Author: healthprofessionalradio

Overview:
• What began as a pin-hole sized lesion on the bottom of Alan Tillotson’s foot quickly turned into a nasty infection, leading to the amputation of his leg. According to Diabetes Australia, the problem is on the rise, and is the focus of this year’s National Diabetes Week campaign.

• The brain monitoring tests, known as video EEGs, are only available at Royal Perth Hospital (RPH), with 74 patients currently on the list. Epilepsy WA chief executive Suresh Rajan said the test allowed neurologists to identify the part of the brain affected by seizures and determine future treatment.

• The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has been asked to investigate medical claims made by Melbourne clinic Hypermed, called by Health Minister Jill Hennessey followed the death of a man in a hyperbaric chamber at the South Yarra clinic in Melbourne’s inner east. The death is being investigated by the coroner and WorkSafe.

Overview:
• NSW Health said Pu Liu, also known as Mabel Liu, was not a registered medical practitioner, but had been performing cosmetic treatments at her apartment in Five Dock. After receiving complaints from a client, public health officers raided her home and found injectable drugs not approved for use in Australia and evidence of poor infection control.

• One of Headspace’s founders, former Australian of the Year Professor Patrick McGorry, has been downplaying the turmoil, insisting Headspace has a promising future.  Professor McGorry, has confirmed that the organisation’s CEO Chris Tanti and five board members had resigned earlier this week.

• An independent review into the re-emergence of the deadly black lung disease conducted by Professor Malcolm Sim from Monash University, is expected to show several miners slipped through the net because Australian doctors failed to detect the disease on chest X-rays and spirometry tests used to assess lung function.

Overview:
• The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has renewed its call for the freeze on Medicare rebates to be lifted, as the Prime Minister concedes the Coalition must work harder to rebuild public trust when it comes to health policy.

• Staff at Launceston General Hospital (LGH) say morale is improving as steps are taken to resolve a crisis in the emergency department. Nine out of 11 doctors in the department have either resigned or threatened to resign, citing a lack of beds in the hospital that has compromised their ability to care for patients.

• Scientists have found that skin cells exposed to UV light and a temperature of 39 degrees Celsius show significant DNA damage, which increases a person’s risk of illness. Dr Leslie Calapre, lead researcher from Edith Cowan University’s melanoma research group based in Western Australia, said the findings were mostly related to the cells that comprises the upper layers of the skin.

Overview:
• The NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) has received an increased number of complaints about cosmetic procedures being performed by non-medical people, particularly in the Sydney area. The medications used by the non-registered practitioners are imported and not on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG).

• Female genital mutilation is an issue being tackled by New South Wales Health, which for more than 20 years has run an education program in places such as Wollongong, Newcastle, Wagga, Coffs Harbour, Orange and Gosford where refugee and migrant women have settled.

• Authorities have confirmed the fourth case of black lung disease in the past week, taking the state's total to 11 in the past year. The latest patient is a 56-year- old who has worked at an underground coal mine in the Bowen Basin, according to the Department of Natural Resources and Mines.

Overview:
• Visiting a doctor can be a difficult task for some Indigenous Australians but some health workers are trying to make it easier. Malcolm Laughton’s job as an But Indigenous health officer at Aboriginal health service Danila Dilba is to speak with people before they see a doctor, to help them explain what is wrong and to ensure the contact is culturally appropriate.

• More that 2,100 braille and raised-letter signs have been installed at pedestrian crossings in the City of Sydney area. They were officially launched on Monday by Lord Mayor Clover Moore who said it was the world’s largest tactile network.

• A child who died from complications arising from an undiagnosed herpes infection was suffering from an unusual case and all medical practitioners who assessed her acted appropriately, a doctor has told an inquest into the girl’s death.