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WEEK COMMENCING 03 JULY 2010

Reforms rushed, says Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association

9 July 2010: The peak body for Australia's public hospitals has criticised the planned rollout of the federal government's health reforms. And the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association has warned that some measures risk being introduced too fast while also criticising the transparency of the process.

Comment (McGorry): Mental health promises are not bidding war

9 July 2010: Mental health has come out of the shadows and emerged as a frontline issue this year, as Australians realise the depth and extent to which mental ill health affects their lives. The mental health field is united as never before in advocating a sustained plan of reform and investment across a broad spectrum. This unity has been demonstrated by 70 mental health and other organisations, including the Australian Medical Association, coming together to sign a detailed letter to the former prime minister after the failure of the Council of Australian Governments to include mental health reform in April. In this context the opinions expressed by Vaughan Carr in The Australian yesterday are ill-advised and, in key respects, seriously misleading.

Scientists discover AIDS breakthrough

9 July 2010: US researchers have discovered two powerful antibodies that neutralise more than 90 per cent of all known strains of the HIV virus in the lab, new research released today showed. The authors, whose work is published in the July 9 issue of Science, also were able to demonstrate how one of these disease-fighting proteins gets the job done.

Fish oil supplements reduce breast cancer

9 July 2010: Fish oil supplements containing omega-3 fatty acids may protect against breast cancer, new research suggests. Scientists in the US found that women who took the supplements regularly reduced their risk of the disease by 32 per cent. The effect was restricted to invasive duct breast cancer, the most common form.

Telstra, GPs in e-health agreement

9 July 2010: The nation's GPs and Telstra have reached an agreement on the roll-out of "critical first step" e-health reforms. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the telco giant, outlining a range of hi-tech services to be brought online from next year. The first would allow the nation's 17,200 GPs to access health care applications, diagnostic tools and an array of other clinical and administrative software programs using a "single log-on" web service.

Hospitals 'can treat public patients'

8 July 2010: Private hospitals say they should be allowed to perform elective surgery on public patients immediately and not be forced to wait until mid-2012. Under Labor's $50 billion health reform agenda, private hospitals will be enlisted to perform Medicare-funded elective surgery if public hospitals can't meet waiting time targets. But Health Minister Nicola Roxon on Wednesday revealed that was some way off.

Campaigner calls for PM to restore faith on mental health

8 July 2010: Increases in funding for mental health championed by Patrick McGorry are set to be made as the Australian of the Year prepares to assist the government in another controversial policy area – assessing mental health services for detainees at Christmas Island.

Nicola Roxon confirms her health reform targets

8 July 2010: The federal government has moved to reclaim the initiative on health reform and challenge claims its plans are starting to unravel. The timeframe, contained in a planning document released yesterday, confirms the target implementation dates released in April for key reform measures, such as introducing local hospital networks and Medicare Locals, as well as elective surgery guarantees and waiting time limits in emergency departments.

Comment: Tough call for doctors trained overseas

8 July 2010: Sue Douglas, a representative for the Australian Doctors Trained Overseas Organisation, says her members, many of whom have worked in other Western countries, rate Australia as the most parochial nation with regard to its medical fraternity, often dismissing legitimate qualifications from prestigious centres. She argues the Australian Medical Association does not stand up for her members.

Gillard must fund mental health: McGorry

7 July 2010: Australian of the Year Patrick McGorry says he's confident Julia Gillard won't ignore mental health like her predecessor Kevin Rudd. Prof McGorry on Wednesday called on the prime minister to commit an extra $640 million annually to the sector from 2011, after mental health was sidelined by the Rudd government.

Suicide toll 'should be front page news'

7 July 2010: Suicide deaths should be widely reported, just like the road toll to raise awareness of the extent of the problem, mental health advocate Patrick McGorry says. The Australian of the Year told the National Press Club tpday there were more than 2000 mostly preventable deaths from suicide every year.

Minister Elliot visits Hawthorn Village – Hobart

7 July 2010: Minister for Ageing Justine Elliot and Member for Franklin Julie Collins today visited Hawthorn Village, an aged care facility in Blackmans Bay in Hobart’s south. Minister Elliot and Ms Collins toured the 13-bed dementia wing that was constructed with the assistance of a $1 million capital grant from the Gillard Government.

