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US: Researchers find Mass. health care reform improved access to inpatient procedures among minorities

29 April 2010: Researchers from the Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University School of Medicine have found that health care reform in Massachusetts has improved minority access for some inpatient procedures. These findings are being presented today at the annual Society of General Internal Medicine annual meetings in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

UK: Drink drive limit 'should be zero', say nurses

28 April 2010: Drivers should be banned from drinking even half a pint of shandy before they get behind the wheel, according to nurses. A blood alcohol limit of zero could reduce the hundreds of road deaths a year caused by drinking and driving, the Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN) annual conference in Bournemouth heard.

Comment: Heroin on the NHS? An update.

 28 April 2010: Yesterday, Dr Peter Carter of the Royal College of Nursing proposed that heroin ought to be prescribed on the NHS. Readers asked me to expand on this. My feeling is that when treating the baleful effects of addiction, whatever works and is for the good of society should at least be considered on the basis of science and evidence.

US: Telehealth links doctors to remote patients in need

27 April 2010: New telehealth initiatives across the country are starting to address critical shortages of many medical specialists, helping provide care to patients who previously didn't have access.

Prescribe heroin on NHS, says Royal College of Nursing leader

26 April 2010: Heroin should be routinely prescribed on the NHS as a way of weaning drug users off their addiction, the head of the country’s top nursing union has said.

US: A Booming Future for Nursing Homes

26 April 2010: Baby Boomers who enter nursing homes in the next decades will demand more than their predecessors, experts say. Instead of an institutional atmosphere, they’ll want someplace more community-focused, with day cares for the workers and programs involving children.

UK: Union warns thousands of NHS jobs at risk

26 April 2010:The Royal College of Nursing has estimated that between 5,000 and 35,000 jobs could be axed if the NHS pushes ahead with spending cuts. The union has said the loss of posts would put the health service under "real strain". The NHS has been asked to find between £15bn and £20bn pounds in efficiency savings over the next three years.

UK: Nursing warning over NHS job cuts

26 April 2010: A nursing union has warned that the NHS would be put "under real strain" if thousands of jobs are cut. At least 5,600 posts could be in danger as the NHS in England tries to drive down its spending, according to data from 26 NHS trusts.

UK: Royal College of Nursing organizing annual conference, job cuts top on the agenda

26 April 2010: According to reports, cut in jobs is one of the main issues on the agenda of the NHS, at the Annual Conference of Nurses, which is to take place at Bournemouth. There will be more than 4000 nurses at the event. The General Secretary of Royal College of Nursing, Peter Carter, issued a word of caution over the weekend that the demand to save money in the NHS posed a threat to jobs.

UK: Thousands of nurses set to lose jobs, claims Royal College

26 April 2010: More than 36,000 nursing jobs could be lost over the next three years as NHS bosses strive to meet cost saving targets, according to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN).

UK: Congress chance for nurses to influence health policies

26 April 2010: This week kicks off our annual Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Congress in Bournemouth where members meet to gain knowledge, network, develop professionally and share best practice. It is also where members inform the RCN agenda and influence nursing and health policies through debate.

US: Mental health services in a bad state

26 April 2010: More than 30 years ago, our leaders declared we would no longer warehouse tens of thousands of Illinois citizens. They closed state hospitals despite the understandable angst of those employed within them and the towns that valued the jobs. They encouraged and nurtured community services that would civilize Illinois' response to mental illness and facilitate the early and comprehensive interventions so crucial in addressing it. However, they and their successors failed to establish and fully fund the infrastructure needed to accurately evaluate, place and treat those battling the most serious disabilities.

US: Take advantage, New York, of our nurse practitioners

25 April 2010: With the number of primary care physicians dwindling and significantly more patients expected to line up for coverage, it begs the question of just who is going to care for the newly insured when our current needs are unmet. There's a simple answer that can help address this problem without adding costs. Enter the nurse practitioner, who already helps meet the health care needs of millions of patients nationwide.

UK: Major jobs cuts on way in NHS, nurses' leader says

24 April 2010: Major cuts in NHS staffing levels which could have "disastrous" consequences are likely after the election, the leader of the nurses' union has warned. Royal College of Nursing leader Peter Carter believes the cuts will be much worse than the deficit crisis of five years ago when thousands of posts went.

US: A graying population, a graying work force

24 April 2010: In an aging population, the elderly are increasingly being taken care of by the elderly. Professional caregivers — almost all of them women — are one of the fastest-growing segments of the American work force, and also one of the grayest.

