Category Archives: Health

Fears over proliferation of disinfectant wipes linked to health problems

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Researchers say wipes common in schools and care homes exposing people to dangerous chemical group called ‘quats’

Since the pandemic’s outset, the global use of disinfectants has gone through the roof. Clorox dramatically boosted production of its wipe packs to 1.5m a day by mid-2021, and an industry trade group said 83% of consumers surveyed around the same time reported they had used a disinfectant wipe in the last week.

But as schools reopened, a group of toxic chemical researchers grew concerned as they heard reports of kids regularly using disinfectant wipes on their classroom desks, or teachers running disinfectant foggers.

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Almost half of tobacco lobbyists in Australia have held positions in government, study finds

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Research investigates the ‘revolving door’ between the tobacco industry and politics and how it influences policy

Understanding the links between tobacco companies, their lobbyists and Australian politics “was like doing a complex, 5,000-piece jigsaw with many missing or blank pieces”, Cancer Council NSW researcher Melissa Jones says.

In research that took several months, Jones and her colleagues found almost half (48%) of internal tobacco company lobbyists held positions in state, territory or federal government before or after working in the tobacco industry.

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Sudan’s doctors turn to social media as health infrastructure crumbles

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With hospitals struggling amid the violence, medics are using helplines on messaging platforms to reach those in need

Sudanese doctors are turning to social media to reach patients as hospitals and heath facilities struggle to function or close completely in the violence. Volunteers have set up 24-hour helplines on messaging platforms including WhatsApp, staffed by hundreds of doctors and specialists.

Only 16% of hospitals in the capital, Khartoum, are operating at full capacity, according to the World Health Organization. Last week at least four people, including a child, were killed in an airstrike outside East Nile hospital in north Khartoum, while Médecins Sans Frontières reported that El Geneina teaching hospital, in west Darfur, was looted on 28 April. Doctors in the country are reporting death threats and on Monday two volunteers who were working to reopen a hospital in Bahri were released after being held for days by the army.

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Pledge to reduce NHS backlog has been broken, Steve Barclay admits

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NHS in England missed target that patients waiting 18 months for an operation would be treated by April

A key government pledge to reduce the size of the NHS’s record-breaking care backlog has been broken, the health secretary has admitted.

Steve Barclay slipped out the news in a Commons statement on Tuesday about a totally unrelated area of NHS policy – his new plan to improve access to GP care.

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Pharmacist at former Sunak family chemist wary of PM’s health plans

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Jithender Ballepu says more staff and funding would be needed and has concerns about passing antibiotics over the counter

There is no plaque outside Bassett Pharmacy in Southampton to indicate this was once run by the prime minister’s mother but there is a sign round the back that gives the game away: “Parking for Sunak Pharmacy customers.”

Inside, the pharmacist Jithender Ballepu was expressing reservations about Rishi Sunak’s plans for chemist shops to provide prescriptions for millions of patients in England.

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Chinese woman appeals in battle for right to freeze her eggs

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Xu Zaozao’s case is widely followed in a country where women’s rights have become increasingly prominent

A single Chinese woman has begun an appeal in her legal battle for the right to freeze her eggs, a procedure only available in China to married couples.

Xu Zaozao took legal action in 2019 after a Beijing hospital refused to freeze her eggs but a Beijing court dismissed her case in July 2022.

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NHS disruption warning as ambulance staff strike in south-east England

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Hospitals chief says action ‘will pile even more pressure’ on already overstretched services and calls for talks

Ambulance staff in the south-east of England are to strike over pay for the second time on Tuesday, prompting warnings from hospital bosses of further pressure on overstretched emergency services.

Members of the Unite trade union employed by two ambulance trusts are striking after rejecting the government’s pay offer of a lump sum cash payment for 2022-23 and a below inflation increase of 5% for 2023-24.

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Sudan medical volunteers detained after being seized from ambulance

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Mohamed Ahmed and Mohamed Jamal went missing last week while working to reopen a hospital in Bahri

Activists in Sudan have expressed outrage after two medical volunteers were seized from the ambulance they were driving in northern Khartoum and detained for days by army intelligence officers, as airstrikes and clashes continued across the capital.

Mohamed Ahmed and Mohamed Jamal went missing last week while working with other volunteers to reopen the Haj al-Safi hospital in Bahri, which had been forced to close amid heavy fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

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Lack of pregnancy care for international students in Australia may lead to ‘reluctant abortions’, inquiry told

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Advocates say people on student visas, who are initially ineligible for reproductive healthcare, risk dropping out if they fall pregnant

International students are being denied pregnancy care, leading to them dropping out of university, having “reluctant abortions”, and or undertaking sex work to pay for antenatal care, advocates say.