Federal Rural Health Minister Holds Health Forum in Esk

7 July 2010: Minister for Indigenous Health, Rural and Regional Health, Warren Snowdon has held a held forum in Esk and toured a number of the region’s health facilities to talk about health reform and health issues of importance to the region.

Roxon: New beds For Prince Of Wales Hospital

7 July 2010: Australia’s historic health and hospital reform is set to deliver an additional 12 beds to Prince of Wales Hospital.

Roxon: Release of roadmap to reform

7 July 2010: The timeline for the further delivery of better health and hospital services was today released by the Minister for Health and Ageing.

Health legislation won't be passed before election

7 July 2010: Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon has released the four-year timeline for staged implementation of the national health reform program. But Ms Roxon says most of the legislation to enact the $7 billion heath reform agreement will not be passed before a federal election.

Roxon reveals health reform timetable

7 July 2010: Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon says the survival of the Government's national hospital and health reforms depends on voters returning Labor at the next election.

US: Research: Schwartz Center Rounds encourage compassionate health care and better teamwork

7 July 2010: Caregivers who participated in a program where attendees discuss medical cases that were complex for psychosocial and emotional reasons were more likely to be attentive to the psychosocial and emotional aspects of patient care. The program also enhanced their beliefs about the importance of empathy. These were a couple of the most significant findings of a study that recently appeared in Academic Medicine.

CA: HIV prevention strategy key to curbing epidemic and cutting long-term treatment costs

7 July 2010: Increasing highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) treatment for people with HIV/AIDS will provide significant cost savings over a relatively short period of time, according to a formal economic analysis led by researchers at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) at Providence Health Care and the University of British Columbia (UBC).

UK: Tens of thousands of NHS jobs 'to be cut'

7 July 2010: At least 10,000 NHS jobs are earmarked to be cut despite promises from ministers that front line health services will be protected, the Royal College of Nursing has found.

Professor Maria Makrides doubts need for pregnant women to take viitamins

7 July 2010: The push for women to take vitamins through their pregnancy is less about the baby and more about boosting profits for the supplement industry, a nutrition expert says. "A lot of that messaging is increasingly coming from industry," said Prof Makrides, Professor of Human Nutrition, at the University of Adelaide.

Comment: Beattie must not shift blame to others

7 July 2010: Any young doctor learns very quickly that if you are to treat any illness successfully, you must first make the correct diagnosis. Unfortunately for the state of Queensland, Peter Beattie was never a young doctor. His article in The Australian, "We got it wrong" (July 1), shows a disturbing lack of understanding of the complexities of health care in Australia and a complete lack of insight into the role that he personally, and the government he led, played in creating the systemic failures that allowed the events at Bundaberg Hospital to occur.

Melbourne embroiled in stand-off over masters-level doctorates

7 July 2010: The Australian Qualifications Framework council has rejected the University of Melbourne's plans to badge some new masters-level degrees as doctorates. From next year Melbourne plans to offer doctorates in dental surgery, optometry, medicine, physiotherapy and veterinary medicine. The university believes its plans are backed by international practice.

Elliott: Better clinical training for Tasmanian students – $4.5 million

6 July 2010: Up to an additional 250 medical, nursing and allied health students are expected to be trained in Tasmania each year by 2013 following a $4.5 million commitment for new clinical training infrastructure across the state.

Elliott: New $1.57 million Cooma dementia day-care and HACC centre

6 July 2010: Services for older residents and people with a disability of Cooma and surrounds have received a boost with the opening of a $1.57 million dementia day care. The purpose built dementia day-care centre is the eighth centre to be opened as part of the joint Australian and New South Wales Government-funded Home and Community Care program.

Elliott: Reforms means better health services for older residents of Devonport

6 July 2010: Devonport seniors today joined Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliot and Member for Braddon Sid Sidebottom to discuss the Gillard Government’s health and aged care reforms which mean better support and better care for older Australians.

