News Articles
A woman has told how maggots were found in a wound in her mother's heel
Date of Posting: 11-07-2019
A woman has wept while telling the aged care royal commission how maggots were found in a wound in her late mother's heel due to neglect by staff. A woman has told how maggots were found in a wound in her mother's heel shortly before her d Read More...
Researchers says seagulls carry superbug threat to humans
Date of Posting: 11-07-2019
An Australian tradition of sharing fish and chips with seagulls may need a rethink after researchers found the birds carry a drug-resistant E. coli superbug. Sharing your fish and chips with seagulls at the beach may harm your health, with researc Read More...
Culture is key when assessing Indigenous Australians' mental health
Last Updated: 10-07-2019
If a doctor suspects a patient may be at risk of depression, they will likely ask about the person’s mood, appetite, sleep patterns, and energy and concentration levels, among other questions. But understandings of mental health differ Read More...
Smoking at record low in Australia, but the grim harvest of preventable heart disease continues
Date of Posting: 10-07-2019
Smoking rates in Australia are at an all-time low. And yet, nearly 11,500 people are hospitalised from smoking-related cardiovascular (heart and blood vessel) disease each year, while almost 6,500 die as a result. And it’s not just ol Read More...
Will they ever wake up? New study on consciousness after brain injury shows 'maybe'
Last Updated: 10-07-2019
Acute brain injury can result in significant damage and loss of consciousness, warranting life support and admission to an intensive care unit. A complex journey toward recovery begins, sometimes involving daily life-and-death battles. As t Read More...
The muscle-wasting condition 'sarcopenia' is now a recognised disease
Last Updated: 10-07-2019
Robin Daly, Deakin University and Andrea B. Maier, Melbourne Health As we grow older, the size and strength of our muscles progressively deteriorates. This can affect our capacity to perform everyday activities like standing up from a Read More...
How rehab helps heavy drug and alcohol users think differently
Last Updated: 10-07-2019
Around 16,700 Australians stay in residential rehabilitation centres each year, most commonly for problems with alcohol, amphetamines and opiates. Rehab is a structured, drug- and alcohol-free environment. Residents participate in the same Read More...
Safe and stable housing is crucial to the mental health of homeless Victorians
Date of Posting: 10-07-2019
A new campaign calls for mental health and housing systems to work together to better support homeless Victorians. Safe and stable housing is crucial to the mental health of homeless Victorians, a leading community organisation argues.[subscribe] Read More...
A report concerns new Sydney hospital 'wasn't safe'
Date of Posting: 10-07-2019
A report written shortly after Sydney's troubled Northern Beaches Hospital opened in 2018 revealed staffing issues and shortfalls in planning and preparation. The head of the union representing NSW doctors claims Sydney's troubled Northern Read More...
Allowing pharmacists to issue repeat prescriptions will save consumers time and money
Last Updated: 09-07-2019
The Australian Health Care Reform Alliance says letting pharmacists issue repeat prescriptions will save consumers time and money, but doctors remain opposed. A proposal to allow pharmacists to issue repeat prescriptions should be backed as consum Read More...
Physiotherapy should be part of standard care for prostate cancer
Date of Posting: 08-07-2019
Physiotherapy should be part of standard care for prostate cancer, which affects one in seven Australian men, according to APA physiotherapist Jason Crow. Mr Crow says while men are often reluctant to seek physio input, once they understand how im Read More...
Pink Elephants a clear referral pathway for women previously left unsupported after miscarriage
Date of Posting: 08-07-2019
The Pink Elephants Support Network is calling on healthcare professionals to use the charity as a clear referral pathway, after a new survey revealed an alarming number of women were not offered any information from healthcare professionals following Read More...
Experts and people with mental illness in Victoria say the system has failed
Date of Posting: 08-07-2019
Victoria's mental health royal commission is shining a spotlight on how people find help and navigate a system that's widely acknowledged to have failed. How do mentally ill Victorians find help in broken system?[subscribe] That's t Read More...
