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The Health News – 13 December 2016

13 December 2016

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Overview:
• Senior doctors at Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) are urging the New South Wales Government to stop plans to move hundreds of bureaucrats onto its St Leonards headquarters. Doctors argue the land is too valuable to be used for office towers and it should be preserved for clinical services or future expansions.

• The Esteya electronic brachytherapy machine, the first machine of its kind in Australia, will be used to treat non-melanoma skin cancers at Greenslopes Private Hospital in Brisbane’s south. The machine uses low energy X-rays to target the cancerous site – very safe, effective, and non-invasive treatment.

• A broad population screening could identify women at higher risk of breast and ovarian cancer. In a study of 2,000 women by Melbourne’s Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Associate Professor Paul James said they were able to detect one in 200 women carrying a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation and are at a very high risk of cancer.

The Health News – 12 December 2016

12 December 2016

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Overview:
• Researcher Helen Brooks of the University of Manchester and her colleagues found that pets helped people manage their feelings “through distraction from symptoms and upsetting experiences” and acted as “a form of encouragement for activity.”

• A plan to manage patient transition to the New Royal Adelaide Hospital (NRAH) by using other hospitals, including the soon-to-close Repatriation General Hospital (Repat), has been labelled a “high-risk” strategy. Opposition Health spokesperson Stephen Wade said the Government was walking a very thin line with timing and feared it would result in a “train wreck.”

• The Health Care Complaints Commission prosecuted Doctor Jeremy Charles Reader following complaints from nine patients over treatment and adverse outcomes. The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal found Dr Reader guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct and has ordered ordered the cancellation of the doctor’s registration and precluded him from applying for reinstatement for a year.

The Health News – 9 December 2016

9 December 2016

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Overview:
• Dr John Cullen, a senior doctor from Sydney’s Concord Hospital, wrote to Jillian Skinner asking her to deliver on the $150 million redevelopment pledged by the Government at the 2015 election. He said that the need for additional rooms and other services are high, and patients that should be in isolation are being forced to share rooms with others.

• Adelaide’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital will not be shut down despite a secret document recommending its closure as part of Transforming Health. Health Minister Jack Snelling said the report, which has been released through Freedom of Information, is an old report that was never being considered by the Government.

• Kim Ryan, the recipient of the Australian Mental Health Prize, says more needs to be done to address the links between physical and mental health care. She hopes to use the award to challenge the misconception that patients’ mental and physical conditions should be treated separately.

Antibiotic Resistance of Bacteria and its Growing Serious Public Health Problem [Interview][Transcript]

8 December 2016

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Guest: Associate Professor Linda Selvey
Presenter: Henry Acosta
Guest Bio: Associate Professor Linda Selvey of Curtin’s School of Public Health came after a fulfilling career in being a medical doctor, cancer researcher, and public health advocate. She is a highly respected in the field of public health not only in Queensland, but in the entire Australia. More recently, Linda was CEO of Greenpeace Australia Pacific. Linda was Chair of the Queensland Conservation Council from 2001 to 2009 and represented Queensland on the Council of the Australian Conservation Foundation (1995-97 and 2004-06). In 2007, she was trained by Al Gore as a climate change presenter and has since conducted 25 presentations to large audiences across the country and overseas.

Segment overview: In this segment, Associate Professor Linda Selvey talks about antibiotics and its growing issues in the public. Antibiotic resistance is a serious public health problem in Australia. Some bacteria that are capable of causing serious disease are becoming resistant to most commonly available antibiotics in the market, which can spread from person to person in the community or from patient to patient in the hospital.

The Health News – 8 December 2016

8 December 2016

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Overview:
• A shortage of radiologists is causing delays in medical images being interpreted at Adelaide’s Flinders Medical Centre. A whistleblower claims that a child’s X-ray was done earlier this year but was not interpreted by a radiologist for at least six weeks. The notes on file shows a potential indicator of child abuse.

• Royal Adelaide and Queen Elizabeth lacked a consistent and coordinated approach to understanding patient safety. The under-dosing of chemotherapy drugs was not logged into the Safety Learning System, leading to a further medical errors. Over a period of six months 10 leukaemia patients were given incorrect treatment, three patients have died.

• This year, there was an unexpected increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism in Australia. The lack of specialists in the autism spectrum prompts the Australian Medical Association to call for greater awareness of autism disorder, and for increased funding to train doctors and improve specialist care.

