November 12, 2009 – 2:59 pm, by Croakey
What are the implications of the breast cancer study reported below by Associate Professor Alex Barratt?
Croakey has asked a range of individuals and groups to respond, and will post their comments as they land.
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November 12, 2009 – 12:23 pm, by Croakey
Croakey is old enough to remember the days when anyone who raised questions about the potential for mammographic screening for breast cancer to have a downside was treated with all the derision and scorn usually reserved for dangerous heretics.
Thankfully, the debate has matured quite a bit since those days. We are now hearing a somewhat more balanced discussion which pays greater attention to some of the complexities involved. One such complexity, as illustrated by a new study, is the potential for screening to lead to over-diagnosis and unnecessary treatment.
Alex Barratt, Associate Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney, and a co-author of the new study, reports on its findings:
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November 12, 2009 – 11:22 am, by Croakey
This investigation from The Atlantic, raising many questions about the merits of influenza vaccination and the pandemic response generally, is worth reading for a few reasons.
Firstly, the authors, investigative journalists Shannon Brownlee and Jeanne Lenzer are at the cutting edge of showing there is a place for philanthropic and not-for-profit funding of health journalism. The Huffington Post Investigative Fund has published some of their other pieces, including this investigation raising concerns about the conduct of clinical trials. Brownlee is a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation and the author of Overtreated (2007), and Lenzer is a frequent contributor to the British medical journal, BMJ.
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November 11, 2009 – 4:38 pm, by Croakey
The NT seems to be making some strides in primary health care reform. The Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT) has provided this report of a launch that took place today:
The launch on Remembrance Day of Pathways to community control was a poignant moment for Stephanie Bell, chairperson of AMSANT.
For the first time, the Commonwealth and a “state” government—the Northern Territory—had reached an agreement with the Aboriginal Community Controlled health sector to expand community-controlled primary health care across a whole jurisdiction.
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November 11, 2009 – 1:43 pm, by Croakey
I have a story in the Crikey bulletin today, that asks the question: Are pharmacists the most defensive, insular and change resistant of all the health professions?
It’s about how health reform advocate John Menadue was “disinvited” from speaking at an Australian College of Pharmacy meeting, after making a provocative speech to a pharmacy conference, as previously reported at Croakey.
I spoke to several senior pharmacists and others in the health sector when researching the story (the Australian College of Pharmacy did not return my calls but I will be happy to post follow-up comments from them, the Guild and others).
Here is some of what they had to say, both about the specifics of the Menadue case and the pharmacy profession in general:
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November 11, 2009 – 1:24 pm, by Croakey
It’s been interesting to watch how the various media outlets have been reporting on a campaign by a group of GPs against super clinics, including a protest staged in western Sydney this week.
Many of the reports, whether in the local or the national press seemed to uncritically buy the GPs’ line that super clinics will threaten the integrity of the relationships between GPs and their patients.
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November 11, 2009 – 9:58 am, by Croakey
Sandy Jeffs is an award winning poet who has recently released a memoir, Flying with Paper Wings, which, amongst other things, tells her story of living with schizophrenia.
Here she shares with Croakey readers some of the background to the book and her writing of it:
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November 10, 2009 – 8:33 pm, by Croakey
All eyes may be on the US just now when it comes to discussions about health care reform, but perhaps it’s worth looking to the French as well.
Croakey’s roving health correspondent Simon Burrow reports on his recent experiences with the French health system:
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November 10, 2009 – 9:17 am, by Croakey
Health workforce maldistribution and shortages, and the oncoming tsunami of medical graduates are generating widespread discussions about the future of health and medical training in the context of moves towards health reform.
Professor Bruce Robinson, dean of medicine at the University of Sydney, has recently suggested that one solution may be to broaden the range of services involved in providing postgraduate medical education. The University of Melbourne’s Emeritus Professor David Penington recently urged the Feds to incorporate university hospitals into health reform.
Now Professor Peter Brooks, who has been a strong advocate of workforce reform and innovation, says it’s time to take the debate a step further.
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November 6, 2009 – 6:08 pm, by Croakey
In case you missed it, there’s been a minor food spat going on at Crikey. When the nutritionist, Dr Rosemary Stanton, called for foods to be taxed according to their carbon footprint, this, predictably enough, got right up the noses of the Australian Food and Grocery Council, as well as their friends at the Institute of Public Affairs.
But the real food war to watch is underway in the US, and you can read more about it in this investigation, “The Food Lobby’s War on a Soda Tax”, jointly undertaken by the Centre for Public Integrity and the Huffington Post Investigative Fund.
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