Elliott: More aged care beds for North Western Tasmania

6 July 2010: Support from the Gillard Government’s Zero Real Interest Loans initiative has helped deliver more aged care services in Deloraine. Minister for Ageing Justine Elliot toured the $1.3 million extension at Kanangra Hostel that is providing nine new beds supported by a $100,000 Zero Real Interest Loan. Kanangra Hostel can now provide care for 48 residents.

Mental health discussion paper released

6 July 2010: The WA State Government has released a consultation paper that will form the basis of a blueprint for reforming mental health services and systems to 2020.

Tebbutt: New coronary angiography unit open at Lismore

5 July 2010: The NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Health, Carmel Tebbutt, today officially opened the new Coronary Angiography Unit at Lismore Base Hospital. The purpose-built facility will mean up to 700 people a year can now have their lifesaving diagnostic procedures done locally.

Eye Foundation julEYE

Get your eyes tested this julEYE. Seventy-five percent of vision loss is preventable or treatable if detected early enough, yet every 65 minutes an Australian loses part or all of their vision.

Diabetes Awareness Week 2010

Diabetes Australia-NSW will be spreading the message across the state about the link between diabetes and kidney disease this Diabetes Awareness Week from 11-17 July.

National blood donor week – Nationwide – Australian Red Cross Blood Service

18–25 July

Another blow to health reform

6 July 2010: Another key element of the federal government's health reform program appears to be in trouble. A top bureaucrat claimed not a single state or territory had agreed to Kevin Rudd's $650 million elective surgery guarantee. The head of Tasmania's Health Department, David Roberts, told a state parliamentary committee last week the guarantee was not part of the health reform agreement struck between the federal government and all the states except Western Australia in April.

Experts cool on thermal imaging for breast cancer

6 July 2010: Health authorities are warning women about thermal imaging clinics offering breast-cancer screening, saying free mammograms are more effective in detecting tumours at an early stage. The emergence of thermography clinics has Queensland Health, the Cancer Council Queensland and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons concerned.

Vaccine reduces warts

6 July 2010: A rollout of the vaccine for human papillomavirus for young women has reaped benefits for their sexual partners too. A new study by the University of NSW found that since the government-funded vaccination program was launched in mid-2007 there had been a marked and continuing decline in the numbers of women diagnosed with genital warts.

'Smart bomb' plan to kill cancer cells, with fewer side-effects than from chemotherapy

5 July 2010: Researchers are working on a “smart bomb” drug delivery system which they say would actively search out and destroy cancer cells within the body. It would also have fewer side-effects than conventional chemotherapy, says Deakin University's Associate Professor Wei Duan, who heads the project in collaboration with scientists in India. The molecular drug delivery system would use a technique known as RNA interference, or gene silencing, which enables control over the genes inside cells.

Bowel program needs rethink

5 July 2010: Researchers have called for a rethink of the federal government's bowel cancer screening program. Experts writing in today's edition of the Medical Journal of Australia say the introduction was botched after then federal health minister Tony Abbott's advisers "drastically" underestimated the scheme's likely cost at just $25.5 million over four years.

Nobel laureate gives homeopathy a boost

5 July 2010: A Nobel laureate who discovered the link between HIV and AIDS has suggested there could be a firm scientific foundation for homeopathy. French virologist Luc Montagnier stunned his colleagues at a prestigious international conference when he presented a new method for detecting viral infections that bore close parallels to the basic tenets of homeopathy.

Media release: Lismore Cancer Centre officially opened

5 July 2010: Patients and their families on the north coast of New South Wales will gain significantly from improved access to essential cancer services, the Minister for Rural and Regional Health, Warren Snowdon, the New South Wales Minister for Health, Carmel Tebbutt, and the Member for Page, Janelle Saffin, said today at the opening of Lismore Integrated Cancer Care Centre.

Second Independent Report on NSW Health Reforms

5 July 2010: NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Health, Carmel Tebbutt, has today released the second six-monthly report of the Independent Panel set up to monitor the implementation of NSW health reform. “This is the second report from Independent panel to track our progress in implementing Caring Together, The Health Action Plan for NSW,” said Ms Tebbutt.

