National News 

Special Program Grants In Type 1 Diabetes (Round 3) - 31 August, 2006
NHMRC and JDRF have established a joint program in Australia to advance research into Type 1 diabetes, funded by Special Program Grants for up to five years. Each Special Program Grant awarded will support a critical mass of investigators, working on a problem of importance to people with Type 1 diabetes. Multi-disciplinary team approaches are encouraged. Special Program Grants will also support the training and development of young scientists and clinical investigators. Applications are sought particularly from groups who bring novel approaches from disciplines not traditionally associated with diabetes research. Partnerships with other public and private sector entities are encouraged…More

Report Shows Disparity Between Diabetes Hospitalisation Rates For Indigenous People And Other Australians – 30 August, 2006
A new report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) showed that diabetes hospitalisation rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are substantially higher than hospitalisation rates for other Australians with diabetes…More

MIAA Appoints New Chief Executive Officer – 28 August, 2006
The Board of the Medical Industry Association of Australia announced the appointment of Ms Anne Trimmer to the position of Chief Executive Officer…More
 
It Offers Way To Better Aged-Care Practice – 28 August, 2006
The Commonwealth Government is looking to the Internet to drive improvements in the quality and delivery of aged-care services nationwide, the Minister for Ageing, Senator Santo Santoro, said today…More

Report Shows Disparity Between Diabetes Hospitalisation Rates For Indigenous People And Other Australians - August 30, 2006
A new report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) showed that diabetes hospitalisation rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are substantially higher than hospitalisation rates for other Australians with diabetes...More

Coke's sins go on display - August 29, 2006
Coca-Cola has bowed to public concern over the escalating obesity crisis and will display kilojoule counts on the front of all soft drink cans and bottles...More

Cancer vaccine may be free for schoolgirls - 28 August, 2006
The world's first vaccine to protect against cancer goes on sale in from today as federal health experts continue to assess an application from its makers to include it in the free national immunisation program for all girls...More

Family fix for fat children - 26 August, 2006
Rarely is a physician who has been in practice for many years, and is considered an expert in his field, taken by surprise...More

Boomers are the biggest boozers - 26 August, 2006
Forget the image of binge-drinking teenagers: it is their parents that are the nation's real alcohol abusers...More

Heart Foundation tick scheme takes on fast food - 26 August, 2006
Australians love eating out, and in particular the fast food kind of eating out. In fact, as a nation, we rank in the top 10 for patronage of fast food restaurants, spending one in every three of our food dollars on foods eaten outside the home...More

Cancer Specialist To Head Cancer - 25 August, 2006
Australian Health Minister, Tony Abbot, announced Professor David Currow has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of the new statutory agency, Cancer . Professor Currow is a medical oncologist who holds the Chair of Palliative and Supportive Services at Flinders University , Adelaide and is the director of Southern Adelaide Palliative Services...More

Stealing Indigenous identity - 25 August, 2006
Prime Minister John Howard told a reconciliation conference in July work opportunities are more important for Indigenous people than debating land rights and sovereignty. “I do not think 30 years of obsession with symbolism has advanced the cause of Aboriginal people”, he said, adding ominously “it will take generations to improve their living standards”....More

RMIF Boost A Boon For Rural Health - 24 August, 2006
The Australian Medical Association said that this week’s announcement by Transport Minister, Warren Truss, of enhancements to the Rural Medical Infrastructure Fund (RMIF) was a welcome piece of rare good news for rural health...More

Palliative Care Services Are Meeting Most National Performance Indicators - 24 August, 2006
A report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows that overall, palliative care services in Australia are generally meeting four national 'high-level' performance indicators of the National Palliative Care Strategy...More

AMA Backs Advance Care Planning By Patients - 24 August, 2006
The Australian Medical Association expressed support for advance care planning as a way to provide a competent patient with the means to articulate their current health care goals and values, and to participate in future health care decisions should he or she lose decision making capabilities...More

'World first' study cuts child obesity - 24 August, 2006
Health officials have hailed the results of a program aimed at fighting childhood obesity in south-west Victoria ...More

National Institute Of Clinical Studies To Join NHMRC - 24 August, 2006
The Minister for Health and Ageing, Tony Abbott, announced the National Institute of Clinical Studies will be incorporated into the National Health and Medical Research Council...More

Health network "fragile" - 22 August, 2006
The federal Health Department's flagship Eastern Goldfields health broadband project has delivered "an extensive list of lessons learnt", but little else...More

Doctors push for junk food tax to trim waistlines - 21 August, 2006
Doctors want higher taxes on junk food to make it more expensive than fruit and vegetables in a new approach to the fight against childhood obesity and diabetes...More

