Author: healthprofessionalradio

Overview:
• Mr Bob Carr – who opened Australia’s first and only legal injecting room for heroin addicts at Kings Cross in 2001 – had been on the record calling for a trial of pill-testing machines at music festivals, and congratulated the State Government for its trial of medicinal cannabis. Mr Carr said the next challenges were extending the scope of the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) in Kings Cross, and introducing pill-testing machines at music festivals.

• Barnaby Joyce has sought to pour cold water on the census crisis facing the Government, he suggested a handful of colleagues including minister Michael McCormack.

• The Australian Aged Care Quality Agency (AACQA) will implement new quality of care ratings in a bid to increase transparency in the aged care sector. Aged care advocates are increasingly concerned about the data — or a lack thereof — released to the public informing consumers when substantiated complaints have been levelled against an aged care home, or when providers are not meeting quality of care expectations. Council on the Ageing (COTA) chief executive Ian Yates said it would put power back into the hands of loved ones.

Overview:
• Two months after a damning review into the death of a baby and the serious injury of three others at a Central Queensland hospital,  implemented. The report found a poor workplace culture, inadequate staffing and improper clinical training led to incidents at the Rockhampton Base Hospital.

• The Garden of Memories, on the corner of Warwick and Elizabeth streets, was opened in April this year. Kate Grady from Guide Dogs Tasmania said five of the 22 tags were removed from the water feature last Friday. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Guide Dogs Tasmania.

• The Queensland Country Women’s Association (QWCA) is overhauling its tried and true recipes to “smuggle” more fruit and vegetables to help the state’s overweight rural communities. The new treats were tested at the Ekka today and will be included in what is believed to be the CWA’s first health-focused cook book, to be released by Christmas.

Overview:
• Two months after a damning review into the death of a baby and the serious injury of three others at a Central Queensland hospital,  implemented. The report found a poor workplace culture, inadequate staffing and improper clinical training led to incidents at the Rockhampton Base Hospital.

• The Garden of Memories, on the corner of Warwick and Elizabeth streets, was opened in April this year. Kate Grady from Guide Dogs Tasmania said five of the 22 tags were removed from the water feature last Friday. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Guide Dogs Tasmania.

• The Queensland Country Women’s Association (QWCA) is overhauling its tried and true recipes to “smuggle” more fruit and vegetables to help the state’s overweight rural communities. The new treats were tested at the Ekka today and will be included in what is believed to be the CWA’s first health-focused cook book, to be released by Christmas.

Overview:
• Bronte Higham, 67, was one of 10 patients given an incorrect dosage of a chemotherapy drug by an Adelaide hospital during a six-month period. Mr Higham and Mr Andrew Knox’s emotional testimony forced the South Australia Government to offer $100,000 compensation payments to those affected.

• Health Minister Michael Ferguson admitted the State Government would not reach its deadline for commencing the consolidated birthing service for the North West Regional Hospital in Burnie.

• A team at the University of Western Australia (UWA) is now seeking hundreds of women aged between 18 and 40 to participate in the study. UWA senior research fellow Jennifer Stone said researchers wanted to identify factors associated with increased breast density in young women.

Overview:
• The Tasmanian Government opened 12 extra ward beds and promised 17 new nurses for Launceston’s emergency department in late June after claims of an exodus of staff and plunging morale due to overcrowding.

• Dignity for Disability MP Kelly Vincent said announcing a review into problems with the new computer system for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, instead of simply rectifying the issue was an insult to those who had been affected.

• Australian Nursing Federation WA secretary Mark Olson said they had been forced to get “creative” in taking personal leave after the Government capped pay rises at 1.5 per cent. He said in the current environment, if a nurse called in sick, they were often not replaced, and knowing that, they tended not to take sick days off.

Overview:
• Salmonella poisoning linked to a Canberra restaurant in 2013 had the quickest incubation period health authorities had seen, the ACT Magistrates Court has heard.  The court heard the outbreak was linked to aioli in the potato salad made with eggs from Victoria.

• The Victorian Allied Health Professionals Association has reached an agreement with Victorian Hospital Industrial Association over its long-running pay dispute just hours after staff walked off the job. Under the new deal, staff at public hospitals will receive a 12.5 per cent pay rise over the next four years.

• The Government has released its Illicit Drug Data Report (IDDR) 2014-15, which found there had been a record 133,926 national arrests during the same period, a 19.5 per cent increase on the previous financial year. Arrests for cannabis were by far the most numerous at 56.1 per cent but in second place was amphetamine-type stimulates (ATS) at 26.5 per cent, particularly ice.