The Health News – 15 April 2016

Overview:
• The Victorian Government has conceded there is nothing it can do to stop Dan Murphy’s warehouse outlet being built in a family violence hotspot in Melbourne’s south east.

• The Health Department and Human Services has contacted more than 650 people across Melbourne after a health worker at an undisclosed medical facility was diagnosed with the virus.

• Lawyers for pharmaceutical giant Reckitt Benckiser admitted in court that the company had engaged in “deceptive and misleading” behaviour by advertising that some Nurofen painkiller products could treat specific types of pain.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the  15th of April 2016. Read by Rebecca Foster. Health News

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-14/government-‘unable-to-stop’-alcohol-outlet-city-of-casey/7325840

The Victorian Government has conceded there is nothing it can do to stop an alcohol warehouse outlet being built in a family violence hotspot in Melbourne’s south east.

The Dan Murphy’s store will be built in Cranbourne East in the City of Casey, which has the highest number of reported family violence incidents in the state.

One of the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Family Violence was to change liquor licensing laws to take family violence statistics into account in planning decisions.

But Liquor Regulation Minister Jane Garrett said the application was lodged before the inquiry’s report and the laws were yet to be changed.

Mayor of the City of Casey Sam Aziz told local radio the council fought hard against the application.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-14/health-services-too-long-notify-patients-over-hep-b-opposition/7325100

Victoria’s Opposition is demanding to know why it took authorities so long to notify the public about a hepatitis B scare at a Melbourne health service.

The Health Department and Human Services has contacted more than 650 people across Melbourneafter a health worker at an undisclosed medical facility was diagnosed with the virus.

The Opposition’s health spokeswoman, Mary Wooldridge, said there was an eight-month gap between authorities learning of the diagnosis and alerting the public.

“The department does investigate who’s been in contact but it’s an inordinately long amount of time and puts people at risk,” she said.

“If people have been exposed, they need to know that and get treatment and there’s also a risk of infecting others. This timeframe of eight months is just too long.”

The department said there had been no reports so far of any patient contracting hepatitis B from the healthcare worker. A total of 157 people notified have been tested.

Ms Wooldridge said people should be confident about Victoria’s health services.

Acting Chief Health Officer Dr Roscoe Taylor said the department had followed proper process.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-14/nurofen-admits-to-misleading-consumers/7326042

Millions of Australians may be able to claim a refund on some Nurofen painkiller products if a class action against the drug’s makers is successful.

Lawyers for pharmaceutical giant Reckitt Benckiser admitted … in court that the company had engaged in “deceptive and misleading” behaviour by advertising that four products could treat specific types of pain.

The company now faces a multi-million dollar payout.

Peter Moore, one of the named plaintiffs in the class action against the British pharmaceutical giant, said he had previously used Nurofen for a number of issues.

“I had a back operation in 1992 that went wrong and last year my bank went out twice … and I was crawling around the floor basically and instead of taking Panadeine Forte all the time, I went and got Nurofen, which says for back pain, and it didn’t do anything for my back,” Mr Moore said.

The product in question, Nurofen Back Pain, had been marketed as providing “targeted relief”.

Mr Moore said he had suffered from HIV for over two decades and to deal with one of the symptoms he tried using Nurofen Migraine Pain.

“And they did nothing for me,” he said.

Last year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) successfully prosecuted Reckitt Benkiser over four products: Nurofen Migraine Pain, Nurofen Tension Headache, Nurofen Period Pain and Nurofen Back Pain.

Each product claimed to target specific pain, when in fact it was found that they all contained the same amount of the same active ingredient, ibuprofen lysine.

Next week, Reckitt Benckiser will learn how much it is being fined over that matter. The ACCC wants them to cough up $6 million.