States up in arms at cut in surgeons - 21 August, 2006
The number of trainee surgeons will be reduced by 18 per cent next year, prompting state health ministers to demand the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons be stripped of its power over training positions...More

PM on right track for maintaining wellbeing - 19 August, 2006
At the age of 67, Australia's 25th prime minister is already working well past the stage when most of the rest of us would hope to have settled down to a sedate routine of gardening, grandchildren's birthday parties and the odd round of golf - or even bowls...More

Activity fights the ills that get you down - 19 August, 2006
's population is ageing, and rapidly...More

Outrageous Degrees Fees For Would Be Doctors - 16 August, 2006
AMA President, Dr Mukesh Haikerwal said it's a national disgrace that aspiring doctors of tomorrow are being asked to pay more than a house mortgage for a degree that may leave them unable to practice medicine...More

Funding To Boost Immunisation Outcomes - 16 August, 2006
Health Minister Tony Abbott said immunisation services will be strengthened with the Commonwealth Government increasing funding to state-based organisations through the General Practice Immunisation Incentives (GPII) Scheme. State-based organisations play an important coordination and collaboration role in ’s system of Divisions of General Practice...More

GP’s Providing Fewer Consultations - Study - 15 August, 2006
The ageing GP workforce and more female doctors are only small pieces of the puzzle causing the drop in services provided by GPs – they’re also just not providing as many consultations, new research shows...More

Private Health Cover Increases Again - August 15, 2006
The Minister for Health and Ageing, Tony Abbott, said figures released by the Private Health Insurance Administration Council show an additional 17,000 Australians took out private health insurance in the June 2006 quarter...More

Plan to slash Medicare queues - 13 August, 2006
Long waits in queues at Medicare offices for patients wanting to claim rebates are set to become a thing of the past...More 

Abbott slams state health 'beggars' - 12 August, 2006
Canberra will demand greater control over the way the states spend health dollars in a push to lift standards in public hospitals...More 

Patients at risk in doctors shortfall - 11 August, 2006
A massive shortfall of doctors in Queensland 's public health system has put patients at risk, cut clinical services and forced people to leave their towns for treatment...More 

The cost of caring too high - 11 August, 2006
A quarter of people responsible for looking after children, old people or the disabled are considering leaving their jobs to care for loved ones themselves because care costs too much...More

Socioeconomic inequalities in cardiovascular disease - 10 August, 2006
People who are socioeconomically disadvantaged experience higher rates of cardiovascular disease mortality than other Australians – and there is evidence that the gap has widened...More

Health funding needs a new prescription - 7 August, 2006
As we anguish over the rising cost of petrol and our mortgages and bananas, all largely matters beyond our control, we might focus on a rising expense that we can do something about...More

Long-term trends in Indigenous deaths from chronic diseases in the Northern Territory : a foot on the brake, a foot on the accelerator - 7 August, 2006
Mortality rates from IHD and DM in the NT Indigenous population have been increasing since 1977, but there is evidence of a slower rise (or even a fall) in death rates in the 1990s...More

Putting the boot into bad drinking - 6 August, 2006
Let's address the double standards around alcohol consumption, writes Rob Moodie...More

Waiting Lists - The Continuing Debate - 5 August, 2006
What clearly irritates many health professionals is the amount of attention that waiting lists attract (often exacerbated by impending elections) when, in fact, elective surgery admissions to public hospitals account for less than 15% of all hospital activity — emergency admissions and medical admissions (for ongoing treatment such as chemotherapy, dialysis, maternity services and so forth) make up the lion's share...More

Blueprint for mental health - 3 August, 2006
Years of government inaction and a suicide rate twice the national average has forced rural groups and the NSW Farmers Association to step in to ease the mental health crisis gripping regional areas...More

Access Card Must Not Mean Access All Areas - 3 August, 2006
The Australian Medical Association urged the Federal Government to carefully manage the introduction of the Health and Social Services Access Card to maintain privacy and health safety and to future proof the card against other possible uses and functions...More

Australian Health Ministers' Conference: main communique - 2 August, 2006
Commonwealth, state and territory health ministers met in Brisbane to discuss a range of priority health issues including remote area renal services, national health call centres, pandemic influenza, childhood obesity, quality and safety, and a range of health workforce issues...More

Disadvantaged risk heart disease - 2 August, 2006
More than 3400 Australians die from heart disease and strokes each year because they come from disadvantaged areas, a new report said...More

Aborigines' Mortality Rates Slowing - August, 2006
A study, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, has compared trends in rates of mortality between the NT Indigenous population and those of the total Australian population – looking at six chronic diseases: (ischaemic heart disease [IHD], chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD], cerebrovascular disease [CVD], diabetes mellitus [DM], renal failure [RF] and rheumatic heart disease [RHD])...More

