News
WEEK COMMENCING 05 JUNE 2010
Out with the Es, in with the new
11 June 2010: Australia is facing an influx of new illicit drugs such as Dr Deaths, Love Bugs, and Golden Eagles, as ecstasy supplies dwindle. The latest statistics on drug seizures show last year police seized record levels of "other and unknown" drugs. University of South Australia drugs expert Professor Jason White, who is the head of UniSA's School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, said when ecstasy supplies fluctuate, manufacturers experiment with new recipes to meet consumer demand.
Costly dental work 'left incomplete'
11 June 2010: At least 100 patients have had costly treatment under the dental Medicare scheme performed by dentists who have left their oral disease untreated, it has been claimed. The Age yesterday revealed Medicare Australia is investigating hundreds of dentists for allegedly rorting the Medicare dental scheme.
Men dominate medical studies
11 June 2010: Doctors risk having inadequate information about how common diseases affect women and how they respond to treatment because the fairer sex are only sparingly used in medical research. In the most recent edition of the journal, Nature, experts from Chicago, Canada and California argue that gender inequalities in medical research are undermining patient care.
Snowdon, Hale: $4.3 million boost to IT services in NT, QLD, VIC and SA to benefit Indigenous health
10 June 2010: Minister for Indigenous Health Minister Warren Snowdon today announced funding of more than $4 million to allow a number of Aboriginal Health bodies to improve and upgrade their Information Technology capability.
Primary care VS Primary health care? And who cares?
10 June 2010: On Budget night, Croakey was interested to see references in the Government’s announcements to primary care and primary health care as if they are interchangeable terms. I’ve asked a bunch of people with an interest in such matters about how they distinguish between primary care and primary health care. And whether it’s worth drawing the distinction. And, if so – why does it matter?
Would you see a nurse over a doctor?
10 June 2010: How would you feel about seeing a nurse, rather than a doctor, when you visit your local GP's surgery? The Federal Budget is providing nearly 400 million dollars to encourage GPs to employ practice nurses to help deal with the doctor shortage. And a local health consumers group wants to know what you think about it.
Darlene Cox is the executive director of the Health Care Consumers' Association of the ACT. A link to the nurse survey can be found at www.hcca.org.au/cms/index.php
Or you can ring the office at 02 6230 7800 to have a survey sent out to you.
Demonised dentists deny dodgy deals
10 June 2010: Dentists say they're being unfairly demonised while the federal government and coalition continue to squabble over whose dental scheme is best.
Labor on Thursday announced a task force would investigate systematic rorting of the former Howard government's chronic disease dental scheme.
Elliott: Boost to respite care in Mandurah
9 June 2010: Minister for Ageing Justine Elliot and Member for Brand Gary Gray toured the near-completed residential respite centre at Mandurah Retirement Village, which will provide a boost in respite care in Mandurah. The new centre will provide 18 residential respite beds and will be the first stand-alone respite facility in Western Australia. The centre was made possible with the assistance of a $1.25 million grant from the Rural and Regional Building Fund.
UK: Scottish burdened with health risks
11 June 2010: Nearly every adult in Scotland is burdened with at least one major lifestyle risk factor, and 55 per cent of the population are coping with three or more, according to a study released on Friday. Looking at five health-threatening behaviours – smoking, heavy drinking, lack of exercise, poor diet, obesity – researchers found that twice as many Scottish men and women face a triple threat or worse than in any continental European country in which a similar study has been done.
US: Is the current recession compromising hospital quality?
10 June 2010: During past recessions, the financial stability of hospitals seemed to be nearly indestructible. But researchers at the University of Michigan Health System and St. Joseph Mercy Health System say the current national economic crisis may be an exception. Hospitals are reporting declining profits, likely as a result of Americans losing health insurance as they lose jobs. As a result, hospital plans for renovation and new construction are being scrapped, and hospitals are being forced to reduce hospital staff, according to an analysis in the just-released May/June issue of the Journal of Hospital Medicine.
What problem? NSW Health begs to differ with doctors
10 June 2010: No children have had wrong surgery or suffered any other deficiency in their treatment, NSW Health insists, despite the demise a year ago of the motion analysis service, which offered crucial pre-operative assessments to children with cerebral palsy.
Children at risk of wrong surgery after testing service closes
10 June 2010: Last week NSW Health ordered an inquiry into the defunct Motion Analysis Service, which offered crucial pre-operative assessments to help give children the best chance of walking, after the Herald asked questions about its acrimonious collapse. The service, run by the University of NSW and Sydney Children's Hospital, was wound up formally in December. But an external review found it had effectively ground to a halt last June, plagued by technical problems that posed a risk of wrong surgery, and recriminations over unapproved use of medical records for research.
Children's life records to be tracked from birth
10 June 2010: Every South Australian child will be tracked by the Education Department from birth until the age of eight using a data-sharing system to identify children in need and improve their development. Individual children will be tracked by collating information from peri-natal statistics, emergency department records, school census data and dental and child health records.
