News Articles
Shanghai district orders COVID lockdown
Date of Posting: 30-10-2022
China's largest city, Shanghai, is ordering mass testing on all 1.3 million residents of its Yangpu district and confining them to their homes at least until results are known. The demand is an echo of measures ordered over the summer that led Read More...
Radiologists probe astronaut brains
Date of Posting: 29-10-2022
Radiologists have probed changes to the brains of astronauts that could have significant implications for the future of human colonisation on the moon and Mars. The annual gathering of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists i Read More...
Distance driving STI check delays
Date of Posting: 29-10-2022
Distance from sexual health care, rather than socio-economic status, is the main factor preventing Australians from seeking checks for sexually transmitted infections, research suggests. The study by Alfred Health's Melbourne Sexual Health Cen Read More...
Virus-infected cruise ship docks in WA
Date of Posting: 29-10-2022
A cruise ship with COVID-19 cases on board has docked near Perth, with most passengers free to disembark after returning negative tests. The Coral Princess arrived in Fremantle on Friday, the first to visit Western Australia since a ban on large c Read More...
New centre to tackle eating disorders
Date of Posting: 28-10-2022
More than 1.2 million Australians are living with an eating disorder yet fewer than one-quarter of them are receiving evidence-based treatment, but a new research centre is offering hope. Associate professor Sarah Maguire says eating disorders are Read More...
Facebook photo sparks ambo diversity probe
Date of Posting: 28-10-2022
A Facebook post showing an all-male group of NSW elite paramedic recruits has sparked an internal investigation over whether the team has a gender diversity problem. The photos, which depict 18 new Special Operations paramedics, attracted attentio Read More...
New COVID summer spike unlikely
Date of Posting: 28-10-2022
The federal health minister does not expect summer to bring with it the steep spike in COVID cases that was experienced last year. While isolation requirements have been removed for people who have tested positive for COVID, Mark Butler said a dec Read More...
Prescription medicine costs set to lower
Date of Posting: 27-10-2022
Patients will have access to cheaper medicines at the pharmacy after new laws passed parliament. The legislation lowered the maximum general co-payment on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme by $12.50, falling from $42.50 to $30.[subscribe] The Read More...
Aust octopus venom may treat melanoma
Date of Posting: 27-10-2022
An Australian burrowing octopus species has a compound in its venom that could provide a non-toxic treatment for skin cancers, according to a study. The southern sand octopus, also known as octopus kaurna, had its peptides analysed in a pre-clinic Read More...
Qld to change mental health laws for UN
Date of Posting: 27-10-2022
Queensland will change its laws so United Nations inspectors can check in on patients being detained at mental health facilities, the premier says. A UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture on Monday suspended a tour of Australia's detention Read More...
Big cash injection for disability services
Date of Posting: 26-10-2022
Extra frontline staff and smoother paths for National Disability Insurance Scheme clients to resolve disputes have been included in the federal budget. The Albanese government's first budget, delivered on Tuesday night, outlined $166.6 billion Read More...
Virus cases on first WA cruise liner to WA
Date of Posting: 26-10-2022
Passengers and crew on the first major cruise liner to visit Western Australia since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic have tested positive for the virus. Health authorities and the ship's operators, Carnival Australia, have not revealed how Read More...
Progress on world-first gonorrhoea vaccine
Date of Posting: 26-10-2022
Queensland researchers are hoping to develop a world-first gonorrhoea vaccine with the antibiotic resistant bacteria affecting more than 100 million people every year. Left untreated, the sexually transmitted infection can lead to infertility in w Read More...
More palliative care nurses for rural SA
Date of Posting: 25-10-2022
The South Australian government will recruit 10 more specialist palliative care nurses to bolster end-of-life services in regional communities. The government will base the nurses in six regional areas to give more South Australians living in rura Read More...
Uganda confirms nine more Ebola cases
Date of Posting: 25-10-2022
Uganda has reported nine more Ebola cases in the capital Kampala, bringing the total number of known infections to 14 in the last two days, the health minister says. The outbreak began in September in a rural part of central Uganda. It spread earl Read More...
Call for support for doctors being probed
Date of Posting: 24-10-2022
Health professionals being investigated should have mental health support and the right to legal representation, a new advocate says. Queensland became the first state to pass new laws giving federal watchdogs more power over registered health pra Read More...
Funds approved for SA assisted dying laws
Date of Posting: 24-10-2022
Specialist pharmacists and care navigators are being recruited with the South Australian government allocating $18 million over five years to implement new assisted dying laws. The new provisions come into force on January 31 after being passed by Read More...
ADHD diagnosis on the rise for Aust women
Date of Posting: 23-10-2022
Mia Freeman, Em Rusciano and Abbie Chatfield are among a growing list of high profile women revealing ADHD diagnoses. They're but a few of the voices in the apparent increase in attention deficit hyperactivity disorders among women that Austra Read More...
Live well, avoid nursing care, study shows
Date of Posting: 23-10-2022
Every aspect of life can influence one's state of wellness, so the saying goes. However, number crunchers keen to determine to what extent, have come away with the rather stark claim that Australia's unhealthiest older citizens can expect Read More...
New cancer medicines added to the PBS
Date of Posting: 23-10-2022
Cancer medications and a treatment for a rare genetic disease have been added to Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. The newly-listed drugs are used for patients with skin cancer, lung cancer and X-linked hypophosphatemia or XLH, a dis Read More...