Educating Australians on Cannabis’ Therapeutic, Medicinal Benefits in Improving Patients’ Quality of Living [Interview][Transcript]

7 December 2016

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Guest: Deb Lynch
Presenter: Patrick Reyes
Guest Bio: Deb Lynch is the secretary and media spokesperson for the Medical Cannabis Users Association of Australia (MCUA). She has worked in the Healthcare industry since 1977 and fulfilled roles such as a Medical Receptionist, Pathology Laboratory a/hrs Manager, and Phlebotomist in both public & private sectors. After a workplace spinal injury in 1988 where her surgery failed to treat her condition, she discovered MCUA and was introduced to the pain relieving and anti-spasmodic properties of Cannabis.

Segment overview: Deb Lynch talks about the Medical Cannabis Users Association of Australia (MCUA) and its mission to the educate Australians about the therapeutic benefits of organically grown cannabis to help patients experiencing anxiety, chronic pain, and other diseases. She also clears up some misconceptions and outdated opinion of the community towards the use of medical cannabis.

Better Access to Pain Management Services through Best Practice Models of Care [transcript][audio]

7 December 2016

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Guest: Lesley Brydon
Presenter: Henry Acosta
Guest Bio: Lesley is Chief Executive Officer of Painaustralia, a national not for profit body formed in 2011 to work with governments, funders, health care professionals and consumers to facilitate implementation of the National Pain Strategy. Lesley played a leadership role in the development of Australia’s National Pain Strategy – a world’s first – which was ratified by over 150 health care and consumer organisations at the National Pain Summit at Parliament House Canberra in 2010. Previously Lesley was Executive Director of the Advertising Federation of Australia and had an extensive career in corporate communications in both private sector and government roles.

Segment overview: Lesley Brydon talks about chronic pain as being dealt with by Painaustralia, a national not-for-profit body established to improve the treatment and management of pain in Australia. One in five Australians, including adolescents and children, live with chronic pain. This prevalence rises to one in three of the older (over 65) age group. With the increasing number of affected patients, chronic pain still remains one of the least understood and poorly resourced areas of healthcare.

The Health News – 7 December 2016

7 December 2016

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Overview:
• Reversing the order of treatment for cancer patients could increase survival up to 60% according to Queensland scientists after doing trials on mice. Dr Michele Teng from the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute who led the study, said if they results were replicated in humans it could lead to widespread changes in oncology practices

• Smartphones have the ability to track human phone usage and behaviour, which gets data that can be used to give insight into our mental wellbeing. However, nnovations can sometimes go awry. This was seen with the Samaritan Radar app, which applied a detection algorithm for suicidal keywords in Twitter postings.

• Strong drugs used to treat elderly patients with delirium may not work and might even hasten death, a landmark Australian study has found. The study found identifying delirium early and treating the underlying causes reduced patient’s distress more than antipsychotic medication.

Improving the Management of Diabetes for Patients and Healthcare Professionals [Interview][Transcript]

6 December 2016

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Guest: Dr. Glen Maberly
Presenter: Patrick Reyes
Guest Bio: Dr. Glen Maberly is a Senior Staff Specialist Endocrinologist at Blacktown and Mt Druitt Hospitals, and as a Program Lead currently he is the driving force behind the Western Sydney Diabetes (WSD) initiative. Together with Western Sydney Local Health District, they formed a Diabetes Prevention Alliance to slow the progression of diabetes in people living in our district.

Segment overview: In this segment, Dr. Maberly talks about the Forum for Injection Technique & Therapy Expert Recommendations (FITTER), which provides the most up-to-date diabetes treatment and therapies based on research evidences leading to improved health outcomes, well-being, lower healthcare costs and reduced burden on care providers and wider society.

Equipping Educators with In-depth Knowledge to Support Children with Autism by Developing Suitable Education Approach [Interview][Transcript]

6 December 2016

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Guest: Mick Grimley
Presenter: Henry Acosta
Guest Bio: Professor Mick Grimley is Dean of Education at Torrens University Australia and is an experienced educator with over 30 years of experience in Education. He holds the position of Treasurer for the Victorian Council of Deans of Education (VCDE), is a member of Academic Board for Eastern College and an active member of the Australian Council of Educational Research (ACER) course development and quality committee. He was previously the foundational Chair of Education at Swinburne University of Technology, having established and led Education as an online and face-to-face discipline across Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary teacher education. Mick is also the recipient of two Vice Chancellors awards for Teaching and Inclusion and a Dean’s award for Teaching.

Segment overview: In today’s Health Supplier Segment, Professor Mick Grimley talks about the New Autism Program launched by Torrens University Australia as a response to the increasing prevalence of autism in children. The institution launched the Graduate Certificate in Education (Autism) in 2016 to allow educators develop their knowledge in analysing issues and challenges in the education settings to better support individuals with autism by recommending changes to the classroom approach as well as in education policy.