Local News

WEEK COMMENCING 24 APRIL 2010

'Keeping me alive costs $100,000 a year'

30 April 2010: Helen Owens is a health economist whose long struggle with illness has given her a sharp insight into the health system. She has had breast cancer for 16 years and yesterday did the unusual – she gave the patient's perspective to health leaders gathered to thrash out the worth of Kevin Rudd's reforms. ''It is costing you, the community, probably $100,000 a year to keep me alive,'' said Ms Owens, a former Productivity Commission member. ''Can this continue?''

Mental health discrimination costs us all

30 April 2010: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's newly announced mental health funding would be more effective and cost-saving if there was investment in anti-stigma initiatives. Discrimination against people with mental illness not only generates social exclusion, it creates a drain on the economy. Governments in Britain, the US, Canada and New Zealand have all invested in anti-stigma mental health campaigns to reduce the costs to society of mental illness.

Cigarette price rise

29 April 2010: The price of cigarettes is set for a hefty rise, with the federal government today announcing an increase in excise. The excise increase will be sold as a health measure but will also help the budget's bottom line, which has to pay for promises made by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to get his hospital reform deal with the states.

Cigarette legislation will withstand legal challenges: Roxon

29 April 2010: The Health Minister Nicola Roxon says it's the last step in getting rid of tobacco advertising and she says the legislation will be carefully drafted to withstand legal action from the multi-national tobacco companies. The minister says the timing isn't surprising in the lead up to the budget.

Media release: New dialysis agreement in central Australia – 'less than meets the eye': Greens

29 April 2010: After cautiously welcoming news earlier this week that an agreement had been reached at COAG on access to dialysis services in central Australia, the Australian Greens are now disappointed to learn that nothing new is on offer and the situation has not markedly improved.

Stirling Products' Inhalation Drug Delivery Device in design stage

29 April 2010: Sydney-based pharma and healthcare Group, Stirling Products (ASX:STI) (Stirling) has provided an update on the development of its joint ventured Inhalation Drug Delivery Platform. As well as having demonstrated bio-equivalency for delivery of current inhalation drugs, the device has also demonstrated that, in a number of applications, substantively less active drug (in comparison to typical orally delivered drugs) is required to provide the same medical benefit.

ANF welcomes government anti-smoking action

29 April 2010: The Australian Nursing Federation today welcomed the Australian Government’s comprehensive anti-smoking initiatives as an improvement in measures to address public health concerns.

Snowdon: More money to boost services for Indigenous mums and bubs in WA, VIC, SA, TAS

29 April 2010: Indigenous babies will have a better chance of being born healthy and staying healthy following the announcement today of additional Rudd Government funding for nine mothers and babies services. The Minister for Indigenous Health, Warren Snowdon, said four new services will be established and five existing services expanded.

ETS 'not shelved to pay for health'

29 April 2010: The Treasurer, Wayne Swan, has left open the threat of a double dissolution over health as he angrily rejected suggestions the government shelved its emissions trading scheme to help pay for the $5.4 billion in health promises made to the states.

Qld doctors, nurses in payroll protest

29 April 2010: Doctors will join nurses and other employees in the public hospital system on Thursday to protest against the continued mismanagement of the Queensland Health payroll. The lunch hour protest is due to start outside the Royal Brisbane Women's Hospital at midday (AEST).

Roxon: Transcript of interview on The Circle

28 April 2010: Gorgi Coghlan: Welcome back to The Circle. Now the Federal Government is moving ahead with the biggest overhaul yet to Australia's health system. All the states have signed on with the exception of Western Australia, with Health Minister Nicola Roxon trying to sell the scheme.

Fielding blasts Roxon over health talks

28 April 2010: Family First senator Steve Fielding has taken a swipe at Health Minister Nicola Roxon for not attending a briefing with him on the federal government's health reform package.

Australia to ban cigarette package advertising in world first

28 April 2010: Australia plans to become the first nation in the world to ban advertising on cigarette packaging as it bids to combat the biggest preventable cause of disease and premature death, Health Minister Nicola Roxon said.

Lift Medicare rebate, doctors urge

28 April 2010: Doctors say the Federal Government must lift their Medicare rebates and invest more in allied health care if it really wants to improve GP services. Australian Medical Association president Andrew Pesce has also rubbished the government's much-lauded GP superclinics, saying they could add to competitive pressures on existing doctors' surgeries.

Has the central proposal for Indigenous health reform been dropped?

28 April 2010: A “radical change” in the organisation of health care for Indigenous Australians was one of the highest priority recommendations from the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (at least judging by its prominent position towards the top of the executive summary of the Commission’s final report).

A tale of two senates: good for Rudd’s health strategy

28 April 2010: For the third time, the government will attempt to have the Senate pass legislation to means test the 30 per cent private health insurance rebate despite giving up on the emissions trading scheme because of similar Senate obstinacy. Senior government sources said yesterday the bill would be reintroduced after the budget on May 11 in an attempt to shift the pre-election emphasis on to health reform.

