Category Archives: Health

Australian Medical Association disappointed by major party funding inaction amid hospital crisis

Posted on by

AMA chief to call on Anthony Albanese to ‘stand for health’, saying funding boost is urgent to alleviate pressure on medical system

The head of Australia’s peak medical body will meet with the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, to urge him to reconsider his “small target” strategy on health. Dr Omar Khorshid will warn that substantial funding is urgently needed to address the crisis in the country’s hospitals.

The message from the Australian Medical Association president comes after Albanese called him on Thursday morning in response to the association criticising Labor’s $135m urgent care clinic policy, announced this week, as “incoherent”.

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

Continue reading...

One in eight privately rented homes in England pose threat to health, MPs say

Posted on by

Serious health and safety risks costing NHS £340m a year, public accounts committee report finds

More than one in eight privately rented homes in England pose a serious threat to people’s health and safety, costing the NHS about £340m a year, according to a report from a committee of MPs.

It also uncovered evidence of unlawful discrimination, with an estimated one in four landlords unwilling to let to non-British passport holders.

Continue reading...

Third of GPs in England want to quit within five years, survey finds

Posted on by

Practitioners’ struggles include increased workloads, greater demand from patients, and paperwork

A third of GPs in England say they want to quit within five years, according to a regular survey which warns that clinical doctors are especially unhappy with the number of hours they work.

The survey of 2,195 GPs undertaken in 2021 found 33% planned to leave “direct patient care” by 2026. The figure represents a return to levels last seen in 2015, after plans to quit peaked in 2018 when two in five GPs wanted to stop seeing patients within five years.

Continue reading...

Non-compliant online STI tests put patients at risk, experts warn

Posted on by

Few sexually transmitted infection test kits available online meet official standards, BMJ study finds

Patients are being put at risk in the UK because very few sexually transmitted infection (STI) tests offered online meet official standards, experts have warned.

The NHS provides free in-person tests for STIs via its network of sexual health and genitourinary medicine clinics. Patients can also order tests via the internet from both NHS-commissioned and private providers, a practice that has become increasingly popular during the pandemic.

Continue reading...

Babies missing out on health checks in Melbourne due to Covid-related workforce shortages

Posted on by

Exclusive: two Victorian councils limiting maternal and infant service, despite government lifting statewide pause enacted during Covid surge

There are fears health issues in babies could be going undetected as infant and maternal health checks remain suspended in parts of Melbourne’s west due to a shortage of workers.

Early childhood and maternal care experts warned the ongoing limits to the free service meant some parents were relying on blogs instead to find health information about their child’s development.

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

Continue reading...

Labor to commit $135m to trial 50 urgent care clinics intended to ease pressure on hospitals

Posted on by

Announcement comes alongside policies to strengthen Medicare and ‘make it easier to see a doctor’ as ambulance wait times blow out

Anthony Albanese is set to announce Labor’s first major health commitment of the election campaign: $135m to trial 50 new urgent care clinics meant to ease pressure on hospitals.

The clinics will be based at GP surgeries and community health centres in at least 50 locations across the country. Labor says they will be modelled on a similar scheme operating in New Zealand.

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

Continue reading...

Australia politics live updates: Joyce announces $1.5bn Darwin port facility; Coalition costing of Labor policies ‘laughable’, says Gallagher

Posted on by

Deputy PM promises $1.5bn investment for new Darwin port; Labor senator takes shot at Coalition’s ‘dodgy costings unit’; Scott Morrison promises to create 1.3m new jobs in the next five years; Anthony Albanese announces greater mental health support for regions; nation records 38 more Covid deaths. Follow all the day’s news

Scott Morrison has called in to Adelaide radio station FiveAA to speak with David Penberthy.

Penberthy wanted to know whether Morrison’s standing contributed to the collapse in the Liberal party’s vote in the recent South Australian state election.

It’s a federal election.

It’s a macro number that we do right across the economy.

I think prime minister Ardern was appropriate when she said she wasn’t going to engage in a domestic election in Australia. I would say this – this is a recommendation of the royal commission. This is a recommendation that arises out of the situation that we see older Australians facing. Neglect, people are being neglected.