The SA government has launched a new flu awareness campaign
Date of Posting: 08-07-2019
The South Australian government has launched a new flu awareness campaign as the state's "horror" flu season continues. A new flu awareness campaign will urge South Australians to take more care about spreading the bug as the state c Read More...
South Australians with brain tumours now have access to a new type of radiation treatment
Date of Posting: 08-07-2019
A high-precision radiation therapy for patients with secondary brain tumours has become available in Adelaide. The image-guided radiation system will be used as a non-invasive form of intracranial radiation to deliver precisely targeted radiation Read More...
Dozens of flu outbreaks have hit NSW's aged care homes
Date of Posting: 05-07-2019
Health authorities are pleading with members of the public to get their flu shot as dozens of influenza outbreaks ravage NSW residential care homes and continue to claim elderly lives. NSW Health data released on Friday reveals 66 confirmed influe Read More...
Network and connect with the healthcare community at Victoria's largest FREE Healthcare Event
Last Updated: 05-07-2019
The 9th Annual Victorian Healthcare Week Free-to-attend Expo is returning Melbourne on the 23-24 July 2019 at its new home the Melbourne Convention Centre! Bringing together 1000+ attendees and 50 exhibitors over two days, the Victorian Healthcare Read More...
The NSW government has strengthened the rules around vaccine storage
Date of Posting: 05-07-2019
The rules around how doctors store vaccines have been strengthened after incorrectly stored shots sparked fears thousands of patients would need to be re-vaccinated. It comes after a government audit of general practitioners showed some were not m Read More...
Earn 12 CPD points at the FREE TO ATTEND Victorian Healthcare Week Expo 2019
Last Updated: 05-07-2019
The Free-to-attend Nurses and Clinicians Event is returning to Victorian Healthcare Week on the 23-24 July 2019 at the Melbourne Convention Centre. REGISTER FREE EXPO PASS HERE [subscribe] It’s no secret that everything that happens in he Read More...
Kids Helpline needs funding as 71,533 contacts go unanswered
Date of Posting: 04-07-2019
Kids Helpline, Australia’s only free confidential 24/7 national children’s counselling and support service, has today released alarming statistics showing 51% of requests for help to the service went unanswered over the first 6 mont Read More...
Ignoring cues for alcohol and fast food is hard - but is it out of our control?
Date of Posting: 04-07-2019
A UNSW psychology experiment has shown why it can be so hard to direct our attention away from cues that might lead to behaviour we’d like to avoid, like drinking alcohol and eating unhealthy food. Have you ever tried to stay away from fast Read More...
Determined DNA hunt reveals exciting new schizophrenia clue
Date of Posting: 04-07-2019
An 18-year joint Australian-Indian study made possible by the recruitment, diagnosis and DNA screening of thousands of people in India has identified a new clue in the quest for causes of schizophrenia and potential treatments. A collaboration bet Read More...
New research shows smoking triples deaths from heart disease and stroke
Date of Posting: 04-07-2019
Smoking is killing at least 17 Australians a day from preventable heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular conditions, new research led by The Australian National University (ANU) has found. The study, the most in-depth in the world, shows Read More...
More than 500 workers protest Roundup use
Date of Posting: 04-07-2019
More than 500 workers at a Sydney council have walked off the job after management allegedly refused to heed their concerns over the use of glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup, which has been linked to cancer. Outdoor staff at Blacktown City Coun Read More...
Victorians who want to start a family will soon be able to access publicly funded IVF in the state
Date of Posting: 04-07-2019
It cost thousands of dollars for Melbourne woman Rachael McConaghie to become a mum and she wants the emotional journey to starting a family to be easier for others. She welcomed the Victorian government's promise to publicly fund fertility tr Read More...
A team of Adelaide cardiologists have successfully performed a world-first heart surgery
Last Updated: 04-07-2019
A team of Adelaide cardiologists have performed a world-first surgery to treat a serious heart condition they say could be life-changing for thousands of Australians. The non-invasive surgery, performed at St Andrew's Hospital last Friday, inv Read More...