Health debate should not start and end with hospital bed numbers

28 April 2010: There have been so many announcements, claims and counter-claims about health reform in the past six weeks that it has been difficult to keep up. There were probably four main reasons why many people agreed that Australia could do with health reform: long waiting times for elective surgery; congestion in hospital emergency departments; fragmentation of the nation’s health system leading to a lack of continuity of care; and, of greatest importance where people in remote areas are concerned, there are some very clear inequities in terms of health status and access to health services.

Rudd, Keneally sign health reforms deal

28 April 2010: States and territories that have signed up to the federal government's health reforms should soon start seeing money flowing into their hospitals, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says. Mr Rudd and NSW Premier Kristina Keneally on Wednesday signed an inter-governmental agreement, rubber-stamping the Commonwealth's takeover of the state's hospital funding.

Wholegrains 'have big health benefits'

28 April 2010: A healthy diet with the recommended intake of wholegrains could be as potent at combating heart disease as medication, a CSIRO scientist says. "Published research shows eating two to four serves of wholegrain foods a day can reduce the risk of heart disease by as much as 40 per cent - equal to the effect of cholesterol lowering drugs," Dr Topping said in a statement on Tuesday.

Doctors want $830m for GP clinics

28 April 2010: The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is calling on the Federal Government to pledge $830 million to upgrade existing GP clinics. The AMA made the recommendation as part of the release of a survey of 1,500 patients.

Stress levels linked to weight

28 April 2010: It's no exaggeration – your job may be slowly killing you, one kilogram at a time. Years of research have shown that your job can help make you fat – sitting in front of a computer all day, eating bad takeaway food. But your workplace stress level also can have an effect on your weight, according to a study from the University of Rochester. Worse, the stress and corollary weight gain can increase chances of cardiovascular disease, depression and anxiety, according to the study's main author, Diana Fernandez, of the University of Rochester Medical Centre's department of community and preventative medicine.

Lift Medicare rebate, doctors urge

28 April 2010: Doctors say the federal government must lift their Medicare rebates and invest more in allied health care if it really wants to improve GP services. Australian Medical Association president Andrew Pesce has also rubbished the government's much-lauded GP super clinics, saying they could add to competitive pressures on existing doctors' surgeries. The association on Wednesday released a five-point checklist on how to improve local GP services across the country.

Emergency nurse killed before she got into her Sydney home: police

28 April 2010: A veteran Sydney emergency department nursing manager has been found dead outside her home in Chatswood, in the city's north, say police. The body of Michelle Beets, 58, who worked at the Royal North Shore Hospital, was found on her patio at Holland Street about 6.20pm yesterday after neighbours reported hearing screaming coming from her house.

ANF welcomes ANMC as accrediting body

27 April 2010: The Australian Nursing Federation today welcomed the announcement that the newly constituted Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council will be the independent accrediting body for nursing and midwifery.

Rich don't need health rebate: Rudd

27 April 2010: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has called on the opposition to pass legislation allowing means testing of the 30 per cent private health insurance rebate. The rebate, which was introduced by the Howard federal government, should no longer apply to "richer" Australians, Mr Rudd said on Tuesday.

Minister for Ageing addresses sector about reforms

27 April 2010: The Federal Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliott will address the aged care sector about the government’s recent health and aged care reforms for the first time since COAG, at the Aged and Community Services Association NSW and ACT (ACS) conference this Thursday.

External breast prostheses reimbursement program

18 March 2010: The Commonwealth Government has committed $31 million over five years to provide a reimbursement of up to $400 for both new and replacement external breast prostheses for Australian women who have had a mastectomy as a result of breast cancer. The program aims to ensure national consistency in the provision of support towards the cost of breast prostheses.

Study points to nurses' 80% error rate

27 April 2010: A major study of how medicines are administered in Australian hospitals has found a high rate of "procedural failure and clinical error" by nurses. Nurses made at least one error or oversight in 80.2 per cent of cases in which they gave a drug or other treatment to a patient. The mistakes ranged from forgetting to wash their hands or not reconfirming a patient's identity through to administering the wrong drug dose, and in some cases the oversight was life-threatening.

Fears for immunisation program

27 April 2010: A top Queensland doctor fears for the future of the national immunisation program following the scare over this season's flu vaccine. General Practice Queensland director John Kastrissios also warned Australia would see an increase in cases of the potentially deadly virus this season if patients shunned vaccination.

