Instead of a telehealth explosion, where “we will get back in touch with you”, we need to refocus on a rural workforce explosion, where we can have clinicians and patients actually within hand’s reach of each other OUT of a crisis comes opportunity, and with the effects of the global COVID-19…

IF there aren’t enough hospital beds to transfer admitted patients into from emergency departments (EDs), moving patients out of ambulances faster won’t solve the problems faced by Australia’s hospital system, says an expert. Research published in the MJA today shows that ambulance offload delays…

THE public health system in Australia is at an access crisis point because of severe and chronic underfunding, say experts, and fixing it will take a multipronged approach that brings prevention back into the national conversation. These problems aren’t new and aren’t solely because of COVID-19,…

AS Australia moves through the current Omicron wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, attention in both mainstream media and medical literature has begun to turn towards the impacts of long COVID. This is the name given to the long term impacts of SARS-CoV-2 infection, which in its most severe form can affect…

IT always feels like a relief moving towards the end of the year, doesn’t it? Like somehow viruses and other global players will take a break just because the calendar is counting down. But if 2021 has taught us anything, it’s that pandemics don’t have much respect for summer holidays. This is…

CLINICIAN health and wellbeing has been an issue which has deservedly gained a great amount of attention over recent times. We have seen and heard many tragic stories that have resonated with many clinicians. Individuals such as Dr Steve Robson, Dr Yumiko Kadota and Dr Geoff Toogood have been incredible…

THERE has never been a greater appetite for whole-of-health system reform. In recent weeks, we have seen state health ministers agree that public hospitals are in crisis, pointing out that hundreds of acute hospital beds are occupied by people waiting for aged care or disability services. The Australian…

IN February of 2020, I was quoted in The Guardian as saying, “Part of the pandemic plan is ‘hospitals opening their surge capacity’. -- now, I don’t want to alarm anyone, but there is no surge capacity; It’s all open ... we are full every day; we’ve been saying this for years”. “That…

Here we summarise the presentations made at the “Climate change: what we can do” webinar organised by the Committee of Chairs of the Medical Colleges in Victoria on the 24 October 2020. The views here are those of the individual presenters and not necessarily those of their Colleges nor the Committee…

AUSTRALIA’S international reputation for “world’s best policy, world’s worst implementation” is getting in the way of equitable, effective youth mental health care, and it’s time for health leaders and policy makers to “get serious”, says one of the country’s leading experts. “The…

AFTER decades at the front line of emergency care, paramedics have this month become the 15th registered health profession in Australia. In a statement, Associate Professor Stephen Gough, Chair of the Paramedicine Board of Australia, said the introduction of the national regulatory scheme from 1 December…

VICTORIAN findings that a growing number of children and adolescents are presenting to emergency departments (EDs) in mental health crises highlight a “national scandal”, says a leading psychiatrist. Professor Patrick McGorry, executive director of Orygen, the National Centre of Excellence in Youth…

New statin concerns THE US Food and Drug Administration has expanded its consumer safety advice on statins, including that users have an increased risk of diabetes and possibly cognitive impairment. The FDA said the new information should not scare people off statins, but it will be changing the drug…