The Health News – 22 October 2015
Overview:
• Dr Ian Kamerman a Tamworth GP says that Australia’s health system would benefit if more overseas-trained doctors were able to register to work within the country. The problem was that bureaucracy and red tape gets in the way.
• Huan Yun Xiang who shot two students dead and injured five others at Monash University in Clayton 13 years ago, stabbed a doctor during an interview at the Thomas Embling facility in Fairfield. Xiang was found not guilty of murder due to mental impairment and was sentenced 25 years in psychiatric hospital .The doctor is recovering in hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
• A national law firm is seeking compensation for former Broken Hill hospital nurses who allege they were systemically bullied at work. Claims of widespread bullying at the Far West Local Health District prompted an internal review earlier this year.
News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 22nd October 2015. Read by Rebecca Foster.
A Tamworth GP says Australia’s health system would benefit if more overseas-trained doctors were able to register to work within the country.
Dr Ian Kamerman said there may be as many as 7,000 doctors working in other jobs in the community because of the red tape involved in them getting registered as medical practitioners.
It is an opinion he is taking to the Rural Medicine Australia Conference in Adelaide this weekend.
“There’s a process whereby doctors who have been trained overseas can work in Australia,” Dr Kamerman said.
“Essentially, they’ve got to pass an exam and then successfully get through an interview that assesses their suitability.
“It’s important, not so much to bring in doctors from overseas — and we’re getting fewer of them — but [because] there are quite a number of overseas-trained doctors who are Australian citizens or Australian permanent residents.”
The Medical Board of Australia authorises the process, and Dr Kamerman believes a conversation needs to be had about how to simplify the process and get those doctors into rural areas.
Dr Kamerman said there was a perception that overseas-trained doctors were not as well qualified, but he said there are checks and balances in place.
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Dr Kamerman said the problem was that bureaucracy and red tape gets in the way.
“We have got no idea how many overseas-trained doctors are in Australia that aren’t registered,” he said.
“These are in fact, Australian citizens who are essentially stuck driving cabs, or working in pathology taking blood … that sort of thing.
“It would make a difference to our medical workforce if we could get these people into the system.” [he said]
The man who shot dead two students at a Melbourne university campus 13 years ago stabbed a doctor at a psychiatric hospital [on Tuesday] …
The doctor is recovering in hospital with non-life threatening injuries after being attacked by a patient during an interview at the Thomas Embling facility in Fairfield.
Sources told the ABC the patient was Huan Yun Xiang, who shot two students dead and injured five others at Monash University in Clayton in 2002.
Police would not confirm the patient’s identity.
After the killings, Xiang was found not guilty of murder due to mental impairment but was sentenced to 25 years in a high-security psychiatric hospital.
He was moved to the low security Jardine unit in the last six months.
Staff at the hospital said they feared for their safety and blamed inadequate support for a string of violent attacks at the facility.
The Health and Community Services Union’s Lloyd Williams said violence towards staff was increasing and called for an urgent review into staffing and security levels at the hospital.
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-21/former-broken-hill-nurses-working-with-compensation-law-firm-ov/6871890
A national law firm is seeking compensation for former Broken Hill hospital nurses who allege they were systemically bullied at work.
Claims of widespread bullying at the Far West Local Health District prompted an internal review earlier this year.
Following the conclusion of its investigation, the LHD said no current staff had come forward to report any bullying or intimidation.
The ABC’s spoken to a number of former nurses who say they felt they had to leave Broken Hill because of the stress caused by alleged mistreatment.
Now, Shine Lawyers is working with some former nurses in an effort to claim workers’ compensation for mental health issues caused by the alleged mistreatment.
Shine’s state general manager James Chrara said nurses’ compensation claims should not have been denied.
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Mr Chrara said it’s difficult to win compensation in workplace bullying cases under NSW law.
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The Far West Local Health District said it’s unaware of the matter, and that it has no further comment.
Shine Lawyers said it doesn’t know when proceedings will begin.
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