The Health News – 19 October 2016

Overview:
•  Hundreds of thousands of existing records are to be stored off site as the new Royal Adelaide Hospital becomes a paperless operation. A Checkley Group review of records handling said about 2,400 paper medical records per day would need to be taken from storage, of which 1,900 would be outpatient files.

• A Victorian man remains in a critical condition after overdosing on a mystery drug that affected 15 other people on the Gold Coast over the weekend. Authorities are on high alert with more than 200,000 people expected to attend the Gold Coast 600 V8s race this weekend.

• Casey Conway represents a triple-threat for organisers of the Northern Territory’s latest sexual health campaign as a former national rugby league (NRL) player who is Aboriginal and gay. The Queenslander agreed to lend his face, and body, to a series of colourful advertisements designed to encourage people in the Top End to take their sexual health seriously.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the  19th of October 2016. Read by Rebecca Foster. Health News

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-17/new-royal-adelaide-hospital-paper-records-foi/7940638

Access times for paper medical records are projected to be slow once patients are moved into the new Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH), documents released under Freedom of Information have indicated.

Hundreds of thousands of existing records are to be stored off site as the new hospital becomes a paperless operation.

Medical staff will still need access to old paper records for some patients despite moving to an electronic records system.

A Checkley Group review of records handling … said about 2,400 paper medical records per day would need to be taken from storage, of which 1,900 would be outpatient files.

Current records retrieval takes up to 15 minutes but the review warns off-site records could take at least an hour to reach staff at the new hospital.

Demand for off-site records is expected to lessen as new patients have their details put into the paperless system EPAS.

The Checkley review concludes a partial rollout of EPAS from day one of the new hospital’s operations would be relatively high risk.

But Mr Lambert is confident the rollout of EPAS at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital has provided lessons which will ensure it goes smoothly for the RAH.

A date for the new hospital to accept patients is yet to be finalised.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-17/myster-drug-overdose-gold-coast-one-man-remains-critical/7940038

A Victorian man remains in a critical condition after overdosing on a mystery drug that affected 15 other people on the Gold Coast over the weekend.

The victim was one of three men, aged 19, 23 and 27 years, who were found inside a Surfers Paradise hotel room on Saturday evening.

Queensland Ambulance Services senior operations supervisor, Stephen Burns, said most of the patients have recovered.

“A lot of them are doing quite well, quite a few of them have been discharged,” he said.

“We do have two patients still in hospital and we still have one patient who is seriously ill.”

Authorities are on high alert with more than 200,000 people expected to attend the Gold Coast 600 V8s race this weekend.

Event coordinator Melissa Stephens said organisers were aware of the situation and would have a briefing with police this week.

The coordinator the Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach Chill Out Zones, Angela Driscoll, said her staff treated a number of drug-affected revellers over the weekend.

Mr Burns said the type of drug, or drugs ingested, remains a mystery but toxicology tests are being done.

The Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said people should simply avoid drugs.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-17/casey-conway-becomes-face-of-nt-sexual-health-campaign/7938054

Casey Conway represents a triple-threat for organisers of the Northern Territory’s latest sexual health campaign as a former national rugby league (NRL) player who is Aboriginal and gay.

The Queenslander agreed to lend his face, and body, to a series of colourful advertisements designed to encourage people in the Top End to take their sexual health seriously.

It is a fun campaign that fronts the disturbing reality that the Northern Territory has the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections in the country.

It is also Conway’s latest move to use his public profile to help raise awareness about issues affecting both the gay and aboriginal communities.

He said he only felt comfortable to come out publicly after his career with the Sydney Roosters NRL club was cut short due to injury.

The NT campaign is based on the Victorian AIDS Council’s long-running ‘Drama Down Under’ advertisements, which encouraged people to get a sexual health test every season.

The Casey Conway campaign is expected to be officially launched in the Northern Territory by the end of the year.