Category Archives: Health

Coalition offers qualified support for Indigenous voice as PM reveals referendum wording – as it happened

Posted on by

Anthony Albanese announces draft wording of referendum question in Garma festival speech. This blog is now closed

AFP says reports of human trafficking and slavery reach highest ever level

Reports of human trafficking and slavery to the AFP have increased to their “highest ever reported”, according to new data released today.

This is the first time in Australia’s history where the uptake of a unified training and awareness-raising protocol to combat human trafficking and slavery will be delivered across all frontline agencies and jurisdictions.

This represents a critical step to addressing the scourge of human trafficking in the Australian community and it’s a job the AFP and our partners will work together to combat.

Dr Khorshid was elected AMA president during the first peak of the pandemic and quickly became the voice of reason, of calm and of urgency when needed – lobbying government, and fronting the media, along with hard-working vice-president Dr Chris Moy, to send clear messages about the pandemic.

His leadership was particularly critical during the early stages when there was no vaccine, and the focus was on implementing effective public health measures to ensure the safety of the community and healthcare workers.

Continue reading...

£1bn needed to speed up mental health care for UK children, report says

Posted on by

Call for ‘once in a generation’ package for NHS so young people can receive treatment within four weeks

Children needing mental health services should be guaranteed treatment within four weeks, with next-day referrals for those at risk of self-harm and suicide, according to an inquiry into the explosion in demand from young people for psychiatric help.

The inquiry by the Commission on Young Lives, chaired by the former children’s commissioner for England Anne Longfield, said a “once in a generation” £1bn recovery package was needed to boost an overstretched NHS system too often forced to turn away unwell youngsters.

Continue reading...

Bohra imam’s visit puts British girls at risk of mutilation, warn FGM campaigners

Posted on by

Dawoodi Bohra leader Mufaddal Saifuddin, who is in the UK to preach, is an advocate of the abusive practice whose visa should be revoked, say activists

Campaigners have criticised the UK government for granting a visa to a religious leader who has advocated for female genital mutilation (FGM).

Mufaddal Saifuddin who is the syedna, or leader, of the Dawoodi Bohra community, a sect of Shia Islam with 1.2 million followers worldwide, will give sermons in front of tens of thousands of people at Northolt mosque in London between 29 July and 7 August.

Continue reading...

Queensland Health to review medical costs for sexual assault victims by end of year

Posted on by

Organisation says fees for treatment of injuries, MRIs and STI testing for people without medicare would be reassessed

Queensland Health has committed to reviewing medical costs billed to sexual assault victims who are ineligible for Medicare by the end of the year, following reports one victim was charged $800 for pathology tests.

It comes after reports by Guardian Australia prompted Queensland Health to pledge not to charge sexual assault victims without access to Medicare for rape kits.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Tavistock gender identity clinic is closing: what happens next?

Posted on by

Analysis: as NHS shuts London clinic for young people, new regional hubs are planned – but thousands remain on waiting lists

When the Gender Identity Development Service for Children and Adolescents (GIDS) at the Tavistock and Portman NHS trust in London was established in 1983, it was a different era in terms of the medical understanding of gender dysphoria and the cultural debate around appropriate treatments for transgender young people.

The demand for the service was unrecognisable for what it is today: in the past decade alone, the number of referrals to the GIDS went from 138 in 2010-11 to 2,383 in 2020-21.

Continue reading...

Cancer researchers unable to access clinical trial data for top-selling drugs, study finds

Posted on by

Lack of transparency from pharmaceutical companies on anticancer medication has implications for health equity, Australian scientist says

Clinical trial data that saw some of the world’s most widely used cancer drugs approved by the US drugs regulator remains secret, despite a pharmaceutical industry commitment to transparency made in 2014.