Those on student visas are not eligible for Medicare and instead must take out overseas student health cover (OSHC). The terms of that cover – agreed via a deed between the federal government and insurers – exclude any pregnancy care for the first year.

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Heroin overdoses surge in Melbourne as health services struggle to cope

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Victorian capital’s CBD recorded most fatal heroin overdoses in country between 2020 and 2022, with 12,000 syringe kits now handed out each month

Stronger heroin on the streets of Melbourne is resulting in a spike in overdoses in the CBD, with community health organisations saying they are buckling under the increased strain.

The most recent data from the Victorian coroner’s court shows between July 2020 and June 2022 Melbourne’s city centre had the highest amount of fatal heroin overdoses of any local government area. There were 29 deaths, followed by 28 in Brimbank and 23 in the City of Yarra.

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Met police investigate more organ trafficking cases in UK

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Modern slavery team reveals further allegations of people being trafficked to London for body parts

The Metropolitan police is investigating more cases of organ trafficking in the UK after new victims came forward following the first conviction for the offence under modern slavery laws.

Detectives from Scotland Yard’s modern slavery and child exploitation team have said they are investigating more allegations of people being trafficked for their body parts to London and other areas of the UK.

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Opposition leader says no federal intervention needed – as it happened

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Albanese added he is concerned about Assange’s mental health.

There was a court decision here in the United Kingdom that was then overturned on appeal that went to Mr Assange’s health, as well, and I am concerned for him.

It’s frustrating. I share the frustration. I can’t do more than make very clear what my position is.

… I think that the Assange case needs to be looked at in terms of what occurred, what the allegations are, and whether the time effectively that has been served already is in excess of what would be reasonable if it were proved that this had occurred.

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Warning social media being ‘weaponised’ over referendum – as it happened

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Senators Jacqui Lambie and Tammy Tyrrell have agreed to back the government’s housing affordability legislation.

The housing minister, Julie Collins, has told ABC Radio the deal was struck after the government agreed to build 1,200 social housing homes in every state and territory:

We’ve agreed to make sure that every state and territory gets a fair share of housing from the housing future funding from other federal government programs.

What we want to do is make sure that every state and territory gets their fair share of funding.

Many of these deaths occurred in the home. There is opportunity for others present to avert death and reverse the effects of an opioid overdose if they administer a medicine called naloxone.

The Australian Government has funded the availability of naloxone for free, without a prescription, for anyone who may be at risk of witnessing or experiencing an overdose.

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Poor mental health support during pregnancy risks UK women’s lives

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Perinatal mental health services do not meet national quality standards, report finds

Women’s lives are being put at risk by substandard mental health care during their pregnancy and in the first year after childbirth in most parts of the UK, a report has found.

About one in every five women develops a mental illness at some point during the perinatal period, the stage from pregnancy up to a year after giving birth. However, none of the health and social care boards in Northern Ireland or Wales met the national quality standards created by the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Perinatal Quality Network (PQN).

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Keir Starmer accuses government of trying to resurrect Sue Gray story to damage Labour ahead of local elections – UK politics live

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James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, has also been giving interviews this morning. He told Sky News that Keir Starmer would have “some serious questions to answer” if today’s Cabinet Office report says she started talks about taking a job with Labour while still working with the civil service team giving advice to the privileges committee in relation to its inquiry into Boris Johnson and Partygate.

Labour sources have told the Telegraph that Gray was not involved in the Cabinet Office propriety and ethics team’s (PET’s) work with the privileges committee while she was in contact with Labour.

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Australia news live: RBA interest rates decision a ‘wake-up call’ for Labor, Angus Taylor says

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Chalmers promises ‘substantial cost-of-living relief’ for most vulnerable

Asked if the age of 55 is the distinction Jim Chalmers thinks should be made on jobseeker, the treasurer says:

The reason I’m using 55 is because the reports that we received women’s economic equality taskforce and the economic inclusion advisory committee, which has been, in welcome ways, discussed quite a lot on your program, say that women over 55 are the most vulnerable group amongst unemployed Australians.

We’ve indicated before that we want to do something to help them in particular, but again, without pre-empting what’s in the budget in a week’s time, there will be a number of elements to our cost-of-living relief. Not all of them will be determined by age. For example, our energy bill relief plan, which will be in the budget in a week’s time, is for people on pensions and payments right across the board, not limited by age.

