INTERVIEWS

Overview:

• Adelaide’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital is seeking more information about using electronic ankle bracelets on newborns. The device can be used to track a baby’s movements around the maternity ward, and it could trigger alarms causing doors and lifts to lock if someone tries to remove them.

• A long-running dispute between the Calvary group of hospitals and health insurer Medibank Private has ended with the signing of a new three-year deal.

• The Victorian Government will introduce legislation to guarantee a minimum nurse-to-patient ratio as set out in current enterprise agreements. The legislation will also provide “flexibility” to reconfigure nurse and midwife staffing and roster arrangements “to ensure the best utilisation of available nurses and midwives to maintain high quality care”.

Guest: Chris Sparks
Presenter: Wayne Bucklar
Guest Bio: In a career of more than 30 years with 16 years in various managerial appointments, Chris Sparks has developed an ability to apply sound commercial practice to deliver solid and sustainable business performance. Chris has developed substantial businesses from the ground up, having identified new opportunities and developed and executed strategic plans to achieve success.

Segment overview: In today’s Health Supplier Segment, we are joined by Assistive Technology Suppliers Australasia Executive Officer Chris Sparks to shed further light as to what are the industry body focus and goals. ASTA represents businesses in the home healthcare and rehabilitation industries. They conduct Business Builder information seminars to education their member base as well as train healthcare professionals in assessing and specifying the best assistive technology solutions. They work with governments at all levels to ensure the quality and value in assistive technology solutions for people with a disability, their carers and funding bodies.

Guest: Willem Mees van der Bijl
Presenter: Wayne Bucklar
Guest Bio: Since his childhood, Willem has been passionate about visualising future scenarios. After he graduated from The University of Technology in Delft, The Netherlands, realising these future scenarios has been key in his career. After realising innovations and start-ups around medical products and saving the lives of dolphins, Willem joined Indes BV. There he worked on the development and manufacturing of a wide range of products, from Child Restraint Systems to Medical Devices. Willem then headed up the Design & Engineering team at Indes for several years. It was in 2013 that Willem emigrated to Sydney with his wife Mieke. His passion outside design is sailing.

Segment overview: In today’s Health Supplier Segment, the ide Group Product Development Manager Willem Mees van der Bijl is here with us to help us learn more about the various projects that they tackle. The ide Group was launched in 2003 to address the need for a complete product development service and since then they have been growing in number and refining their processes for the service of commercialising profitable and user-friendly products for their clients. Their goal is to create products that change lives, grow new organisations and build better futures.

Guest: Karen Martin
Presenter: Wayne Bucklar
Guest Bio: RN, BN(DIST)(UTS), Grad Cert Clinical Nursing Aged Care(CON), Grad Cert Management (Aged Care Services)(SCU), Professional membership: Member Royal College of Nursing, Australia; Member Australian Association of Gerontology, Member Joanna Briggs Institute. Karen is passionate about providing education, supporting lifelong learning and creating career pathways for those who may not otherwise know how to traverse the landscape. Her work at Aged Care Channel (ACC) as Strategic Partnerships Manager and TV presenter with the production company of ACC, Health Television Network (HTN) provides this opportunity. In 2015, Karen is celebrating 10 years with ACC.

Segment overview: In today’s Health Supplier Segment, let us welcome Karen Martin the Strategic Partnerships Manager and TV presenter for Aged Care Channel Australia. She is here to discuss their various quality programs aimed to highlight the human face of care. Their consistent and quality learning programs intend to inform and inspire staff to provide better care outcomes across the entire care home. Staff members can make a huge difference to the lives of their residents as they provide safe, smooth and efficient running of their care home. ACC Australia recognizes the power of story telling to engage, inform and inspire staff for the to have a positive approach to care and better practice.

Overview:

• New mapping from Diabetes Australia has shown that diabetes is most prevalent in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Chief executive Professor Greg Johnson said that it’s estimated that about one third of all hospital beds in Australia every day are occupied for people with diabetes or a diabetes-related complication, and most of that is preventable.

• A proposal to ban liquor stores in Adelaide’s central business district from selling alcohol before 11:00am will be taken to the council as part of a strategy to tackle anti-social behaviour.

• Dr Georgina Hollway, from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, and Professor Peter Currie and Dr Phong Nguyen of the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute at Monash University, have won the UNSW 2015 Eureka Prize for Scientific Research. They were awarded the prize in recognition of their groundbreaking research into stem cell generation.

Guest: John Bamborough
Presenter: Wayne Bucklar
Guest Bio: A passionate social worker who began a career in disability services in the UK in 1989. Moving to Australia provided the opportunity to study a Bachelor of Social Work degree at the University of Queensland. John’s career then seen him work in community housing, youth work, mental health, community development, service management and program development. Over a three year period John trained in excess of 500 managers in health and community services in the advanced diploma of community sector management. During this time John also engaged in several organisational development projects with community service organisations.

Segment overview: In today’s Health Supplier Segment, learn more about the various courses that the Education Institute has to offer as we are joined by Training Manager Health and Community Services John Bamborough. They deliver nationally recognised qualifications (TOID 21707) for high quality education and training to workplaces and individuals. What sets them apart from their competitors is that their staff have worked in the industry sectors that they now train for. They have over 30 specialised professionals dedicated towards assisting their clients on their journey to improvement and employment.

Guest: Jeremy Nathan
Presenter: Wayne Bucklar
Guest Bio: Jeremy Nathan is the MD and Publisher of IndustraCom, operators of the MedicalSearch Marketplace. With over 16 years experience in the Australian online publishing industry, Jeremy takes the companies’ commitment to providing valuable medical information to its audience of healthcare professionals very seriously.

Segment overview: In today’s Health Supplier Segment, know more about marketing strategies and digital solutions from our guest Jeremy Nathan of Industracom. They run three business-to-business websites namely IndustrySearch.com.au, MedicalSearch.com.au and HospitalityHub.com.au where they help suppliers reach their commercial goals.

Overview:

• The NSW State Government is being urged to maintain sterilisation services in Forbes after concerns they could be moved to Parkes.

• The Australian Medical Association Queensland (AMAQ) says Queensland is on the brink of an influenza epidemic with thousands of cases diagnosed in August.

• Two studies published this year suggest a link between how often people go shopping and the healthiness of the food they buy. Evidence suggests large supermarkets prompts us to shop less often and buy more on each trip.

Guest: Nigel Spence
Presenter: Wayne Bucklar
Guest Bio: Nigel Spence is the CEO of ChildFund Australia. Since joining ChildFund in 2006, Nigel has overseen the expansion of its child-focused development programs in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam, as well as continuing aid and development work through ChildFund Alliance partners in Africa, Asia and the Americas. Nigel has a long history of working with vulnerable and marginalised children, both in Australia and internationally. Prior to his role at ChildFund, he was CEO of the Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies (ACWA), and Director of Children and Youth Services with Centacare, Catholic Community Services, Sydney.

Segment overview: In today’s Health Supplier Segment, let us welcome ChildFund Australia CEO Nigel Spence as he shares the various programs that they have in order to help reduce poverty for children in developing countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam. Nigel has just returned from Papua New Guinea after launching a counselling helpline and spending some time with the counsellors who are staffing the phone lines where the endemic violent abuse of women and children is recognised as the most pressing human rights issues. Women are already being helped by the service, they have received 40 calls on the first day and the phones have been busy ever since.

Overview:

• A new centre will be set up at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital to triage and treat ambulance patients in an effort to reduce ramping at Perth’s public hospitals.The centre, known as an Ambulatory Surge Capacity Unit (ASCU) was first used in 2013 at Hollywood Hospital.

• A big list of medical procedures and complications will not be covered by Australia’s biggest private health insurer, Medibank Private, as the stoush between it and health provider Calvary stands at a stalemate.

• Australia’s oldest working theatre, Hobart’s Theatre Royal, has raised noise concerns about a helipad being built on the roof of the city’s biggest hospital.