People living in rural areas may be at lower risk of Alzheimer's disease
Last Updated: 03-07-2019
People who live in regional or remote areas may be at lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to our recent research. Using data from more 260,000 adults in New South Wales who were aged 45 and over, we found those livi Read More...
Had gestational diabetes? Here are 5 things to help lower your future risk of type 2 diabetes
Date of Posting: 03-07-2019
Gestational diabetes is a specific type of diabetes that occurs in pregnancy. Once you’ve had gestational diabetes, your risk of having it again in your next pregnancy is higher. So too is your lifetime chance of developing type 2 diabet Read More...
Study shows that HIV rates in Australia have dropped to 18-year low
Date of Posting: 03-07-2019
The number of people diagnosed with HIV has dropped to an 18-year-low, largely due to a decline in the infection among gay and bisexual men, a study has shown. HIV rates in Australia have dropped to an 18-year low, driven by a reduction in the num Read More...
Majority of Australians support the federal government's mandatory vaccination policy
Date of Posting: 03-07-2019
Joint research from the University of Sydney and the University of Western Australia indicates a majority of Australians support the "No Jab, No Pay" policy. More than 83 percent of Australians support the federal government's mandat Read More...
A former AFL player speaks about depression battle
Date of Posting: 02-07-2019
A former AFL player and a former federal minister have told Victoria's mental health royal commission about their battles with depression. In the moments after his team North Melbourne won the 1996 AFL premiership, Wayne Schwass was thinking a Read More...
Mental health needs more support
Date of Posting: 02-07-2019
A Victorian royal commission has been told there is a disparity in support for people with physical health needs and those with mental health needs. The mental health system is like an abyss where the lack of help and support stands in stark contr Read More...
Workforce shortage hinders fight against ice addiction in WA
Date of Posting: 02-07-2019
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists Western Australian Branch (RANZCP WA Branch) has expressed concern about the increasing use of methamphetamine (commonly known as ‘ice’) across Western Australia (WA) and the l Read More...
Australia urgently needs to tackle its mental health system
Date of Posting: 01-07-2019
There's no more urgent or important problem in Australia than tackling the mental health sector, says one of four people leading the Victorian royal commission. Australia urgently needs to tackle its mental health system, says one of the four Read More...
In a health-care setting, interpreters are essential
Last Updated: 28-06-2019
Sarah Verdon, Charles Sturt University Almost one quarter of the Australian population speaks a language other than English at home. But health services in Australia are largely delivered in English only. We know Australi Read More...
A 43-year-old Victorian man dies after catching flu
Date of Posting: 28-06-2019
A 43-year-old father who battled a virus for more than a week is the latest victim of Victoria's deadly flu season. Victoria is staring down the barrel of its first year-long flu season as the illness claims its 37th victim - an otherwise heal Read More...
A brain disease linked to repetitive head injury in former NRL players
Date of Posting: 27-06-2019
A study by Australian researchers has discovered a brain disease linked to repetitive head injury in two former NRL players. A disease linked to repeated concussions in American sport has been found in the brains of two former Australian rugby lea Read More...
Exercise after lung cancer surgery important for recovery
Last Updated: 27-06-2019
New research led by Curtain University has found that lung cancer patients who exercise after surgery to remove a tumour experience increased fitness and strength in their leg muscles as well as a decrease in shortness of breath compared to those who Read More...
New degree puts nursing in reach for more people
Date of Posting: 27-06-2019
Graduates with a relevant degree can now apply for Wintec’s Master of Nursing Science, a new qualification which aims to put more culturally responsive, work-ready nurses into our communities. The two-year pre-registration programme allows d Read More...
Fertility miracle or fake news? Understanding which IVF 'add-ons' really work
Last Updated: 27-06-2019
Hannah Brown, South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute In recent years, we’ve seen increasing scrutiny about the procedures being delivered in the IVF clinic, often referred to as “add-on” or suppleme Read More...
