News Articles
Vic syphilis spike linked to stillbirths
Date of Posting: 10-12-2022
There's been a spike in the number of Victorian babies born with syphilis and the condition has been linked to stillbirths. Over the past six years, 14 babies were born with the condition including six who were stillborn.[subscribe] The sex Read More...
One-minute huffs and puffs to live longer
Date of Posting: 10-12-2022
Running for the bus might be an effective way to reduce the risk of premature death. A new study by the University of Sydney suggests one-minute bursts of huffing and puffing throughout the day could be as beneficial as playing a sport or going to Read More...
Fears over wave of breast cancer unfounded
Date of Posting: 08-12-2022
Fears that temporarily suspending breast cancer screening services during the pandemic would create a wave of advanced tumours do not appear to have come true. NSW suspended screening services for seven weeks in early 2020 to prevent the spread of Read More...
Scarlet Fever alert follows UK deaths
Date of Posting: 08-12-2022
Australian parents are warned to be on the alert for Scarlet Fever but not be overly alarmed, following the deaths of at least eight children in the United Kingdom. Scarlet Fever - medically known as a group A Streptococcal infection - is a bacter Read More...
Work starts on nation-first mRNA facility
Date of Posting: 08-12-2022
Work has begun at the site of Moderna's first Australian mRNA vaccine facility in Melbourne's southeast. The site at Monash University's Clayton campus has a 2024 completion date and will be capable of producing 100 million vaccine dos Read More...
Australian children failing fitness tests
Date of Posting: 07-12-2022
Australian children are glued to their screens and four out of five aren't getting enough exercise. Researchers are calling for a national physical activity plan to get kids moving following dismal results in the 2022 Active Healthy Kids Austr Read More...
Fears of a spike in child drownings
Date of Posting: 07-12-2022
It is feared there could be a jump in the number of children who drown this summer because of a deadly combination of kids missing swimming lessons and too many parents being unaware of water safety measures. A survey of 2036 Australian parents by Read More...
Chinese rush to buy COVID tests, medicines
Date of Posting: 07-12-2022
Chinese residents are rushing to snap up COVID-19 antigen kits and medicines for fevers and colds as the country's recent easing of prevention measures triggers widespread concern among the public they could now catch the virus. Online medicin Read More...
China may announce COVID easing steps
Date of Posting: 06-12-2022
China may announce 10 new COVID-19 easing measures as early as Wednesday, two Reuters sources say, supplementing 20 unveiled in November that set off a wave of COVID easing steps nationwide. Three years of zero-tolerance measures, from shuttered b Read More...
Third meningococcal death in NSW
Date of Posting: 06-12-2022
People in NSW are being warned to be alert to the symptoms of meningococcal disease after the death of a third person in the state this year. NSW Health says there have been 29 cases reported this year, the majority due to meningococcal B strain o Read More...
Parents warned to steer clear of hospital
Date of Posting: 06-12-2022
Melbourne parents with sick children may face waits of more than 12 hours at the Royal Children's Hospital's emergency department as it buckles under demand. The hospital, in a statement on Monday evening, warned families should seek alter Read More...
Leading GP fears for profession's future
Date of Posting: 05-12-2022
General practice will cease to exist unless there's a drastic overhaul of frontline medical services, the new head of Australia's peak body for GPs warns. Incoming Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Nicole Higgins Read More...
Report urges revamp of 'failing' Medicare
Date of Posting: 05-12-2022
Medicare isn't working for patients or doctors and the way GPs work and get paid needs an overhaul so more people are kept out of hospital and poorer Australians get the care they need, a new report says. Australia's universal healthcare s Read More...
How COVID-19 lockdowns made life worse
Date of Posting: 05-12-2022
Melbourne's brutal COVID-19 lockdown lasted 245 days and for many people, life got progressively worse during this time, new research shows. Nearly half of Australians say the pandemic significantly reduced their quality of life and Melbourne Read More...
China COVID cases: what you need to know
Date of Posting: 04-12-2022
China has started taking steps to ease its zero-COVID-19 policy, fuelling a mix of relief and worry as the public waits to see the health consequences and impact on the medical system of a full-blown exit. Researchers have analysed how many deaths Read More...
Half of cancer patients face care hurdles
Date of Posting: 04-12-2022
More than half of Australian cancer patients experience systemic barriers to accessing the care they need, a new report has found. The report, Addressing The Hidden Burdens of Cancer Care, said the majority of those surveyed noted complexities in Read More...
NSW doctors slam 'disgusting' union advert
Date of Posting: 04-12-2022
NSW doctors are outraged by a new union advertisement calling for a royal commission into the the state's health budget, saying the campaign is a "cheap sucker punch" to hardworking medicos. The Health Services Union advert set to la Read More...
COVID-19 cases rise across the nation
Date of Posting: 03-12-2022
The latest COVID-19 wave shows no sign of ending, with weekly case figures rising in each jurisdiction and jumping 20 per cent in NSW and Victoria. This week, 37,796 people in NSW were diagnosed with the virus, 6000 more than last week, while Vict Read More...
Survey to check on true JEV cases
Date of Posting: 03-12-2022
Four states are taking part in a national study to determine how many people have been exposed to the Japanese encephalitis virus to better inform control efforts. The National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance is leading the surve Read More...
Offer to film in Sydney hospital 'wrong'
Date of Posting: 03-12-2022
A western Sydney hospital's ad offering filming space in empty hospital wards was a "mistake", the NSW premier says despite support for the initiative from his health minister. Campbelltown Hospital had posted a tender for "vaca Read More...