Now, what we are saying is let’s work to bring in more nurses to the sector ... a lot of nurses leave the sector every year, or leave their employer. We need to train more Australians to get into this workforce, and yes, as is currently the place, migration will be part of the story but not all of the story.

Continue reading...

Leaders make first pitches to voters after PM sets poll date – as it happened

Posted on by

Scott Morrison says federal election about choosing between ‘a government you know and a Labor opposition you don’t’; Anthony Albanese says ‘Australians deserve better’ at campaign launch; at least 13 more deaths from Covid. This blog is now closed

Very glad to report the ABC has a live feed of the PM’s plan taxiing along at Sydney airport. Thoroughly engaging stuff.

The ABC is now reporting the PM has jumped aboard the official prime ministerial jet at Sydney airport, heading to Canberra.

Continue reading...

As Britain learns to live with Covid, it faces a new pandemic of disruption

Posted on by

Staff shortages, delays and rising prices are playing havoc with the healthcare, education, farming, hospitality and travel sectors

Although the UK no longer faces the threat of lockdowns or intensive care units being imminently overrun, coronavirus is still disrupting much of society and the economy.

As Britain learns to live with Covid, the virus is still playing havoc with our daily lives, and these difficulties have been compounded by post-Brexit chaos in some in sectors.

Continue reading...

Ensure waist size is less than half your height, health watchdog says

Posted on by

Guidance for England and Wales comes amid increasing concern over rate of obesity and cost to NHS

A health watchdog is urging millions of people for the first time to ensure their waist size is less than half their height in order to help stave off serious health problems.

The UK has one of the worst obesity rates in Europe, with two in three adults officially overweight or obese in an escalating crisis that now costs the NHS £6bn a year and wider society £27bn.

Continue reading...

Australia news live updates: NSW flood evacuation orders; asylum seekers to be released from detention; 30 Covid deaths

Posted on by

Seventeen asylum seekers expected to be released from detention; flood evacuation orders in NSW; Marise Payne meeting Nato members to discuss Ukraine; NSW records 16 Covid deaths and 22,255 new infections; Victoria records four deaths and 12,314 new infections; WA records 7,998 new infections and three deaths over past weeks; Queensland records seven deaths and 10,984 new cases. Follow all the day’s news live

The man seeking a high court challenge against federal intervention in NSW Liberal preselections has been expelled from the party.

In an escalation of the factional stoush, Matthew Camenzuli has asked the high court to prevent Scott Morrison’s hand-picked candidates from receiving Liberal endorsement on ballot papers pending the urgent case.

Continue reading...

Spain bans harassment of women having abortions

Posted on by

Activists could face up to a year in prison for trying to intimidate women into not having terminations

Spain has criminalised the harassment or intimidation of women going for an abortion under new legislation approved by the Senate on Wednesday.

The move, which involves changes to the penal code, means anti-abortion activists who try to convince women not to terminate their pregnancies could face up to a year behind bars.

Continue reading...

Pregnant women increasingly left out of pocket by Medicare antenatal consultations, doctors say

Posted on by

Peak GPs body calls for Medicare rebate to be extended to cover growing complexity of care for expectant mothers

Expectant mothers are unable to afford some antenatal consultations, the peak body representing GPs says, as doctors call on the federal government to raise the Medicare rebate.

Dr Karen Price, the president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, says there have been significant advances in antenatal care over the years but Medicare patient rebates had not kept pace with the costs of providing it.

Continue reading...

Australia news live updates: MPs respond to Morrison criticism; 20 Covid deaths; major Optus mobile network outage

Posted on by

Foreign and defence ministers label Putin a ‘war criminal’; major Optus mobile network outage; ministers respond to criticism of Scott Morrison; NSW records 12 Covid deaths and 19,183 new infections; Victoria records eight deaths and 12,007 new infections. Follow all the latest updates live

Another senior Liberal has taken aim at Scott Morrison, accusing him of “self-serving ruthless bullying” and claiming he has “ruined” the Liberal party.