Australians Get Public Health Cover In Podiatry And Physiotherapy Labour Force Update - August, 2006
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has released two reports about important segments of the allied health labour force in - podiatrists and physiotherapists...More

Chronic Disease Plans Have Failed - August, 2006
After 10 months in operation, the cost of the Federal Government’s Chronic Disease Management Medicare Items has blown out, according to Labor’s Shadow Health Minister, Julia Gillard...More

Managing Diabetes With Medicines And Life-Style Choices - August, 2006
The use of antidiabetic medicines in has increased substantially since the early 1990s and the trend is continuing, according to a new report released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare...More

Doctors Ask For Gifts, Donations: Study - August, 2006 
Researchers from the University of New South Wales studied the relationship between doctors and drug companies...More

New Pathway For Nursing - August, 2006
The School of Nursing Sciences at James Cook University has developed a new pathway into a nursing career. The Head of the School, Professor Kim Usher, said the new way into nursing was for existing graduates from approved courses...More


State/Territory News

Calls for NT Govt to control sale of junk food in schools 31 August, 2006
The Northern Territory Opposition has urged the Education Minister to restrict the sale of junk food in school canteens…More

1 Million For NSW Hospital Emergency Departments - August 31, 2006
Emergency departments across NSW will receive a $1 million injection for building works and the purchase of vital new equipment to deliver faster treatment for patients, NSW Health Minister John Hatzistergos announced today...More

Policy Will Only Benefit The Government - August 29, 2006
AMA (NSW) is angered by the implementation of the NSW Government’s elective surgery policy. Doctors from Hunter New England Area Health Service are being forced to dump patients to save the government from political embarrassment...More

AMA Welcomes New Beds For Townsville - August 28, 2006
AMA Queensland has welcomed the Government’s promise of 100 new beds for Townsville Hospital if it is re-elected...More

Ramsay to absorb nurses' wage increase - August 28, 2006
Ramsay Health Care Ltd says it will absorb a planned 40 per cent increase in nurses wages in Queensland with help from the health funds...More

Beattie's pledge on surgery - August 21, 2006
An extra 6000 patients a year will be offered elective surgery under an innovative Labor plan to ensure operations are no longer postponed because of a medical emergency or lack of hospital beds...More  

Rehab role for bush hospitals - August 21, 2006
Specialist medical services would continue to be withdrawn from rural and regional Queensland but bush hospitals could be kept open if used as rehabilitation centres, state Health Minister Stephen Robertson said yesterday...More

Fixing a sick system - August 19, 2006
Six months after being hired to implement and refine costly and complicated health reforms in Queensland , and on the eve of a state election being called, professor Stephen Duckett is surprisingly upbeat...More

Queensland Needs Good Health Policy Not Health Politics - August 15, 2006
AMA Queensland is calling on the three major political parties to place workable, well-founded health policy firmly on their agenda during the forthcoming election...More

AMA Queensland Welcomes Stand Alone Board - August 14, 2006
AMA Queensland today welcomed the Premier’s announcement of a stand-alone medical board in Queensland ...More

WA Health To Review Medical Services - August, 2006
The West Australian Department of Health will review medical services in the Pilbara and Kimberley after admitting public hospitals urgently require equipment upgrades...More

Actions Speak Louder Than Words For Waiting Lists - August 3, 2006
AMA Queensland President Dr Zelle Hodge said the latest report into waiting lists showed Queenslanders had seen a reduction in services despite a massive funding increase...More

 Amalgamation Woes Need To End - August 2, 2006
AMA (NSW) is glad to see area health service governance back on the political agenda...More


International News

Cuba steps up fight against mosquitoes - August 24, 2006
Has stepped up measures to check the spread of dengue, a mosquito-transmitted virus that causes a fever that can be deadly...More

NY mayor gives $164m to stop smoking - August 16, 2006 (US)
Billionaire New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an ex-smoker, today announced plans to donate $US125 million ($164.83 million) to help the world stop smoking...More

U.S. Health Care System in Need of Change, Report Says - August 3, 2006 (US)
The U.S. health care system lags behind other industrialized nations despite providing some of the best health care in the world, but implementing policies to increase quality and access to care could reverse the trend, according to a new report by The Commonwealth Fund...More

Framework for a High Performance Health System for the United States - August, 2006 (US)
Despite spending the most on health care, the United States lags behind other industrialized nations on many dimensions of health system performance...More

A glimpse of a demand-side revolution - August, 2006
Recent guidance from the Department of Health has placed the commissioning function centre stage (Health reform in England: update and commissioning framework). The guidance articulates in detail how commissioning might be undertaken and sets out a number of important new flexibilities that will strengthen the role of commissioners...More

 Other News