Health ministry gives green light to two-step treatment made by British pharmaceutical firm Linepharma
The abortion pill will become available in Japan for the first time after the health ministry approved a drug used to terminate early-stage pregnancies.
Abortion is legal in Japan up to 22 weeks, but consent is usually required from a spouse or partner, and until now a surgical procedure had been the only option.
Continue reading...Two trusts and one children’s hospital to receive emergency nursing staff after RCN had said there would be no derogations
The Royal College of Nurses appears to have U-turned on its decision to allow no exemptions to hospitals during this weekend’s strike action, with nurses now due to work in an emergency capacity in dozens of hospitals across England.
Nurses will be working across several NHS trusts – including Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS foundation trust, in London, and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS foundation trust – in wards including intensive care and A&E. This is despite the RCN vowing when strike action was announced that exemptions would not be made for any hospitals.
Continue reading...Move is apparently designed to isolate the Royal College of Nursing, which is due to begin another strike
Ministers plan to impose a pay deal on NHS workers even as nurses continue to reject it, the Observer understands, as health service unions prepare to hold crunch talks on the package this week.
Both the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the Unite unions continue to oppose the deal offered to NHS workers, after protracted negotiations that have led to strikes and hampered attempts to shorten waiting lists. All 12 unions involved in the talks will gather on Tuesday to vote on whether to accept an improved deal covering the last two years.
Continue reading...Health service bosses say patient safety could be at risk when nurses in England stage 28-hour stoppage from Sunday evening
An NHS leader has urged the Royal College of Nursing to let striking nurses leave picket lines and go back to work in their hospital if emergencies occur during their strike this weekend.
Matthew Taylor made the appeal as the NHS braced itself for renewed disruption to services as a result of the first strike by nurses since they rejected the government’s improved pay offer.
Continue reading...Nation’s guidelines say no donor should father more than 25 children in 12 families
Dutch judges have ordered a man suspected of fathering more than 550 children through sperm donations to stop donating, in the latest fertility scandal to shock the Netherlands.
The man, identified in Dutch media only as Jonathan M, 41, was taken to court by a foundation protecting the rights of donor children and by the mother of one of the children allegedly fathered from his sperm.
Continue reading...ChatGPT rated higher in quality and empathy of written advice, raising possibility of medical assistance role
ChatGPT appears to have a better ‘bedside manner’ than some doctors – at least when their written advice is rated for quality and empathy, a study has shown.
The findings highlight the potential for AI assistants to play a role in medicine, according to the authors of the work, who suggest such agents could help draft doctors’ communications with patients. “The opportunities for improving healthcare with AI are massive,” said Dr John Ayers, of the University of California San Diego.
Continue reading...Changes to include introduction of plain packaging and ban on certain flavours, in line with suggestions from product watchdog review
The Australian government is expected to announce a crackdown on illegal vaping as early as next week, as concerns rise over the increasing uptake among teenagers.
The health minister, Mark Butler, will announce long-mooted changes to vaping regulation, including introducing plain packaging and a ban on certain flavours, ahead of the federal budget on 9 May.
Continue reading...ACCC says social media companies not doing enough to prevent users falling victim to scams on the sites. Follow live
‘Gamble responsibly’ to be replaced with ‘You win some you lose more’
Rishworth is also flagging further gambling reform to sports betting ads and other areas to come.
In addition to this credit card ban, to implementing a number of new measures, the government is very much looking forward to the House of Representatives inquiry into online wagering.
It is looking at a whole range of areas, including advertising. We look forward to those recommendations and certainly there is an appetite for a discussion about what comes next with my state and territory colleagues.
By using a credit card, you’re going into debt and if you are using that for online wagering, you can get yourself into trouble.
When it comes to things like casinos, pokies, you are not able to use a credit card for that, so we are wanting to bring in line online wagering and ban the use of credit cards.
Continue reading...National cabinet also plans to work on strengthening renters’ rights, boosting housing supply and affordability, and improving NDIS
Medical groups have praised the $2.2bn Medicare overhaul announced by national cabinet but warned there is more to do to fix the nation’s ailing general practice and hospital systems.
National cabinet committed nearly $1.5bn in new funding to overhaul Medicare, as part of a $2.2bn health plan to boost the number of nurses, increase after-hours care and expand the roles of pharmacists and paramedics.
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Continue reading...Humans with condition can have disturbed sleep, and similar symptoms in dogs indicate cognitive decline is under way
From loud snores to twitching paws, dogs often appear to have a penchant for a good snooze. But researchers have said elderly canines with dementia appear to spend less time slumbering than those with healthy brains – mirroring patterns seen in humans.
It has long been known that people with dementia can experience sleep problems, including finding it harder to get to sleep. Researchers have also found changes in the brainwaves of people with dementia during sleep – including decreased slow brain waves that occur during non-rapid eye movement deep sleep. These are important in memory consolidation and appear to be linked to the activity of the brain’s system for clearing away waste.
Continue reading...Health secretary defends court action as Pat Cullen says government decision could make nurses more determined to vote for further strike action
Maclean tells MPs that the last Labour government required photo ID for voting in Northern Ireland. She claims fears that this would lead to people being disfranchised did not materialise.
Earlier, in response to opposition claims that the policy was all about voter suppression (reducing the chance of non-Tories voting), she said Labour required party members to provide photo ID when they turned up to vote to select a Labour candidate.
Continue reading...Universal reproductive healthcare committee urged to better credential and train midwives as experts warn of ‘abortion deserts’
Australian midwives are calling for expanded roles, including prescribing medical abortions, as they warn of “abortion deserts” where women cannot access the healthcare they need.
In an inquiry hearing on Friday, midwives are also set to call for broader rights to prescribe contraceptives.
Continue reading...Regulators clear capsules for adults who face risks from C diff, bacteria that can cause nausea, cramps and diarrhea
US health officials have approved the first pill made from healthy bacteria found in human waste to fight dangerous gut infections – an easier way of performing so-called fecal transplants.
The treatment from Seres Therapeutics provides a simpler, rigorously tested version of stool-based procedures that some specialists have used for more than a decade.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Health secretary trying to ‘wear down’ NHS nurses rather than negotiating, RCN general secretary to tell high court
Steve Barclay will be accused of wasting taxpayers’ money by pursuing striking nurses through the courts when the government seeks on Thursday to shorten their industrial action due to start on Sunday evening.
In a witness statement to be heard in the high court, Pat Cullen, the Royal College of Nursing’s general secretary, will say the health and social care secretary is trying to “wear down” nurses through legal action.
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The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, is this morning committing to $260m to Australia’s national parks to address problems after “a decade of neglect”.
Plibersek is telling ABC News some parks have become unsafe:
What we’ve seen in our national parks, feral animals, invasive weeds, despite the best efforts of our rangers and staff, they just haven’t been able to keep up with the demand in our parks.
They’ve actually become unsafe. One of the worst examples I heard was broken and missing crocodile signs in Kakadu national park.
Continue reading...Changes to be included in budget will slash costs for GP visits and medicines but pharmacists likely to push back against new policy
Millions of Australians will be able to buy two months’ worth of medicine for the price of a single prescription, in a move that will slash out-of-pocket costs for GP visits and medicines.
The health minister, Mark Butler, announced the change on Wednesday, suggesting it will save patients more than $1.6bn over the next four years.
Continue reading...Study suggests antimicrobial used to promote livestock growth breeds bacteria more resistant to our natural defences
The blanket use of antibiotics in farming has led to the emergence of bacteria that are more resistant to the human immune system, scientists have warned.
The research suggests that the antimicrobial colistin, which was used for decades as a growth promoter on pig and chicken farms in China, resulted in the emergence of E coli strains that are more likely to evade our immune system’s first line of defence.
Continue reading...Calls for police powers to be rolled back in favour of funding for youth services and mental health initiatives
A community-led approach is needed to tackle serious youth violence, such as more funding for youth services and mental health initiatives while rolling back police powers, a report has said.
Education is central to the fight against serious youth violence, which must involve an end to school exclusions and the removal of police from schools, according to Holding Our Own: A guide to non-policing solutions to serious youth violence.
Continue reading...Review calls for ADF to develop ability to precisely strike targets at longer range and to develop stronger network. Follow the day’s news live
Plibersek v Joyce on Newspoll
In their regular spot on Sunrise, environment minister Tanya Plibersek and Coalition frontbencher Barnaby Joyce weighed in on those Newspoll results.
They’re very strong support numbers, and I tell you the reason is not based on polling but what people tell me when I’m out around the country.
People tell me that they’re pleased to see a government that is just getting on with the job, doing what we promised and they’re impressed that the prime minister is just sticking with what he said he’d do.
We don’t have an election tomorrow and that’s a good thing.
A lot of people are starting to focus now on issues such as the voice and saying, “I don’t feel comfortable with this.”
Continue reading...Greg Williams offered transportation for women seeking out-of-state care after the supreme court’s Dobbs decision last year
About three weeks after the US supreme court last year struck down the federal right to abortion, Greg Williams, a volunteer pilot for a group that provides free flights to people who need to travel for medical care, posted a Facebook message.
“If any women need to make an unexpected trip from the south to, say, Illinois or New Mexico or Virginia for reasons that are none of my business, I can provide safe, private air transport that would get you where you need to go and back the same day at a price that will work for you,” Williams wrote, on 28 June 2022.
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