E-health is Kevin Rudd's little orphan Annie

27 April 2010: The glaring omission of e-health in the Rudd government's long-awaited national health and hospitals reform package has stunned and dismayed the IT industry. "There was every expectation e-health would be addressed in the Council of Australian Governments agreement, as the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission made it clear the reforms had to be underpinned by a robust IT infrastructure. But e-health is notable for its absence in these announcements."

Qld Health working closely with coroner

27 April 2010: Queensland Health says it is working closely with the state coroner to determine the death of a two-year-old girl who had received a flu shot. Brisbane father David Epapara said his daughter Ashley was found dead in her cot on April 9, a day after she and her twin sister were inoculated by their family GP.

Queensland health officials withheld flu death details

27 April 2010: Queensland Health officials claimed they were unaware of any deaths related to the seasonal flu vaccine, despite launching an investigation two weeks ago into the death of a two-year-old who was immunised the day before.

Australian mums suffering from sleep deprivation

27 April 2010: Sleep deprivation is having a staggering effect on Australian mothers, according to new research. Almost every mum with children aged under two – 97 per cent – has suffered sleep deprivation, the research shows.

Opinion: Rudd fluffed a chance at real health reform

26 April 2010: The rate of hospitalisation in Australia is one of the highest in the world. There is no evidence that we are a nation of invalids or hypochondriacs in comparison with other countries, but Australian Institute of Health and Welfare surveys suggest that 9.3 per cent of all hospital admissions are ''potentially preventable'' with better primary healthcare. In other words, if Australians had easier access to timely primary healthcare, up to $7 billion a year could be saved by early intervention and the promotion of healthy lifestyles.

Interrupting a nurse makes medication errors more likely

26 April 2010: A new study shows that interrupting nurses while they're tending to patients' medication needs increases the chances of error. As the number of distractions increases, so do the number of errors and the risk to patient safety.

Toddler flu vaccine death to be investigated

26 April 2010: The Queensland Coroner plans to investigate the death of a two year-old-girl who died earlier this month, after receiving the flu vaccine. On Friday the Australia's chief medical officer Professor Jim Bishop issued a nationwide ban on flu shots for children under five. His announcement came came after more than 20 children suffered severe side effects from the vaccine in Western Australia.

Flu vaccine records defended by chief

26 April 2010: Australia's chief medical officer has defended the safety record of flu vaccinations, as he struggles to determine how many children have suffered bad reactions. Professor Jim Bishop last week suspended seasonal flu shots for children under five. He acted after dozens of babies and young children, mostly in Western Australia and Queensland, were admitted to hospital, many with high fevers and convulsions.

Greens bolster nursing home privatisation fight

26 April 2010: A visit by members of the New South Wales Greens has boosted supporters of Leeton's Carramar Nursing Home, who are fighting against its planned privatisation. Carramar Carers Group president Neil Boardman says a report on the home's future is due to go to the NSW Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt this Friday.

Hospitals scour records for flu vaccine problems

26 April 2010: Officials will scour hospital records to determine the extent of bad reactions among children to the seasonal flu vaccine. Australia's Chief Medical Officer Professor Jim Bishop said he'd ordered a review of hospitals records to better understand the scope of the problem.

Plea to fill mental health gaps

26 April 2010: Mental health experts have urged the government to spend more on those with severe psychotic illness in order to reduce the demand on acute care beds in hospitals. Ian Hickie, executive director of the Brain and Mind Research Institute at the University of Sydney, was adamant things had worsened "enormously" over the past five years and predicted "gaps" in the system would get worse if the government did not do something serious about psychotic illnesses.

AMA's GP optimism

25 April 2010: The Australian Medical Association says the Federal Government's health changes should ensure that there is enough funding to train doctors in Tasmania. The National President, Dr Andrew Pesce says there is a significant shortage of GPs in Tasmania.

Brisbane toddler dies after receiving flu jab

25 April 2010: The sudden death of a Brisbane toddler has been linked to the seasonal flu vaccine, as health authorities warn against immunising children under five.

Vaccine death a surprise for Qld health

25 April 2010: Queensland Health's chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said she is unaware of any toddler dying as a direct result of receiving a 2010 seasonal flu vaccination.

McGorry: Mentally ill remain second-class citizens

24 April 2010: Rudd's reforms promised much but delivered little on the mental health gap. The government has yet to articulate a unifying vision of what it wants to accomplish with its new leadership role.

Book: Community Assessment Reference Guide for Community Health Nursing: Advocacy for Population Health

26 April 2010: This collection of 38 assessment tools and inventories helps nurses provide excellent nursing care for individuals, families, and population groups. Assessment tools guide nurses in assessing health status, while inventories are checklists of interventions or risk factors for selected community health problems.