Monthly Archives: August 2011

Growing drug resistance a national concern, new Chief Medical Officer says

August 31, 2011 – 10:01 pm

Croakey readers may be interested in this interview with Chief Medical Officer Chris Baggoley, which appeared in The Conversation today………   Emergency medicine specialist Chris Baggoley has been appointed Australia’s new Chief Medical Officer, after acting in the role since April. The Chief Medical Officer works out of the Department of Health and Ageing and is responsible [...]

By Jennifer Doggett | Posted in health and medical research, health reform, quality and safety of health care, The Conversation, vaccination | Comments (1)

The Proposed NSW Mental Health Commission: opportunities for the cunning health bureaucrat

August 31, 2011 – 1:36 pm

Enrico Brik gives three pieces of advice to the NSW government in relation to the proposed mental health reforms:
1. Simply take mental health dollars, spend elsewhere, and report opaquely
2. Divert mental health dollars to similar staffing (eg community health) and divert community health funds to (eg) general inpatient staffing, and report opaquely; and
3. Freeze all recruitment on basis of cost overruns in high-demand (non-mental health) areas, wait until end of financial year and redistribute unspent mental health funds to cover overruns and help balance overall budget, and report opaquely.

By Jennifer Doggett | Posted in health financing and costs, health reform, mental health | Comments (2)

A note of explanation to Croakey readers….

August 31, 2011 – 4:03 am

I am taking leave for September. Fortunately, a member of the Crikey Health and Medical Panel, health policy analyst Jennifer Doggett, has kindly agreed to run Croakey while I’m away. Another CHAMP and keen Tweeter, Ben-Harris Roxas, is going to drive Croakey’s Twitter feed. Below is a brief introduction to Jennifer. Don’t hesitate to get [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Some suggestions for how to achieve a fairer distribution of health

August 31, 2011 – 3:36 am

Continuing a Croakey series on the social determinants of health, this article calls for the establishment of mechanisms to drive the agenda forward in Australia and to overcome the current state of inertia. Below is an edited extract from a new book from Catholic Health Australia, Determining the Future: A Fair Go and Health for [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Posted in Health inequalities, Indigenous health, prevention, public health, rural and remote health, social determinants of health | Tagged , | Comments (0)

How children are bearing the cost of increasing prisoner numbers

August 31, 2011 – 3:26 am

Continuing a Croakey series examining the forces which can  have a profound on health but are often neglected in health debate and policy… Below is an edited extract from a new book from Catholic Health Australia, Determining the Future: A Fair Go and Health for All, which outlines how the recommendations of a 2008 report [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Posted in child health, public health, social determinants of health | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Communicating the science on climate change

August 29, 2011 – 12:28 pm

With Hurricane Irene focusing some attention on climate change (at the New York Times website anyway), the post below looks at some of the issues surrounding communication of climate science. A series has just kicked off at The Conversation that promises to “shine an inquisitive light onto specific instances of misrepresentation, distortion, or spin by [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Posted in climate change, global health, Media-related issues, public health, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments (22)

Bringing urban design into the health debate

August 29, 2011 – 8:06 am

Continuing a Croakey series examining the factors that have a profound, but often under-recognised, impact upon the community’s health… Below is an edited extract from a new book from Catholic Health Australia, Determining the Future: A Fair Go and Health for All, which outlines how the recommendations of a 2008 report of the WHO Commission [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Posted in environmental health, public health, social determinants of health | Tagged , , | Comments (3)

Some new news on public health and the media

August 29, 2011 – 7:46 am

As previewed at Croakey, the recent New News conference in Melbourne had a session exploring public health and the media. Craig Butt, a digital producer for the Melbourne Press Club, kindly provided this report, examining tobacco industry skulduggery, the quality of media reporting on health and the challenges involved, the emergence of new forms of [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Posted in Media-related issues, mental health, public health, rural and remote health, tobacco control, Uncategorized | Comments (3)

A stack of reading: the latest health and medical news from The Conversation

August 29, 2011 – 2:34 am

Thanks to Reema Rattan, for providing this update of the latest health and medical reading at The Conversation. The stories below cover medical mishaps, men’s health, breast cancer screening, alcohol labelling, media reporting of suicide, hospital care of patients with mental health problems, puberty, the NT Intervention, bariatric surgery and type 2 diabetes, and the [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Posted in adverse events, alcohol, cancer, child health, diabetes, Hospitals, Indigenous health, legal issues, Media-related issues, men's health, mental health, NT Intervention, physical activity, public health, screening, surgery | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

Research suggests new avenues for beating dengue fever

August 26, 2011 – 10:50 am

Linda Marsa, an investigative journalist from Los Angeles, has recently been in Australia, researching climate change and related health impacts for articles and a book. You may remember her previous book, Prescription for Profits: How the Pharmaceutical Industry Bankrolled the Unholy Marriage Between Science and Business (1997). Below she writes about Australian research published this [...]

By Melissa Sweet | Posted in climate change, global health, health and medical research, infectious diseases, public health | Tagged , , | Comments (2)