The Health News – 2 December 2016

Overview:
• Police in Newcastle have raided an inner-city unit where medicinal cannabis was being grown, seizing hundreds of plants. The Ubuntu Wellness Clinic claims to be one of the country’s largest suppliers of medicinal cannabis products, with almost 2,000 customers.

• A study conducted at Melbourne’s Royal Women’s Hospital tracked mothers and babies who received nine-monthly visits from a psychologist and a physiotherapist in the first year of the children’s lives and compared them to a control group who did not receive that help. It found 27 per cent of the mothers who were not given the intervention had symptoms of depression and 42 per cent had symptoms of anxiety.

• Persistent lead contamination in the water supply at the new $1.2-billion Perth Children’s Hospital is continuing to frustrate efforts to complete the building. Testing is continuing on site, and CCTV cameras have been inserted in the pipes to try to trace the source of the lead, so far without success.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the  2nd of December 2016. Read by Rebecca Foster. Health News

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-01/police-seize-medicinal-cannabis-plants-from-newcastle-unit/8085128

Police in Newcastle have raided an inner-city unit where medicinal cannabis was being grown, seizing hundreds of plants.

Officers executed a warrant this afternoon on the Newcomen Street property that is situated upstairs from a “wellness clinic” that sells medicinal cannabis products.

The Ubuntu Wellness Clinic claims to be one of the country’s largest suppliers of medicinal cannabis products, with almost 2,000 customers.

The clinic’s owner, BJ Footer, said he was not surprised by the police raid but said it was a disappointing outcome.

“We had some small plants to be given to people to grow at home,” he said.

“People need to grow their own medicine most of the time.

The clinic made a submission to a senate inquiry last year saying it caters for those suffering late-stage cancer, children with epilepsy, and people with a range of other medical conditions.

The Medicinal Cannabis Compassionate Use Scheme currently operates in New South Wales for adults with a terminal illness.

It provides guidelines for police to help them determine when to use their discretion not to charge those suffering a terminal illness who are using cannabis or cannabis products.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-01/mothers-of-premature-babies-more-likely-to-suffer-depression/8084628

Mothers who do not receive psychological help after giving birth prematurely are five times more likely to suffer depression than those who do, even eight years after their children are born, a world-first study has found.

The study, conducted at Melbourne’s Royal Women’s Hospital, tracked mothers and babies who received nine-monthly visits from a psychologist and a physiotherapist in the first year of the children’s lives and compared them to a control group who did not receive that help.

It found 27 per cent of the mothers who were not given the intervention had symptoms of depression and 42 per cent had symptoms of anxiety.

“It really is surprising and way too high, the rates of depression and anxiety that we are seeing at this age, and we definitely do need to be intervening earlier,” said lead researcher, Associate Professor Alicia Spittle from the Royal Women’s Hospital and University of Melbourne.

By contrast, only 5 per cent of the mothers who were helped had depression and 22 per cent had anxiety.

• Life’s Little Treasures 24-hour support line for parents of premature babies is 1300 697 736

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-01/perth-childrens-hospital-lead-contamination-continues/8084612

Persistent lead contamination in the water supply at the new $1.2-billion Perth Children’s Hospital is continuing to frustrate efforts to complete the building.

The ABC understands flushing pipes with millions of litres of water has failed to either solve the problem or identify the source.

Premier Colin Barnett said the Government still did not know what was causing the contamination.

“Work is going on flushing that through and there’ll be some further technology used [to identify the source],” he said.

Two months ago Mr Barnett said the problem had been traced to outside the hospital.

Health Minister John Day said the lead levels were still unacceptably high.

He said lots of work was being done to solve the problem, which produced lead levels just slightly above health standards.

Testing is continuing on site, and CCTV cameras have been inserted in the pipes to try to trace the source of the lead, so far without success.

The lead contamination is one of a string of problems that have resulted in the hospital being about a year behind its scheduled completion.

Contractor John Holland failed to reach its revised scheduled date for completing the building on November 30.

The Health Minister, Deputy Premier and Premier have all expressed deep frustration this week at the continuing delays to what they still believe will be a world class facility.

Mr Day said the ongoing lead contamination problem would mean the hospital was unlikely to be open and operating until well into next year.