Archived News for Health Sector Professionals

A consortium headed by McKinsey and Company has been selected to lead the national change and adoption process as Australia moves to introduce Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records (PCEHR) next year.

Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, said the National Change and Adoption Partner will help educate and support the training and information needs of the health workforce who will use the system.

“The consortium will plan, design and develop training, guidance and tools in collaboration with clinicians and software providers. It will also provide change management support for clinicians including at the 12 lead implementation sites.

The Minister for Mental Health and Ageing Mark Butler has released the Report of the Independent Review of the Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction Act 2002 and the Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002.

Mr Butler said the independent Review Committee, chaired by the Hon Peter Heerey QC, had indicated its view that the basic structure of the legislation should remain, while making recommendations about the framework for human embryo research.

“The 33 recommendations that were produced relate largely to updating and clarifying the legislation, or keeping existing requirements.  The recommendations reflect the Committee’s careful consideration of more than 260 submissions, as well as information provided in appearances before the Committee," Mr Butler said.

“The legislative framework will need to continue to balance the needs of health and medical researchers, who aim to improve human health, with the social and ethical challenges in human embryo research."

The Report of the Independent Review of the Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction Act 2002 and the Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002 can be found at www.legislationreview.nhmrc.gov.au.

Health care businesses generated $43 billion in income, and spent over $32 billion on expenses, according to a report released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).


Australia's private sector health care businesses operated from 101,725 locations providing medical and other health care to 22.3 million people.


These businesses employed or contracted 188,000 registered practitioners and other health care professionals, at the end of June 2010, with a further 145,000 other staff providing support for the same period.


Primary health care services (general practitioner, specialist and dental services) operated from 68,877 locations with the majority of these services (over 75%) located in capital cities and suburbs.


Primary health care services employed or contracted 111,000 registered practitioners and other health care professionals and saw 6 million patients in an average working week.


Further information is in Health Care Services, Australia 2009-10 (cat. no 8570.0).

Doctor Suzanne Hill has been appointed as the new chair of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC), the independent advisory group which recommends listing of medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).

The merger of public sector superannuation fund, First State Super with Health Super on 30 June 2011 has created a super fund with over $30 billion and more than 770,000 members.

The Western Australian Government has announced that $147 million will be spent upgrading six country hospitals, the largest single investment in regional healthcare in WA’s history, according to the Premier Colin Barnett.

The beginning of the new financial year marks the commencement of a number of the Federal Government’s initiatives under the national health reform program.

The design and construction tender for Western Australia’s new $1.2billion children’s hospital has been awarded to John Holland.

Two of The University of Queensland's (UQ) leading researchers have teamed with the world's largest biopharmaceutical company to develop new peptide-based medicines for the treatment of major diseases. 

The Westmead Millennium Institute for Medical Research in Sydney is to be housed under one roof in a new $135 million building.

The University of Sydney has hosted a symposium, titled Think Before You Measure, which has addressed the fundamentals of health measurement.

Tasmania’s draft Mental Health Bill 2011, which proposes reforms to the treatment and care of Tasmanians with mental illness, has been released for comment.

The Victorian Health Minister David Davis has announced the appointment of eight new members to the board of the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation.

The Federal and Tasmanian Governments have signed a funding deal that will see the Mersey Community Hospital in Latrobe receive $197.6 million in Commonwealth funding over the next three years.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has found that health expenditure on Indigenous Australians has increased to $3.7 billion, representing a total spend of 3.5% of the health budget on 2.5% of the country’s population in 2008-09 period.

The Northern Territory towns of Alice Springs and Tennant Creek will receive $13 million for accommodation to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families affected by renal disease.


The new funding is the first step towards addressing some of the issues raised in the recently released Central Australia Renal Study.


The study by the George Institute focused on the provision of dialysis services in remote and very remote area. It was a joint initiative of the Australian Government in partnership with the Northern Territory, South Australian and Western Australian governments.


The study shows that the number of patients on dialysis in Central Australian in the last decade has more than tripled from 62 to 209. By 2020, this will have increased to between to between 312 and 479 patients.


“This effectively dislocates the patient from their family, impacting on the patient’s social and cultural connectedness to family and community, removing their capacity to be part of family and community life and to carry out family responsibilities,” he said.


A key finding of the Central Australian Renal Study revealed that housing and infrastructure development is a key priority to support renal patients from remote communities accessing renal treatment away from home.


The primary recommendation of this study is that a variety of different approaches to providing dialysis to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients is needed to allow them to have access to treatment as close to home as possible.


The Central Australian Renal Study is available at: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/oatsih_central-renalstudy

A Monash University researcher has developed a new form of surgical sealant which is proving easier to apply to skin and will ‘significantly reduce the risk of viral contamination'.

A symposium on the health effects of temporary employment on workers has been held by Deakin University, finding that those on temporary or labour hire roles were more vulnerable to poor OHS standards than their full time counterparts.

Minister for Health and Aging Nicola Roxon and Senator for the Northern Territory, Trish Crossin, have announced that the Department of Health and Aging has opened the Invitation to Apply process for the establishment of the $5 million Northern Suburbs GP Super Clinic in Darwin.

Victorian Minister for Mental Health Mary Wooldridge, together with Minister for Veterans' Affairs Hugh Delahunty, have officially opened the Coral-Balmoral Building, the new home of Austin Health's Psychological Trauma Recovery Service at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital.