9.57am Saturday 25 December 2010 - Illawarra Mercury  Angela Thompson

Heads should roll over Shellharbour Hospital scandal: doctor

Figure-fudging at Shellharbour Hospital has long been resolved because the "virtual ward" dreamed up to cook the books was "decommissioned", the state's health minister says.

The explanation, almost two years after a whistleblower forced an end to the dodgy data, has sparked the ire of an emergency doctor who wants to see hospital staff who manipulate performance figures face criminal charges or the sack.

"How does something that did not exist get decommissioned?" the doctor, Dubbo-based Antony Nocera, said.

Dr Nocera is calling on Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt to apologise to Shellharbour Hospital staff who were treated unfavourably after speaking out against the hospital's "virtual ward" - a paper exercise where patients waiting in the emergency department longer than eight hours were recorded as having been transferred to a ward so the hospital would appear to meet targets.

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Editor: Dear Shellharbour people.  Your Area Health Service is as well versed in the art of spin as is ours.  We at Pambula Hospital did not have a “virtual ward” that really didn’t exist.  Instead we had a very real 24 hour ultra sound service that provided myself and many others with necessary imaging, often generated outside the hours of 9-5.  We didn’t have our service “decommissioned”.  Instead, Greater Southern Area Health Service claimed after it had been removed, that it had never existed.  Bureaucratic bungling combined with bald-faced deception of the highest order has now caused disappearance of the highly efficient imaging service we still find necessary.  It has been argued that its absence has already contributed to one patient death.

7.53am Thursday 21 October 2010 - NSW Health

$27.6 Million For Rural And Regional Hospitals

An additional $27.6 million in funding for new beds and medical equipment in 2010/11 has been allocated to 52 hospitals in rural and regional NSW following Australia's historic health reforms.

The new funding was announced today by Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon and NSW Minister for Health, Carmel Tebbutt, and follows the $1.2 billion allocated over four years to NSW through the health reform agreement with the Federal Government.

"We are committed to strengthening health services in regional communities and today's announcement is a demonstration of the hard work of health reform paying off for the patients in rural and regional NSW," Ms Roxon said.

"This investment includes more than $11 million in new medical equipment for emergency departments and surgery at 51 regional hospitals, and $9.9 million for 33 new beds across Wagga Wagga, Coffs Harbour and Ballina Hospitals," Ms Roxon said.

"The NSW Government is proud to be working with the Federal Government through the groundbreaking COAG agreement, rolling out more beds and medical resources to our hospitals," Ms Tebbutt said.

"We recognise the particular health needs of communities in rural and regional NSW, and this new funding will go a long way to enhancing services for those communities," Ms Tebbutt said.

Today's funding announcement includes: 

• $4.6 million for new emergency department equipment and improvements for the following hospitals - Armidale, Boorowa, Bowral, Broken Hill, Coffs Harbour, Coolamon, Cootamundra, Corowa, Cowra, Deniliquin, Denman, Dubbo, Dungog, Forbes, Glen Innes, Gloucester, Goulburn, Griffith, Gundagai, Gunnedah, Guyra,  Hillston, Inverell, Jerilderie, Kempsey, Leeton, Manning (Taree), Maclean, Macksville, Merriwa, Milton-Ulladulla, Moree, Mudgee, Murrurundi, Murwillumbah, Muswellbrook, Narrabri, Narranderra, Orange, Parkes, Queanbeyan, Singleton, Scone, Temora, Tumut, Tweed Heads, Urana, Wagga Wagga, Wauchope, West Wyalong and Young.
  

• $6.7 million for new surgical equipment for the following hospitals - Broken Hill, Bowral, Coffs Harbour, Cowra, Dubbo, Forbes, Goulburn, Kempsey, Milton-Ulladulla, Manning (Taree), Mudgee, Murwillumbah, Parkes, Tweed Heads and Wagga Wagga. 
  

• up to $2 million for a CT Scanner in both Deniliquin and Goulburn hospitals 
  

• up to $3 million for a MRI at  Orange Hospital 
  

• $1.8 million for 6 new acute beds at Wagga Wagga 
  

• $6 million for 20 new acute beds at Coffs Harbour 
  

• $2.1 million for 7 new sub-acute beds for Ballina 
  

• $1.4 million for a new adult Intensive Care Unit bed at Orange Hospital 
  

These announcements are part of a significant investment in NSW hospitals - in both metropolitan and regional areas - that is a direct result of the COAG health reform agreement.

In 2010/11, a total of $75 million has been allocated for new medical equipment, and $11.5 million for emergency department upgrades and minor works to support new surgical beds.

A total of 488 new beds will be opened in NSW in 2010/11 including 400 beds that have already been announced at hospitals including Blacktown, Nepean, Westmead, Gosford, Wyong, Royal North Shore, Liverpool, Orange and Dubbo. To date, 151 new beds have been announced in rural and regional New South Wales.

