October 23, 2009 – 9:20 am
Years ago, I wrote a story about the use of music in operating theatres to create the right ambience for concentration.
This, however, is something else. In case it’s been a long week….
I will spare you the colorectal surgeon song.
Well, maybe not.
There is plenty more where they came from, but I will stop now…
August 31, 2009 – 12:02 pm
In some public health circles, it is seen as verging on cardinal sin to raise questions in public about the safety or effectiveness of vaccines. The fear is that even mentioning these issues risks lending fuel to the anti-vaccination brigade.
One problem with this view is that is inhibits a discussion that we need to have [...]
The National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission received several hundred submissions and commissioned 24 discussion papers, one background paper and published 15 reports of consultations.
Out of all that input, it might be interesting to look at whose views really counted, when it came to developing one of the most contentious recommendations, for Medicare Select.
The Commissioners [...]
The National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission report is not perfect but represents the best way forward, says Tony McBride, Chair of the Australian Health Care Reform Alliance, that is seeking major change in the Australian health system to make it more equitable, accessible and sustainable.
He has filed this report for Croakey:
“Yesterday was a [...]
The State of our Public Hospitals report released today is the second such document released under Minister Roxon’s reign.
The report, whose publication is required under the Australian Health Care Agreements, inevitably leads to media reports comparing and contrasting the performance of the various states and territories, especially around elective surgery waiting times.
In the piece [...]
Our source is an authority on this subject, having been on both sides of the fence – as both the recipient of lobbying and as a lobbyist.
• Know what you stand for. Be clear on your messages and tailor them to “the man on the street”. Don’t speak with 20 tongues.
• Be realistic and know [...]
Simon Chapman, Professor of Public Health at the University of Sydney, unpicks claims that shopkeepers are being hit hard by new tobacco display regulations. He writes:
The Sun-Herald this weekend reported on a Deloitte study commissioned by the Australian Association of Convenience Stores, which claimed that the NSW’s government’s 2008 decision to require all retail displays [...]
There are new entries to the Croakey Register of Unreleased Documents. CRUD records the details of evaluations, plans, reviews and other such documents that should be released (whether by governments or other commissioning bodies), in the interests of promoting better informed policy, practice and debate.
The new entries are:
• Evaluation of the Rural Clinical Schools [...]
Dr Alex Wodak marks a significant anniversary:
In 1999, 1,116 young Australians died from a heroin overdose. In parts of the country, more young Australians were dying from a heroin overdose than from car crashes. There were six heroin overdose deaths in 1964.
NSW accounts for half the heroin overdose deaths in Australia with 10% of these [...]
Professor Stephen Leeder, director of the Menzies Centre for Health Policy at the University of Sydney, is first off the Croakey blocks with a budget response:
The budget is a responsible response to the discombobulated global financial environment.
The good things for health include an increase in the pensions (given that poverty is a health hazard), [...]
