satisfaction figures are rubbery

5 April 2010: NSW Health has overstated the proportion of patients satisfied with how long they have to wait for an operation, after an error compiling the statistics, the department has admitted.

John Brumby spurns bully tactics on healthcare

6 April 2010: Victorian Premier John Brumby says he will not be bullied into signing a bad deal on healthcare funding under the threat of a referendum from Kevin Rudd, but other premiers say a health deal will be struck without acrimony.

We need a resolution, not a referendum on health

6 April 2010: It makes sense for Kevin Rudd to set a deadline for the states to accept his plan to reshape the hospital system. The reality is that the premiers are likely to sign up to this deal, albeit with some compromises.

Rudd's $3.2bn health fix favours Labor seats

6 April 2010: The Federal Government's $3.2 billion in nation-building health and hospital investments overwhelmingly favour Labor electorates and marginal Coalition-held seats that could tumble at the coming election.

Medicare pours $8m into advertising blitz for online claims

6 April 2010: Medicare spent $8 million spruiking the benefits of electronic claiming in doctors' offices in a two-month advertising blitz last May and June, on top of $42m in financial incentives and $6m to fix a "design flaw" inhibiting uptake of the troubled Easyclaim system.

Rudd issues health reform ultimatum

5 April 2010: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is threatening to recall Federal Parliament to have a referendum on health and hospital reform if the states do not accept his plans. There's just two weeks until the special meeting where the Prime Minister wants the deal finalised, but there's little sign that states such as Victoria and Western Australia will agree to the changes Mr Rudd wants to make.

Australian government to ration diabetes care

5 April 2010: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd this week announced a plan to pay doctors performance bonuses to keep diabetes patients out of hospital, combined with annual lump sums to manage their conditions. The scheme underscores the central thrust of the government’s health restructuring program—to ration access to medical care and drive down costs.

Are Australians popping too many pills?

5 April 2010: Reports of high consumption of pills have emerged from a Daily Telegraph investigation. Australian Medical Association vice president, GP and former Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee member Dr Steve Hambleton said the resons for these trends may include the increasing population of the aged, newer medicines as well as a rise in chronic lifestyle ailments like diabetes and high blood pressure.

Liberal leader to be briefed on health and hospital plans

5 April 2010: The Health Minister Nicola Roxon says the Federal Government will do its best to brief the Liberal leader Will Hodgman on the proposed shake-up of the health system. The government is threatening to begin the process for a referendum on the changes if no agreement can be struck with the States at a meeting within a fortnight.

Mental health providers should prescribe exercise more often for depression, anxiety

Traditional treatments of cognitive behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapy don't reach everyone. Exercise is a magic drug for many people with depression and anxiety disorders, and it should be more widely prescribed by mental health care providers, according to researchers who analyzed the results of numerous published studies.

Hospital rejects surgery patients

3 April 2010: Westmead Hospital is cancelling surgery at four times the rate the Health Department considers acceptable, and waiting times are so long some surgeons are refusing to add new patients to their operating lists.

One small step for GP super clinic

3 April 2010: After almost three years of waiting the $5 million GP super clinic promised by Kevin Rudd and Nicola Roxon is one step closer.

Kevin Rudd keen to court Will Hodgman

3 Aoril 2010: Incoming SA Liberal premier Will Hodgman is firming as an unlikely ally for Kevin Rudd on health reform, as Canberra woos his support even before he is sworn into office in Tasmania. The Prime Minster is keen to secure the support of a conservative premier to leverage Labor premiers holding out against his proposed partial federal takeover of hospitals.

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