Catherine Cusack, a NSW Liberal who announced two weeks ago she would resign from the Legislative Council over her anger about flood relief, adds her voice to a growing chorus of critics of Morrison from within his own party in an opinion piece for Guardian Australia.

The concerns over the prime minister’s character are now well established, and they’re well established not by the Labor party, but the people who know him best.

I mean his own deputy prime minister called him a liar and a hypocrite*. These people know him best, they’ve served in cabinet with him, in the Liberal party with him over a period of many years ...

Continue reading...

Repeated maternity failings uncovered in Sheffield NHS trust

Posted on by

Watchdog expresses concern over safety of mothers and babies days after damning Shrewsbury report

Hospital inspectors have uncovered repeated maternity failings and expressed serious concern about the safety of mothers and babies in Sheffield just days after a damning report warned there had been hundreds of avoidable baby deaths in Shrewsbury.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) found Sheffield teaching hospitals NHS foundation trust, one of the largest NHS trusts in England, had failed to make the required improvements to services when it visited in October and November, despite receiving previous warnings from the watchdog.

Continue reading...

Aged care bodies and unions demand Coalition match Labor’s pledge to fund potential wage rises

Posted on by

Federal opposition says it will pay any increase ordered by Fair Work Commission but Coalition has stopped short of such a guarantee

Aged care industry bodies and unions have criticised the Morrison government for failing to commit to fully fund any pay increases ordered as a result of the sector’s work value case.

Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) and Leading Age Services Australia (Lasa) have both warned that providers would not be able to pay the increase meaning the industrial tribunal would need to order a smaller rise – or operators could be forced to close.

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

Continue reading...

Covid lockdown dreams reflected our claustrophobia and lack of control

Posted on by

From the scary to the truly weird, our nights were full of apt visions in the early days of the pandemic, a study at University College London found

• See all our coronavirus coverage

Trapped inside a house, stuck inside a vehicle that wouldn’t move, unable to complete seemingly simple tasks: this was the stuff that dreams were made on during lockdown, according to new research from University College London.

Analysis of more than 850 dreams and nightmares submitted online to the Lockdown Dreams Project between March 2020 and March 2021 shows people often dreamed about having frustrating and restrictive experiences in mundane, everyday settings, like the home, at the height of the pandemic.

Continue reading...

Australia live news updates: Severe weather and flood warnings for Victoria; NSW reports 11 Covid deaths, Victoria records two Covid deaths, WA reports three historical deaths

Posted on by

Dangerous flash flooding possible in East Gippsland; NSW reports 11 Covid deaths and 16,807 new cases; Victoria has two deaths and 9,008 cases; Towke breaks silence over 2007 preselection fight with Morrison

We were expecting to hear from Scott Morrison this morning during his visit to Devils Gate Hydroelectric Power Station in Tasmania.

There’s no media conference yet from that visit, but if and when it does happen we’ll let you know.

Continue reading...

Morrison and Modi witness trade deal signing; Australia records 25 Covid deaths – as it happened

Posted on by

Australian states and territories report 25 Covid deaths; damaging winds hit parts of NSW along with hazardous surf and abnormally high tides. This blog is now closed

Some more on the refugees who have been released. AAP reports 20 refugees were released from detention on Friday night, including ten from Melbourne’s Park Hotel:

It comes three weeks after 13 refugees were released from detention centres in Melbourne and Brisbane.

At the time, advocates said nine men were released from the Park Hotel, along with one other in Broadmeadows and three men in Brisbane.

Continue reading...

Hundreds fitted with artificial pancreas in NHS type 1 diabetes trial

Posted on by

Adults and children wear device that monitors glucose level and adjusts amount of insulin delivered

Hundreds of adults and children with type 1 diabetes in England have been fitted with an artificial pancreas that experts say could become the “holy grail” for managing the disease, in a world-first trial on the NHS.

The groundbreaking device uses an algorithm to determine the amount of insulin that should be administered and reads blood sugar levels to keep them steady. The NHS trial has so far found the technology more effective at managing diabetes than current devices and that it requires far less input from patients.

Continue reading...