Source

8.36pm Tuesday 7 September 2010 - Yass Tribune

Position vacant: Doctor required for Yass Hospital

There will only be one Visiting Medical Officer (VMO) servicing the Yass Hospital from the end of the year.

Dr Jonathan Williams and Dr Owen Graham have been employed as VMOs (local doctors who work in the town in a medical practice) at Yass Hospital for more than 20 years. Dr Williams will see his last patient at The Cabin today and his departure to practise in Canberra will leave a void at the hospital.

Greater Southern Area Health Service (GSAHS) has confirmed Dr Williams’ resignation as a VMO, effective from Saturday September 4.

Acting eastern sector general manager, Karen Lenihan, said there will be two VMOs at Yass Hospital until December and then only one in 2011.

She told the Tribune there are no doctors in Yass who are interested in taking Dr Williams’ place.

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Editor: Karen can thank her predecessor's poor management skills for the doctors' lack of interest.

9.44am Saturday 31 July 2010 - SMH - Amy Corderoy

Hospital's CT scanner breaks again

Patients at Blue Mountains hospital have been put at risk after vital scanning equipment broke down, doctors say.

The computed tomography (CT) scanner - used to diagnose everything from fractures to cancer - was broken for more than a week. Doctors at the

Katoomba hospital said the scanner was so old it had been considered obsolete since 2008, and it had broken down more than once.

While it was broken doctors had to transfer patients - potentially including emergency patients - to Nepean Hospital, an hour's drive away in Penrith.

But a spokeswoman for the Sydney West Area Health Service said only four people had been transferred to Nepean and none were emergency patients.

A visiting medical officer at the hospital, who did not wish to be named, said the broken CT scanner delayed patient diagnoses: ''It affects patient management and safety.'' The chairman of AMA NSW's hospital practice committee, Brian Owler, said it should be replaced immediately.

Some staff and some in the community have criticised Blue Mountains hospital saying it is not given resources to function fully.

The Blue Mountains deputy mayor, Janet Mays, said the hospital was ''being downgraded essentially to a first-aid post''.

Source

10.05am Saturday 31 July 2010 – Blarney Chronicle - Lisa Cox

Ambulance delays could be fatal

Patients needing ambulance transport from Blayney are experiencing potentially dangerous delays because of understaffing and a decision to divert patients to Orange and Bathurst Base Hospitals.

Ambulances have been bypassing Blayney Hospital since the emergency department was left without a doctor earlier this year.

Residents and health sources said, with just two ambulance officers on duty at a time and none on call, Blayney’s ambulance station was being left unattended and patients were being made to wait while alternative transport was sent from Orange or Bathurst.

One employee in the health sector, who did not want to be named, said Blayney’s ambulance station was left unattended for at least an hour and 20 minutes for every trip the Blayney ambulance crew had to make to Orange or Bathurst.

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5.17pm Sunday 25 July 2010 - Northern Star - Dominic Feain

Nurses speak on workplace issues

North Coast nurses took their workplace issues straight to the top this week at the NSW Nurses Association annual conference in Sydney.

While appearances by PrimeMinister Julia Gillard, Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon, and her NSW counterpart, Deputy Premier Carmel Tebbutt, demonstrated the powerful influence of the nurses’ union in an election year, local delegates remained underwhelmed by the pollie’s promises.

Lismore Base Hospital branch secretary Gil Wilson received a stirring reception when he put the issue of ‘part-time’ directors of nursing on the North Coast to Ms Tebbutt.

“She acknowledged the importance of the issue and said she was happy to discuss it further, but wouldn’t commit to a meeting,” he said.

The North Coast Area Health Service has merged the Lismore and Ballina hospitals’ director of nursing positions into one role, which nurses say is unworkable.

“I told the Deputy Premier it would be the same as her taking on the Tasmanian health department with her current job,” he said.

“They are trying to roll this out across the region, and Tweed and Murwillumbah hospitals are in the same boat.

“It might work for smaller hospitals like Coraki and Casino, but not Lismore which is the core of North Coast health.”

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Editor: Once again bureaucrats and politicians are applying business logic to a service industry. (See our Facebook discussion on The Shape of Hospital Boards). It just won't work. And what do the communities served by Coraki and Casino Hospitals say to the sentiment inferred in the last blue sentence?

2.40pm Tuesday 20 July 2010 - ABC News

Minister defends regional tour

The Federal Government's Minister for Rural and Regional Health denies his visit to the Far North Coast this week is an exercise in pork barrelling.

Warren Snowdon has announced more than 600-thousand dollars for health infrastructure and equipment in Grafton, and more than 80-thousand dollars for emergency equipment in Casino.