Twitter ditches COVID-19 misinfo policy
Date of Posting: 30-11-2022
Twitter has rolled back a policy that was aimed at tackling misinformation related to COVID-19 on the social media platform, lending itself to the risk of a potential surge in false claims even as cases rise in China and some parts of the world. T Read More...
Music app helps teens manage mental health
Date of Posting: 30-11-2022
Angsty teenagers locking up themselves in their rooms listening to sad rock ballads or punk music is more than just a stereotype - it can have adverse affects on their mental health. The average young person listens to music for up to five hours a Read More...
SA govt set to pass defibrillator laws
Date of Posting: 30-11-2022
Life-saving defibrillators will be mandatory in all public buildings, including schools, libraries, sporting facilities, theatres and prisons, under nation-leading legislation set to pass the South Australian parliament. The bill was introduced by Read More...
Closure on cards for Vic maternity service
Date of Posting: 29-11-2022
Pregnant patients in the Victorian city of Geelong are searching for a new hospital after one of the largest in the region announced plans to close its maternity service. Epworth HealthCare made the "difficult announcement" on Monday, ci Read More...
Patients abusing, attacking doctors, staff
Date of Posting: 29-11-2022
NSW doctors and medical staff working in private practice say they need greater protection from aggressive patients, amid reports they are being threatened, sworn at, slapped and punched. An Australian Medical Association (AMA) survey of 378 medic Read More...
More research funds needed for arthritis
Date of Posting: 29-11-2022
A disease costing the healthcare system $14 billion a year and affecting one in seven Australians receives only one per cent of medical research funding. Arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions account for 13 per cent of the country's total d Read More...
NSW hires student doctors to ease pressure
Last Updated: 28-11-2022
More than 1000 NSW final-year medical students will be working in hospitals in paid positions to reduce pressure on hospitals in the state's latest bid to aid the system battered by COVID-19. Premier Dominic Perrottet said the Assistant in Med Read More...
Vic health dept in court over quarantine
Date of Posting: 28-11-2022
A hearing to determine if Victoria's health department will face trial over alleged hotel quarantine failures is set to begin. Worksafe charged the Department of Health in September 2021 with 58 breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety A Read More...
COVID protests after deadly fire in China
Date of Posting: 28-11-2022
Rare protests have broken out in China's far western Xinjiang region, with crowds shouting at hazmat-suited guards after a deadly fire triggered anger over their prolonged COVID-19 lockdown as nationwide infections set another record. Crowds c Read More...
'Exhausted' WA nurses walk off the job
Date of Posting: 27-11-2022
Angry nurses and midwives have defied the West Australian government and gathered in their thousands as part of a statewide strike. Staff walked off the job at hospitals across Perth and regional WA on Friday in an escalation of their bid to secur Read More...
Panic-buying as China's virus cases rise
Date of Posting: 27-11-2022
Residents of China's capital have emptied supermarket shelves and overwhelming delivery apps as the city government ordered accelerated construction of COVID-19 quarantine centres and field hospitals. Uncertainty and scattered, unconfirmed rep Read More...
Screen time for kids is as bad as they say
Date of Posting: 27-11-2022
Unconvinced that watching a few extra episodes of Bluey was having the devastating impact on children's health that some claimed, one researcher set out to prove screen time wasn't all bad. Newcastle University lecturer Emma Axelsson said Read More...
Tas hospital death after emergency 'wait'
Date of Posting: 26-11-2022
The death of a patient who allegedly spent two hours waiting for emergency department admission in Tasmania is under investigation. The state Greens say the woman, who died at the Royal Hobart Hospital on Tuesday, was "ramped" - the proc Read More...
Health system 'racist to Indigenous Aust'
Date of Posting: 26-11-2022
Going to an emergency department as an Aboriginal person is a profoundly more racist experience than for non-Indigenous Australians - and it could even prove fatal. A new report released on Thursday, based on 267 validated incidents of racism subm Read More...
IV 'cocktails' under regulator's spotlight
Date of Posting: 26-11-2022
Australians are at risk of wasting hundreds of dollars on intravenous infusion "cocktails" marketed with dodgy and misleading promises, the medical regulator warns. The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency has this week put s Read More...
Strategies For Ensuring Australian Hospitals Will Have Enough Nurses
Last Updated: 24-11-2022
On a global basis, there is a shortage of qualified nurses that is likely to get worse. Australia, like other countries with ageing populations, has been vulnerable to this problem. Experts at the Department of Health in Australia are forecasting a s Read More...
'Burnt out' nurses call for patient ratios
Date of Posting: 24-11-2022
Newly-trained nurse Vanessa is fed up after less than a year in NSW's health system. She regularly cares for six patients during a shift and sometimes as many as eight, despite union calls for nurse-to-patient ratios of no more than one to fou Read More...
Doctor groups slam prescription changes
Date of Posting: 24-11-2022
Doctors have slammed a move allowing pharmacists to prescribe antibiotics and reissue certain prescriptions under a Victorian Labor election promise, over fears it could increase antibiotic resistance and put patients' health at risk. Premier Read More...
Study identifies youth self-harm clusters
Date of Posting: 24-11-2022
Young people in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and South Australia exhibit the country's highest prevalence of self-harm. The Australian Youth Self-Harm Atlas has, for the first time, identified significant clusters and how triggeri Read More...
Rise in virus cases at major Tas hospital
Date of Posting: 23-11-2022
Tasmania's major hospital has tightened its coronavirus management processes after a rise in cases among patients and staff. The Royal Hobart Hospital escalated to level two, the third highest level of its COVID-19 management plan, on Wednesda Read More...
