Monthly Archives: April 2009

A damning indictment of maternity care

April 20, 2009 – 11:31 am

The awful irony about maternity care, as an important new report from the US makes clear, is that it is the field that helped launch the evidence-based health care revolution.
The irony arises because is a field which is rife with examples of non evidence-based practice. Interventions which have been proven to be of benefit are [...]

By Croakey | Posted in adverse events, childbirth and maternity services, evidence-based issues, quality and safety of health care | Tagged , | Comments (1)

Homes, hospitals and births: new research

April 17, 2009 – 7:02 pm

Further to her previous post, Justine Caines comments on a new study of births in the Netherlands:
“A lot changes in a week! Yesterday a study of all births in the Netherlands was released.
This paper found home birth was as safe as hospital birth.  The survey size was a whopping 529,688 births.  This figure is close [...]

By Croakey | Posted in Hospitals, Journal articles, childbirth and maternity services, health and medical research, quality and safety of health care | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Homebirth advocate calls for a fair go

April 17, 2009 – 9:13 am

Justine Caines, Secretary of Homebirth Australia, has sent in the
following critique of recent media coverage about the dangers of homebirth:
“Feminism is a dirty word, especially if you are a pro-establishment
columnist. Last week many media reports questioned the safety of homebirth.
Doctors were outraged at the death of 4 babies, without revealing any case
facts. Many have regarded [...]

By Croakey | Posted in adverse events, childbirth and maternity services, health ethics, health reform | Tagged , , , | Comments (5)

Why the Fed Health Dept’s culture of secrecy is bad for mental health

April 16, 2009 – 9:16 am

As previously mentioned, Croakey has a copy of the evaluation of the 2003-2008 National Mental Health Plan, that was undertaken by US consultant Charles Curie and English psychiatrist Professor Graham Thornicroft.
Sydney psychiatrist Professor Alan Rosen has now evaluated the evaluation, and here are his conclusions:
“This summative evaluation report is very gentle, restrained and fairly [...]

By Croakey | Posted in Croakey Register of Unreleased Documents, health reform, mental health | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Have you heard the one about pharmacists, a wall, and a bag of money?

April 16, 2009 – 9:04 am

Simon Burrow has sent in this comment on the recent Crikey article by CHOICE’S Michael Johnston calling for the community’s interests to be factored into forthcoming Government-Guild negotiations:
“It’s a well known fact that if you want to break a wall down quickly, place
a pharmacist on one side and a bag of money on another. Demolition [...]

By Croakey | Posted in adverse events, consumer health information, health reform, pharmacy, public health, quality and safety of health care | Tagged | Comments (0)

Why closing the gap in heart disease requires a re-think from health services

April 6, 2009 – 10:41 am

Dr Lesley Russell, Menzies Centre for Health Policy, University of Sydney/Australian National University, writes:
Forty years ago, heart disease accounted for a quarter of all Australian deaths.  Since then, due largely to reduced tobacco use and better treatments, the incidence of heart disease has steadily decreased and today only 17 percent of deaths are attributed to [...]

By Croakey | Posted in Health inequalities, Indigenous health, health reform, rural and remote health | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Losing weight, regaining sight, and other stories…

April 3, 2009 – 10:44 am

The British Medical Association has just released a publication that many will find interesting, called Partners in Care: Stories about NHS patients and their doctors.
It includes more than a dozen stories of how doctors and their patients have worked together to overcome various health problems.
Stories include:
• A woman who was blind and in a wheelchair [...]

By Croakey | Posted in consumer health information, general practice, mental health, obesity, weight loss products | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

The hijacking of medical education

April 2, 2009 – 10:17 am

Brett Forge, a physician and cardiologist from Warragul in Victoria, has sent in the
following comments regarding his inclusion on the Crikey Register of Influence:
Dear Crikey
Many thanks for the dubious honour of being included on your register of influence.
It is an inadequate way of investigating medical corruption but it may at least start a discussion on [...]

By Croakey | Posted in Crikey register of influence, conflicts of interest, evidence-based issues, health & medical marketing, health and medical research, health ethics, private health insurance, quality and safety of health care, surgery | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Revealing the hidden documents of health

April 1, 2009 – 1:23 pm

As the blurb to the right indicates, the Croakey blog takes a sharp interest in evidence-informed policy and practice, transparency and informed public debate.
In the interests of all these worthy causes, as well as giving the pot a well-deserved stir, we are launching a new Croakey initiative.
Let’s call it the Croakey Register of Unreleased Documents [...]

By Croakey | Posted in Croakey Register of Unreleased Documents, evidence-based issues, health and medical research, health reform, mental health, primary health care | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

New national mental health policy is a disgrace: Prof Alan Rosen

April 1, 2009 – 12:46 pm

Following on from the previous post, Sydney psychiatrist Professor Alan Rosen* explains his concerns:

“The 4th Australian Mental Health Policy is  a huge disappointment and
should never have been approved in this form. It is  superficial,
complacent & self-congratulatory about weak partial achievements.
It glosses over many important deficiencies in the 2nd and 3rd policies and
plans. It lacks vision, [...]

By Croakey | Posted in health reform, mental health | Tagged , , | Comments (0)