Tomorrow he's due to visit hospitals in Ballina and Lismore and attend a forum at the Northern Rivers University Department of Rural Health.

Mr Snowdon says he made the arrangements weeks ago.

"This has been planned for at least six weeks, so it's not a response to the fact that an election has been called," Mr Snowdon said.

"This tour of these hospitals is about talking about the hospital-reform proposals which the Commonwealth has put forward which is now in partnership with the states moving forward, and that's the purpose of this trip," he said.

"Primarily we've been talking about what the hospital networks will look like into the future," Mr Snowdon said.

"We're awaiting the NSW Government's proposals for hospital network boundaries and we're talking about the establishment of primary health organisations and what their boundaries might look like, so that's been the central focus of our discussion," he said.

Read more

Fears over birth venue

Expectant mum Shari Hepburn knows she is not the only one being told to go to The Tweed Hospital rather than Murwillumbah when labour pains start in the next few weeks – but she has decided to speak out in the hope health bosses and politicians hear.

Ms Hepburn says she cannot understand the need to downgrade Murwillumbah hospital’s birthing unit.
She says the decision, announced by the North Coast Area Health Service last year, has left many Murwillumbah district mothers like her fearing what will happen at the birth of her baby.

She has been left alarmed at the possibility of being turned away from The Tweed Hospital if it is at full capacity and having to travel in labour to the Gold Coast Hospital or Logan Hospital, or turn around and head south to Lismore. Ms Hepburn said her first baby, delivered two years ago, required an emergency caesarean – making this pregnancy “high risk”.

With the downgrade of Murwillumbah maternity services, she will consequently be required to travel to The Tweed Hospital.

“This now leaves me with the fear of travelling further while in labour and the situation where Tweed is at full capacity or on bypass,” Ms Hepburn said.

“The birth of a baby should be full of excitement and anticipation, not fear and uncertainty of where a birth will take place.”

Ms Hepburn said she understood the birth of a baby could take “unexpected turns” but felt a mum-to-be should be able to go to “a place where you feel comfortable, unrushed and seen as a person – not a number on a birthing process line”.

“I know I’m not the only expecting mother who is being made to go to an often over-crowded Tweed Hospital, who keeps her fingers crossed that there will be a bed to deliver their baby in,” she said.

Like many mums she says she is hoping she will not be “made to go to the Gold Coast Hospital or further”.

Source

1.27pm Saturday 10 July 2010

Bellingen rallies again

Dear BHAG and friends, 
 
On Saturday July 24th,  Ridley Scott  renown Director of films such as "Blade Runner," "Alien", "Gladiator" and "Robin Hood)" is asking people around the world to film something in the day of their lives.  In the light of our current situation with the Hospital's future still uncertain, and a federal election looming.. it feels as though this is a good opportunity for us to gather together with the people of Bellingen and surrounding areas, to demonstrate its unique spirit and unwavering support for our Hospital, to be placed on Youtube with the possability of making it into a feature film which will subsequently be made of that day.
 
The theme is that "People Matter".... that our health system is about people, not numbers, and that community consultation is imperative.. that whichever government takes the reins,  this fact of involvement with doctors, nurses, practitioners, clinicians and patients needs to be embraced rather than ignored or passed over, as has been the case for so long.
 
It is intended that the meeting begin at 12 noon.. if people could arrive earlier, well and good.. Speakers have been invited;  politicians and doctors..to be followed by a  march up the street with placards and visual displays that represent us as a vibrant, spirited, caring community who are not prepared to lie down and accept being ridden over roughshod  by bureocrats and systems that barely  manage to use the words "patient care" in their overbearing, complex declarations of how our health system should be run.
 
Our theme I think reflects a wider view that is present in the world, that being about values, and the rights of people to be listened to by governments, and treated with respect, dignity and professionalism. much of what we take for granted here in Bellingen is missing in many parts of the world. Here we have the privilege of a caring community with facilities and assistance that are generally accessible, a large part of which can be attributed to the existence of our unique and wonderful Hospital .. However, the loss of our Hospital services and the demoralizing of medical people- nurses, doctors and related areas reflects a wider problem that is affecting our community, that of de-humanization, and lack of care. While we have still a beautiful, unique, varied and vibrant population let us stand up for that Spirit for ourselves, our Hospital, and for people and Communities everywhere, and insist that we, the people matter, and need to be listened to.
 
So the invitation is there for everyone to attend Maam Gaduying (Council) Park at 12 Noon  until about One O'clock to stand up for our Hospital, and the rights of individuals and communities everwhere..
 
Please make a placard, and get your children and teenagers to dress wild.
 
You never know, we might make it into a feature film..
 
For any information, email me or ring 66550511.