Will you increase jobseeker for people aged over 55?

There will be responsible cost-of-living relief in the budget, and it will focus on the most vulnerable people. There will be a number of elements to it. It won’t all be limited to one cohort or another. But it will all be made clear in the budget.

First of all, the jobseeker payment already makes a distinction between workers closer to the age pension, older workers, it already pays a different rate at the moment for people over 60. And that’s in recognition that it is harder to find a new job at that end of your working life. That’s the first point.

The second point is related. All of the expert advice a lot of the analysis I’ve heard it on your show, and it’s been right, says that the group that’s most likely to be long-term unemployed – people over 55 – that that group is dominated by women that the most vulnerable part of the unemployed population in Australia is at the moment women over 55. And so that’s another issue that people need to factor in.

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Health secretary Steve Barclay told ‘not to be disrespectful’ to striking NHS nurses – UK politics live

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RCN leader urges health secretary to resolve ongoing pay dispute as one-day strike affects cancer and emergency care for first time

Parliamentary security guards confiscated reports and leaflets about Hong Kong from attenders of an event in Westminster in case they caused political upset, Kiran Stacey and Tom Burgis write, in a move condemned by a senior Conservative MP as “completely daft”.

Officers on the parliamentary estate forced people attending a meeting of the all-party parliamentary group on Hong Kong last Monday to hand over copies of a report by the group about press freedom there, as well as leaflets campaigning for the release of the media tycoon Jimmy Lai.

This is a culmination of our pay not reflecting the hours we are working. The last decade has made things considerably worse. Our colleagues are out in force because things have got so bad that we cannot pay our rent or our bills, we are relying on food banks.

We have spent the last few years fighting the pandemic. It matters to us and the care we provide matters to us. The fact the government are not looking at our pay has caused us to do this.

It’s a profession that I love, I love caring for people, and when I started the job it was not like this. The money was small, but it was sufficient, and we were proud of being a nurse.

The definition of nursing is about caring for people and making them comfortable if they are at the end of their lives, but how is that possible when there is one nurse having to look after 10 patients at a time because we’re short-staffed?

How am I supposed to live? If I don’t pay my council tax, they take me to court, or if I don’t pay my rent, I lose my home. At 70, I’m still working; what life is that?

They are clapping for us but refuse to pay us properly. If they (politicians) were here, I would tell them to their faces.

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RCN and train drivers’ union dispute ministers’ claims about their strikes

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Nurses union head clashes with Steve Barclay over plans to protect patients and RMT rows with Mark Harper about striking on eve of Eurovision final

The Royal College of Nursing has clashed with the government over whether sufficient exemptions have been made to protect patient safety during the nurses’ strike in England that started on Sunday evening.

The clash came as a row erupted between the leader of the train drivers’ union and the transport secretary, who had criticised a planned strike on the eve of the Eurovision song contest final for its impact on Ukraine.

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Victoria Greens to push for greater access to safe injecting rooms with proposed bill change

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Exclusive: Proposed amendment would make North Richmond facility permanent and widen eligibility criteria

The Victorian Greens will introduce changes to a government bill in a push to make it easier to open more safe injecting rooms and allow greater access for the “most vulnerable and marginalised” drug users.

The government’s drugs, poisons and controlled substances amendment (medically supervised injecting centre) bill 2023, which will make the currently facility in North Richmond permanent, will be debated and voted on in the upper house when parliament resumes this week.

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Small businesses offered tax breaks for going green in federal budget – as it happened

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Marles on Australians caught in Sudan conflict

Asked about Australians caught in Sudan and the conflict there, Richard Marles says “there are still options out of Port Sudan which is on the Red Sea, which is, I think it’s about 800km out of Khartoum” to leave “what is obviously a deteriorating situation”:

There are ferries there and there may be other options coming out of that. I mean, the important thing is this – Australians in Sudan, and there do remain a number of Australians in Sudan, really need to make sure that they register.

We will continue to work with friends and allies and do everything that we can within our power to provide options for Australians who want to leave. Because we understand how difficult this situation is now.

Ultimately, our ambition is to establish a production line with companies in this country which would provide for the manufacture of those long-range strike missiles and doing as much of that as possible in the next couple of years. We hope that we can begin with the assembly of the strike missiles that go in the Himars system. But we want to build on that so that we’re actually manufacturing the full suite of these weapons in Australia.

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