Some Aussies admit still not handwashing
Date of Posting: 22-10-2022
Despite all the lessons of a global pandemic, almost one in five Australians admit they don't always wash their hands after visiting the toilet. Almost half concede that they sometimes also forget to lather up before handling food.[subscribe] Read More...
High Darwin injury toll from e-scooters
AAP | Date of Posting: 22-10-2022
Injuries from electric scooter accidents in Darwin cost the medical system more than $350,000 over the past eight months, with booze a significant contributing factor, a study has found. The study revealed many patients experienced head and limb i Read More...
Indonesia bans liquid medicines
Date of Posting: 22-10-2022
Indonesia has temporarily banned all liquid medicines following the deaths of about 100 children from acute kidney damage, the country's health minister says. At least 206 cases of acute kidney damage have been reported in 20 provinces since J Read More...
The new SHPA Don't Rush to Crush Handbook essential for all aged care settings
Last Updated: 21-10-2022
As Australia’s population ages and more people take more medicines, Don’t Rush to Crush is the indispensable frontline resource to manage risk and ensure quality care for people with enteral feeding tubes or swallowing difficulties, in al Read More...
Digital health can ease burden on system
Date of Posting: 20-10-2022
Telephone doctor consultations came to the fore during lockdowns and now the digital health care industry is being touted as a way to ease the burden on a system struggling with a chronic shortage of GPs. A new report has found the online model of Read More...
Young women lead Victorian vaping jump
Date of Posting: 20-10-2022
The number of Victorians who vape has almost doubled since 2018 and young women are leading the take-up. A Cancer Council Victoria survey estimated more than 308,000 Victorians vaped in 2022, compared to just under 155,000 in 2018-2019.[subscribe] Read More...
Cholera vaccine dose must be halved
Date of Posting: 20-10-2022
The World Health Organization and its partners are recommending that countries temporarily switch to using a single dose of the cholera vaccine instead of two due to a supply shortage, as outbreaks of the water-borne disease surge globally. In a s Read More...
Kidney bus unlocks travel for patients
Date of Posting: 19-10-2022
Mailah Hosteng was once an avid world traveller, but that all changed after suffering kidney failure. She now needs kidney dialysis three times a week and the logistics have made travelling all but impossible.[subscribe] "Before I got sick Read More...
Connectivity a lifeline for bush patients
Date of Posting: 19-10-2022
When Marco Giuseppin was working as a doctor in rural Queensland, he got a call about a motorbike accident at an outback station. A lack of mobile reception meant Dr Giuseppin had to offer medical advice over a landline phone call, which was then Read More...
Board to review SA assisted dying laws
Date of Posting: 19-10-2022
An eight-member review board has been named to take charge of South Australia's assisted dying laws which come into force next year. The board includes senior clinicians, legal professionals, ethical and governance experts and those with first Read More...
New Zealand shaking up COVID-19 laws
Date of Posting: 18-10-2022
New Zealand is dismantling the legislative framework for most of its COVID-19 restrictions, but keeping its seven-day isolation and limited mask-wearing provisions as cases start to uptick again. In a milestone in New Zealand's fight against t Read More...
Medicare rorting taken seriously
Date of Posting: 18-10-2022
Health Minister Mark Butler vows claims of billions of dollars being rorted each year from the Medicare system are being taken seriously. Mr Butler said an investigation would be carried out following reports from the ABC and Nine newspapers that Read More...
NSW nurses rally over safety issues
Date of Posting: 18-10-2022
Concerns over staffing and patient safety will be front of mind as nurses and midwives rally outside a western Sydney hospital. The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association says around 35 nurses and midwives have quit Blacktown Hospital's emergency Read More...
Medicare rort claims 'atrocious'
Date of Posting: 17-10-2022
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has labelled reports the Medicare system is being rorted by up to $8 billion a year as atrocious. The comments come after a joint ABC and Nine newspapers investigation revealed some practitioners were ripping off the system Read More...
Uganda locks down to stem Ebola spread
Date of Posting: 16-10-2022
Ugandan authorities have imposed a travel lockdown on two Ebola-hit districts as part of efforts to stop the spread of the contagious disease. The measures announced on Saturday by President Yoweri Museveni mean residents of the central Ugandan di Read More...
Australia's 1000 dark days of COVID-19
Date of Posting: 16-10-2022
When COVID-19 hit Australia, the country's top health bureaucrats were bracing for something big - but even they were yet to grasp the enormity of the looming crisis. It was January 25, 2020 - the day before Australia Day - when authorities co Read More...
Australia ends mandatory COVID isolation
Date of Posting: 15-10-2022
Australians who test positive to COVID-19 will no longer have to isolate, with mandatory stay-at-home orders officially scrapped. The changes took effect on Friday.[subscribe] NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, who led the campaign to ditch isolati Read More...
One-third of IVF due to infertile men
Date of Posting: 15-10-2022
Male infertility was involved in one in every three rounds of IVF in 2020, with most of those men having no idea what affected their potency. Some 20 per cent of IVF rounds in 2020 were due to an infertile man, with another 11.2 per cent due to bo Read More...
SA to boost vaccines for mosquito virus
Date of Posting: 15-10-2022
South Australia will increase access to a vaccine for the Japanese encephalitis virus amid the growing risk of the mosquito-borne disease over summer. The expanded vaccine rollout will target people who live or work in a postcode within five kilom Read More...
Gait and grip early signs of dementia: study reveals
Date of Posting: 14-10-2022
A slowed gait combined with a weakened grip could be early indicators of dementia before the onset of noticeable symptoms, according to Monash University researchers. [subscribe] The study, Combination of gait speed and grip strength to predict c Read More...
