Q84 Hospitals

Drunks make hospitals hell

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Original article by Cathy O’Leary
The West Australian – Page: 3 : 6-Nov-14

A survey by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine has revealed that intoxicated patients are a major problem for staff of emergency departments at Australian hospitals. More than 90 per cent of the 2,000-plus respondents indicated that they had been threatened or assaulted by a patient who was under the influence of alcohol in the last year. Medical professionals have urged action to address the issue

CORPORATES
THE AUSTRALASIAN COLLEGE FOR EMERGENCY MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (WESTERN AUSTRALIA), COLLEGE OF EMERGENCY NURSING AUSTRALASIA LIMITED, McCUSKER CENTRE FOR ACTION ON ALCOHOL AND YOUTH

Australia to send Ebola volunteers

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Original article by Peter Hartcher
The Age – Page: 11 : 5-Nov-14

Insiders say the Australian Government will on 5 November 2014 reveal an initiative to help the fight against the Ebola virus disease outbreak in Africa. Australian volunteers will be given assistance to travel to Sierra Leone and staff a field hospital being constructed by the UK Government. Any of the medical personnel who contract the virus will be treated in the UK or Germany. The Australian Medical Association and the Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation report that many of their members are ready to make the trip to Africa

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN NURSING AND MIDWIFERY FEDERATION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Labor pledges $60m for new medi-tech hub

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Original article by Kate Hagan
The Age – Page: 4 : 3-Nov-14

Campaigning for the state election to be held on 29 November 2014, Victorian Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews has pledged that the Australian Labor Party would contribute $A60m to the cost of $A180m for a new biomedical engineering centre at St Vincent’s Hospital. The State Government has not specifically matched the promise. Peter Choong, director of orthopaedics at St Vincent’s Hospital, says the proposed Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery will allow for experts to co-operate across disciplines including engineering, medicine and biological sciences

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, VICTORIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, ST VINCENT’S HOSPITAL (MELBOURNE) LIMITED, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE, UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG, SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, VICTORIAN COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTRE LIMITED, OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN CANCER AND WELLNESS CENTRE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

State needs better heatwave plan, says auditor

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Original article by Julia Medew
The Age – Page: 2 : 15-Oct-14

Victorian Auditor-General John Doyle has issued his "Heatwave Management: Reducing the Risk to Public Health" report. He argues that there are concerning deficiencies in the preparations for any new catastrophic heatwave. A total of 374 casualties were caused by such a crisis in 2009, and 167 in early 2014. While the Health Department has made some progress on the issue, Doyle notes shortcomings at Victoria Police, Ambulance Victoria, local councils and public hospitals

CORPORATES
VICTORIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, VICTORIA. AUDITOR-GENERAL’S OFFICE, VICTORIA POLICE, AMBULANCE VICTORIA FIRST AID

Parties pledge to open new heart hospital in Clayton

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Original article by Kate Hagan, Julia Medew, Richard Willingham
The Age – Page: 12 : 10-Oct-14

Victorian Opposition Leader Dan Andrews says the Australian Labor Party will also build a new hospital that is an election campaign pledge of the State Government. Health Minister David Davis and Premier Denis Napthine have announced plans for a new specialist heart hospital occupying five levels at the Monash Medical Centre in Clayton. Under the Coalition, the funding mix will be $A70m from the Government and $A50m that Monash Health sources from philanthropists. The overall number of cardiac beds will rise by 57 to 100

CORPORATES
MONASH MEDICAL CENTRE, MONASH HEALTH, VICTORIA. DEPT OF HEALTH, VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN NURSING AND MIDWIFERY FEDERATION, AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (VICTORIA) LIMITED

Theatre of dreams nightmare

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Original article by Jill Margo
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 46 : 17-Sep-14

A study of accidental awareness during general anaesthesia has been published. The experiences of 400 patients were analysed. The experience was neutral for about half the patients, but terrifying for some. The study found that accidental awareness occurs for one in every 19,000 patients, rather than one in 6,000 as previously estimated. Most episodes were short and before or after surgery

CORPORATES
ROYAL COLLEGE OF ANAESTHETISTS, ASSOCIATION OF ANAESTHETISTS OF GREAT BRITAIN

3D-printed heart replicas to help surgeons prepare for operations

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Original article by Amy Corderoy
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 6 : 8-Sep-14

James Otton, cardiologist and clinical faculty member at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, is using 3D printers to create replicas of hearts. Surgeons at the Liverpool and St Vincent’s hospitals in Sydney will be able to gain a more detailed understanding of the problems suffered by individual patients, with the help of the models printed from CT scans. St Vincent’s cardiothoracic and transplant surgeon Kumud Dhital also believes that "bioprinting" will be available in the future to grow actual hearts for transplantation

CORPORATES
VICTOR CHANG CARDIAC RESEARCH INSTITUTE LIMITED, ST VINCENT’S HOSPITAL SYDNEY LIMITED, LIVERPOOL HOSPITAL

Researchers hail heart transplant breakthrough

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Original article by Kate Hagan
The Age – Page: 2 : 15-Aug-14

Frank Rosenfeldt, head of cardiothoracic surgical research at the Alfred hospital in Melbourne, has developed a new way of keeping donor hearts for transplants viable during transfer. It uses a device to flush waste out of the organs and supply them with a solution of oxygen and nutrients, thereby extending the time they can be kept outside the body from the current four hours to up to a dozen. The first surgery relying on the method is set to be scheduled at the hospital before late 2015

CORPORATES
ALFRED HOSPITAL

Nurse injured in violent attack wins payout

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Original article by Nick Toscano
The Age – Page: 4 : 31-Jul-14

The Supreme Court of Victoria will hear a claim by the Victorian WorkCover Authority against Victoria Police. The workers’ compensation provider seeks to recover some of the $A500,000 it paid to a nurse permanently injured in a violent attack by a drug addict at Latrobe Regional Hospital. The employer and the police force have already struck an out-of-court settlement with the victim, and a factor was that three police officers allegedly did not properly restrain the attacker

CORPORATES
VICTORIA POLICE, VICTORIAN WORKCOVER AUTHORITY, LATROBE REGIONAL HOSPITAL PTY LTD, SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA, AUSTRALIAN NURSING AND MIDWIFERY COUNCIL INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN NURSING FEDERATION

$3.6b float boosts share confidence

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Original article by Jessica Gardner
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 29-Jul-14

Healthscope’s stock closed $A0.11 higher at $A2.21 on 28 July 2014, after dipping to $A2.09 early in its debut trading session The stock was issued at $A2.10 in a $A3.6bn IPO. Private equity firms TPG Capital and The Carlyle Group will retain their 38 per cent stake until Healthscope releases its financial results for fiscal 2015. The two firms had paid $A2.7bn for the private hospitals operator in 2010

CORPORATES
HEALTHSCOPE LIMITED – ASX HSO, TPG CAPITAL LP, THE CARLYLE GROUP, AURIZON HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX AZJ, MEDIBANK PRIVATE LIMITED, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, RAMSAY HEALTH CARE LIMITED – ASX RHC