The authors of a study published in the journal JAMA Oncology on Friday said the lack of transparency should be concerning to Australia.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Australia politics live: Pauline Hanson under fire for welcome to country walkout; Kylea Tink and Stephen Bates make first speeches to parliament

Posted on by

AAP has a preview of today’s inflation figures, which are going to be horrible:

Australia could be about to record its worst inflation outcome in more than 31 years, paving the way for higher mortgage and lending rates.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics will release the consumer price index data for the June quarter – when the price of a supermarket iceberg lettuce hit $10 – on Wednesday.

The financial market consensus is for a headline annual inflation rate of 6.2% – the highest since the December quarter of 1990.

That would be more than the 5.1% rate logged in the March quarter, which was the fastest pace of annual price growth in 21 years.

“Since then, inflation has likely broadened and deepened,” St George chief economist Besa Deda said.

The quarterly outcome is forecast at 1.8%, which would be slightly lower than the 2.1% recorded in the previous quarter.

But the range of economists’ forecasts for the quarterly number is wide – between 1.6% and 2.8% – signalling uncertainty about how deeply entrenched price pressures have become since March.

While the main drivers of inflation in the June quarter will again be fuel and food costs, housing and building costs are also likely to be strong – perhaps as high as 20% year-on-year, according to JP Morgan economists.

Other factors are adding to the pressure, particularly in the housing sector, where rents are rising and demand for new homes and related construction services and products remains strong.

It is the first question time today. In case you missed it, here is Murph’s analysis on the plan so far:

Continue reading...

Air pollution is ‘likely’ to raise dementia risk, find UK government experts

Posted on by

Cognitive decline in older people more likely to be accelerated by exposure to emissions, finds review of 70 studies

Air pollution is likely to increase the risk of developing dementia, a government research group has said.

The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants has published its findings after reviewing almost 70 studies which analysed how exposure to emissions affect the brain over time.

Continue reading...

Covid hospitalisations to grow another 60% from current record, Queensland modelling shows

Posted on by

State government says it is making extra hospital beds available and scaling up ambulance coordination

Covid-19 hospitalisations in Queensland are not likely to peak for another month, with the latest modelling projecting a maximum caseload of about 1,660 in late August.

The estimate represents a 60% increase of close to 600 on existing hospital numbers, which are sitting at slightly more than 1,000, the highest level of the pandemic so far.

Continue reading...

Zoe Daniel and Sally Sitou call for climate action in first speeches to parliament – as it happened

Posted on by

Cash: No way the Coalition will support a lower emissions target

The next interview on ABC radio RN is with the shadow employment minister, Michaelia Cash, who has a lot to say about the scrapping of the ABCC. Cash, you may remember, was one of its biggest supporters while in government.

The Coalition won more votes than the Australian Labor party.

Continue reading...

UK doctors ‘less likely’ to resuscitate the most seriously ill patients since Covid

Posted on by

Pandemic may have changed decision-making, according to research published in Journal of Medical Ethics

Doctors are less likely to resuscitate the most seriously ill patients in the wake of the pandemic, a survey suggests.

Covid-19 may have changed doctors’ decision-making regarding end of life, making them more willing not to resuscitate very sick or frail patients and raising the threshold for referral to intensive care, according to the results of the research published in the Journal of Medical Ethics.

Continue reading...

Covid hospitalisations in Australia hit new record, surpassing January peak

Posted on by

Experts say lower ICU figures partly due to aged care deaths, while AMA vice president labels number of Covid patients ‘massive’

The number of Australians in hospital with Covid-19 has reached the highest point of the entire pandemic, according to data from CovidLive.

On Monday, there were 5,429 Covid patients in hospital, surpassing the previous record of 5,390 set in late January.

Continue reading...

Aged care sector warns ADF assistance not enough to address ‘stark’ staff shortages

Posted on by

Unions and providers welcome one-month extension of workforce support but say tens of thousands of aged care workers unavailable

The aged care sector has warned that a pledge of additional military assistance will not be enough to solve the “stark” staff shortages linked to the current Covid-19 wave, which has seen the number of active outbreaks and the weekly death toll nearly double in a single month.

The federal government announced overnight it would extend Australian defence force support for aged care from its previous August endpoint until the end of September, plus boost the available military workforce by more than 200 personnel to help the sector cope with the current Omicron wave.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

‘Voters don’t want a culture war’: Victorian Liberals raise concerns over preselections

Posted on by

Candidates include Evan Mulholland from the Institute of Public Affairs and Moira Deeming, who called for abortion laws to be repealed

Several Victorian Liberal MPs have raised concerns the preselection of candidates at the weekend could undermine efforts to present as a more progressive party ahead of the November state election.

Evan Mulholland, from the right-leaning Institute of Public Affairs, was preselected on Sunday for the top spot on the Liberal party ticket for the upper house Northern Metropolitan Region, replacing Craig Ondarchie. This came after Melton city councillor Moira Deeming was endorsed for the Western Metropolitan Region on Saturday.

Continue reading...

UK needs urgent vaccine drive to curb monkeypox, campaigners say

Posted on by

Terrence Higgins Trust says action must be stepped up to prevent disease becoming endemic

Health authorities are underestimating the scale of the response required to stop monkeypox becoming endemic in the UK, sexual health campaigners have warned, as a new vaccination drive is launched.

The Terrence Higgins Trust urged the NHS and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to urgently pump cash into the system to pay more healthcare workers to administer vaccines. It also wants the number of doses ordered to be doubled to protect against a virus that has infected at least 2,208 people in the UK, according to the latest official figures.

Continue reading...

Covid hits a third of Australia’s aged care homes as 6,000 residents infected

Posted on by

Providers call for urgent support as 3,400 staff infected in 1,013 facilities and fears two-thirds of homes could soon have outbreaks

Aged care providers are calling for urgent action to protect residents and staff from a winter Covid-19 wave which is hitting more than one-third of the country’s facilities.

The Aged and Community Care Providers Association said 6,000 residents and 3,400 staff were infected in 1,013 facilities as of Thursday.

Continue reading...

International doctors unable to work in Australia due to ‘broken system’, experts say

Posted on by

Health leaders call for streamlining of complex registration process as overseas-trained doctors look elsewhere for work

Hundreds of foreign-trained doctors living in Australia have been unable to work due to what critics say is a “broken system”, amid calls for the process to be improved to help address chronic workforce shortages in the health sector.

The health minister, Mark Butler, had flagged his concerns about the registration for international medical graduates (IMGs), saying he has sought advice about how to speed up registration for doctors already in the country.

Continue reading...

Critical elements of leading Alzheimer’s study possibly fraudulent

Posted on by

The highly influential paper, first published in 2006, has helped guide billions of dollars in US federal research into the disease

Critical elements of one of the most cited pieces of Alzheimer’s disease research in the last two decades may have been purposely manipulated, according to a report in Science.

Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia globally, according to the World Health Organization. The highly influential paper, which was published in Nature in 2006, has helped guide billions of dollars in US federal government research into Alzheimer’s, according to Science.

Continue reading...

Child vaping risks becoming ‘public health catastrophe’ in UK, experts warn

Posted on by

There are fears that the e-cigarette boom has the potential to create a generation of young people hooked on nicotine

Lindsey Smith’s son was 14 when he bought his first vape. Engrossed in videos of YouTubers making “ghost puffs” with the vapour, he decided he wanted to try it for himself.

At first he would spend hours trying to copy the strangers online – sitting in his bedroom and practising exhalation techniques to create the ghost-shaped clouds he was seeing on his screen.

Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak says he is underdog in PM race as ‘forces that be’ want Truss

Posted on by

Former chancellor suggests Tory party powers hope leadership contest will be ‘a coronation’ for his rival

Rishi Sunak has positioned himself as the underdog in the Conservative leadership race, claiming the “forces that be” want Liz Truss to be the next prime minister.

Addressing a crowd in Grantham on Saturday, the Lincolnshire home town of Margaret Thatcher, Sunak declared “have no doubt, I am the underdog” and suggested that Conservative party powers want the race to be “a coronation” for Truss.

Continue reading...