Young Aussies tackle health policy

5 July 2010: Young people want and need better access to health services, a group of aspiring parliamentarians has heard. The 90 high school age students gathered at NSW Parliament House on Monday for the 2010 YMCA NSW Youth Parliament to discuss issues faced by young people aged 12 years and over.

Do we really have to wait for the next generation of health professionals for safer health care?

5 July 2010: Patient safety issues have been in the headlines recently in the wake of the conviction of surgeon Jayant Patel. A timely editorial in the latest Medical Journal of Australia reminds us that such cases, while tragic and sensational, are merely the tip of the patient safety iceberg.

Prime Minister's priorities for health and hospital reform

No date: A snapshot of hospital and health priorities from the Budget. (Scroll down)

Genetic testing decides who gets breakthrough drug

5 July 2010: A novel cancer drug is set to propel Australian health authorities headlong into a new era of personalised medicine, in which the results of genetic testing determine which patients have access to powerful therapies.

Doctors profit in waiting list race

5 July 2010: Surgeons were paid up to three times their normal fees as the state raced to qualify for almost $15 million in Federal Government reward payments. Private hospitals were used, while other patients were removed from the list as "not ready for care" or bussed from town to town for treatment as the State Government tried to meet the federal deadline.

Abortion should not be a crime: poll

4 July 2010: There is broad support for a decriminalisation of abortion in Australia, a poll shows. A clear majority say abortion should be lawful without question in a woman's first trimester, or lawful depending on her circumstances in the second trimester. "Abortion is a crime in at least some circumstances in all Australian jurisdictions except for Victoria and ACT,'' said Professor Julian Savulescu, a lead author on the research and visiting professor at Monash University.

ANF: Workforce issues key in mental health

The ANF welcomes initiatives to improve mental health services in Australia but warns that workforce issues must be addressed as part of a broader health reform agenda with a focus on primary health care. ANF federal secretary Lee Thomas said Coalition plans to expand frontline services in mental health must not undermine measures outlined in the May budget which provide a boost of $7.3 billion to the nation’s health care system.”

No evidence of wind farm health impact

3 July 2010: There is no evidence that wind turbines can make people who live nearby sick, Australia's peak health body has concluded following a scientific review. The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has assessed the common complaints levelled at the wind-powered energy sector, chiefly that its turbines also generate "infrasound" that can make wind farm neighbours feel ill.

Tebbutt denies health pact is a 'sham'

1 July 2010: NSW Acting Premier and Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt has rejected opposition claims an agreement between state and federal governments on health reform is a sham and won't deliver improved public hospital services. The state opposition on Thursday leaked a draft agreement on the proposed national health and hospital network developed at the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in April.

Roxon: Draft Boundaries for Your Medicare Local

1 July 2010: The Australian General Practice Network (AGPN) have provided to Government an independent report they have commissioned suggesting potential geographic boundaries for primary health care organisations. Communities and health professionals now have the opportunity to comment on the boundaries suggested by the independent report commissioned by AGPN for the new primary health care organisations, to be known as Medicare Locals.

Related: http://www.yourhealth.gov.au/internet/yourhealth/publishing.nsf/Content/AGPNSubmission

Driving and dementia

1 July 2010: Australia has an ageing population and an increasing number of older drivers, some of whom have dementia. In New South Wales alone, there are 90,000 drivers over 80 and one in five people over 80 has dementia. Figures like these have prompted the New South Wales branch of Alzheimer's Australia to draft a discussion paper on driving and dementia. The organisation is looking to improve the ways in which driving abilities of people with dementia are tested, as well as increasing community education. It also wants to ensure there is adequate transport available when people with dementia lose their licence.

Abbott to spend $1.5b on mental health plan

1 July 2010: Tony Abbott has seized on a gap in the government's health reforms, vowing to spend $1.5 billion on mental health services in measures to be financed by scrubbing central elements in Labor's health scheme, including ''layers of bureaucracy''. The Coalition has taken up appeals by the Australian of the Year, Patrick McGorry, and promised to open 20 early psychosis intervention centres and 800 more mental health beds.