A brain, but not as we know it
10 June 2010: The Blue Brain Project is one effort to create an in situ brain, using software instead of proteins in a supercomputer called Blue Gene to model the brain of a two-week-old rat. It does so by creating a 3D computer model of neurons in the neocortex (the 'intelligent' sector of the brain) where scientists can simulate the sizes, shapes, densities and electro-receptiveness of different neurons in the biological version and watch their behaviour under certain conditions.
Small problem for heart health
June 10, 2010: Short people are 50 per cent more likely than tall people to die prematurely of heart disease, researchers reported in a major review of 3 million people. The findings, published in the European Heart Journal, suggest that short stature should be added to the list of known risk factors alongside obesity, advanced age and high cholesterol levels, the researchers said.
Free condoms rolled out for World Cup revellers
10 June 2010: A group of Cape Town hoteliers will distribute 160,000 free condoms to urge World Cup guests to "play it safe" in South Africa as part of a one million rubbers roll-out during the tournament.
Homebirth mothers being refused prescriptions
9 June 2010: Doctors, fearing they will be sued, are refusing to prescribe drugs or order tests for women who want to give birth at home, and this is forcing mothers to give birth in hospitals or putting lives at risk, midwives say.
AMA warns of longer NSW surgery waiting times
9 June 2010: The NSW government trumpeted its "record" $16.4 billion budget health spend yesterday but industry figures said the state's beleaguered hospital system had been shortchanged by a drop in real funding. While there was extra money for mental health programs, more funding for equipment in the state's busiest emergency departments and the promise of an additional 380 acute-care hospital beds, the Australian Medical Association said NSW hospitals would be about $500 million worse off next year as a result of government cutbacks.
AMA boss slams anti-vaccination groups
9 une 2010: The head of the Australian Medical Association in WA says parents who don‚t immunise their children need to consider that they are putting other children at risk with potentially fatal consequences.
Pressure on to sign up to national health plan
9 June 2010: The Federal Government is putting pressure on Western Australia to sign the national health plan. It has released a breakdown of the more than $350 million set to flow into WA's health system if the government agrees to the deal.
Snowdon: More Condoman resources & boost for health campaign fronted by rugby league star Steve Renouf
9 June 2010: Indigenous Health Minister, Warren Snowdon, today announced the Rudd Government would provide $356,000 to fund the second phase of a Queensland Indigenous health campaign, fronted by former Indigenous rugby league star Steve Renouf. The funding will support the expansion of the Hero Rewards campaign throughout Queensland. The campaign was developed by the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC), the state¡¯s peak body for Aboriginal Medical Services. Mr Snowdon said it encourages Indigenous Australians to register with their local Aboriginal Medical Service for a preventative health check and if warranted, participate in coordinated measures to manage their chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Qld: Health budget welcomed but 'sick' payroll system deters staff
9 June 2010: Doctors and nurses are sceptical a boost in health spending in this year's state budget will be the answer to Queensland Health's 'sick' payroll system. The budget provides for 1,200 more health professionals, 316 more teachers and 203 more police.
Campaign heads off to Canberra
9 June 2010: A busload of campaigners will present 17,000 signatures of support for a Border cancer centre to federal Parliament next Wednesday.
Member for Farrer Sussan Ley yesterday met Albury Wodonga Cancer Foundation chairman Eric Turner, offering to meet the protesters when they arrive in Canberra on Wednesday afternoon and promote meetings with government and opposition parliamentarians.
Ambah Young, 18, has cosmetic surgery to feel young again
9 June 2010: Australian women as young as 18 are taking overseas cosmetic-surgery holidays to "reclaim" their youth. Single mother Ambah Young, 18, will head to Malaysia in a fortnight to have a tummy tuck, a boob job and a "designer" vagina procedure.
Related: www.gorgeousgetaways.com.au
US: New nurses union sets aggressive agenda
8 June 2010: With the Twin Cities walkout, bedside nurses say they won't be ignored as they fight for a strict patient-nurse ratio. Over the years, Jean Ross had become increasingly disenchanted with the national union that represents nurses. She felt the American Nurses Association (ANA) had drifted away from the daily concerns of bedside nurses. She suspected it had become more interested in promoting nurses into management positions. It appears to have been a common view. Last year, a breakaway group banded together to form a rival union: National Nurses United (NNU). In just a few months, it has grown to 155,000 members, approaching the century-old ANA's 180,000. It is now mobilizing across the country with one major goal: limits on the number of patients assigned to each nurse. Union leaders say nurses are stretched so thin that patients are in danger.
Mental health reform vital, says McGorry
8 June 2010: The federal government's national health reform will not succeed without boosting support for mental health care, says Australian of the Year Professor Patrick McGorry. Prof McGorry told a Senate committee inquiring into the health and hospital reforms, that mental health care in Australia has just moved out of the 19th Century and is struggling to get a hold in the 21st Century.
