The Health News – 31 July 2015

Overview:

• More works will have to be undertaken on water joints at the new $2 billion Fiona Stanley Hospital (FSH) to avoid the risk of further flooding incidents, the Health Department has revealed.

• The Federal Government has unlocked more than $25 million for dialysis services which will predominantly target Indigenous people living with chronic kidney disease.

• Professor Leon Lack of Flinders University said a shift to eastern time for South Australia would mean less sunlight in the mornings for many locals but more light in the evenings.

Health News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 31st July 2015. Read by Rebecca Foster.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-30/more-work-needed-to-stop-flooding-at-fiona-stanley-hospital/6661400

More works will have to be undertaken on water joints at the new $2 billion Fiona Stanley Hospital (FSH) to avoid the risk of further flooding incidents, the Health Department has revealed.

Earlier this month parts of the hospital were closed for more than 15 hours over a weekend as engineers investigated all the water pipe joints, know[n] as bellows, after the second major flooding incident since the facility opened.

During that time ambulances were diverted from the hospital and there was no central heating or hot showers for patients.

The Health Department’s acting director-general Professor Bryant Stokes said … that some parts of the hospital may need to close again in about six weeks’ time while more work was done, but he was confident there would be minimal disruption to patients.

Professor Stokes said he was confident that central heating and hot water would not need to be turned off during the latest works but could not give a guarantee.

There are almost 50 of the bellows installed in the hospital. The bellows, which are meant to last between 30 and 50 years, are believed to be responsible for both of the flooding incidents at the hospital, which forced surgery to be cancelled and theatres to be closed.
Professor Stokes said investigations into the cause were ongoing and it was yet to be determined who would pay for the problem.

From next week, the ongoing problems at Fiona Stanley Hospital will not be Professor Stokes’ responsibility, with Dr David Russell-Weisz set to take over as the new Health director-general on Monday.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-30/dialysis-services-in-northern-territory-get-25m-funding-boost/6660094

The Federal Government has unlocked more than $25 million for dialysis services which will predominantly target Indigenous people living with chronic kidney disease.

…at the Aboriginal Health Conference in Darwin, federal Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash announced $15.3 million for Purple House, an Alice Springs-based dialysis treatment centre.

The funding includes $9 million over three years to keep the centre operational with $6.3 million for more renal infrastructure in remote communities.

Sarah Brown, from Purple House, said the funds would mean more new dialysis beds and 16 more dialysis machines in communities east of the Stuart Highway in central and South Australia.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-30/time-zone-shift-sa-morning-types-evening/6660950

A sleep researcher thinks any time zone change for South Australia could leave the state with fewer ‘morning people’.

Professor Leon Lack of Flinders University said a shift to eastern time for SA would mean less sunlight in the mornings for many locals but more light in the evenings.

“The circadian rhythms, the 24-hour rhythms that we have internalised – are very much affected by exposure to bright light – and sunshine of course is the brightest light we can be exposed to.

“Having that sunshine delayed later in the evening, particularly in the summer time, will tend to have the effect of pushing our body clocks later in time.” [he said]

The South Australian Government released a report this week about its proposed time zone change, preferring a shift forward by 30 minutes to any option of shifting the time back by 30 minutes or more.

The report estimated a time zone change would benefit South Australia’s economy by as much as $2.5 billion annually.
Professor Lack said a time zone shift might come with a health cost.

[He] said shifting the time zone forward could make people less productive at work.
“Making mistakes in the first couple of hours in the working day, all of those things are difficult to cost, but nevertheless one would think it must have an overall impact on our society, not only in terms of health but in terms of economic outcomes,” he said.

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