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Australian Medical Association
Government called to action on obesity and climate change
MJA Media Release - Government called to action on obesity and climate change
Australian politicians must act quickly to combat the rise of obesity and its life-threatening disease consequences, and the great threats to health from global climate change, according to a letter published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
The letter has been endorsed by 300 medical and health practitioners, including 40 professors of medicine and health sciences.
Prof Garry Egger, Adjunct Professor of Health Sciences at Southern Cross University, NSW, and his co-authors write that big health gains have been made since the onset of industrialisation.
Driver Licensing Authorities should take responsibility for deciding medical fitness to drive
MJA Media Release - Driver Licensing Authorities should take responsibility for deciding medical fitness to drive
Australian driver licensing authorities must take responsibility for determining whether a person’s medical condition makes them unfit to drive. This can be difficult, especially for conditions like epilepsy, where the impairment is intermittent and unpredictable. An expert review mechanism is needed to deal with uncertain or exceptional cases, according to an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Driver licensing authorities in Australia have shifted most of the responsibility for determining fitness to drive to the treating doctor, write A/Prof Ernest Somerville, Director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Service at Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, and his co-authors.
This creates a conflict of interest and may lead to unsafe decisions, damage to the doctor-patient relationship, interference with medical management and legal vulnerability for the doctor.
More vigorous research needed into effects of compensation on injury outcomes
MJA Media Release - More vigorous research needed into effects of compensation on injury outcomes
A longitudinal study has disproved previous research showing access to motor vehicle accident compensation affects recovery outcomes after injury.
Conducted by Dr Meaghan O’Donnell, from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne, and her co-authors, the study included 391 randomly selected patients with moderate-to-severe injuries.
The study is published in the latest Medical Journal of Australia.
More adequate provision of eye care services need to 'close the gap' in vision loss in indigenous people
MJA Media Release - More adequate provision of eye care services need to 'close the gap' in vision loss in indigenous people
Blindness rates in Indigenous Australians are still much higher than in non-Indigenous Australians, despite a probable fall in overall rates of blindness in Indigenous people in the past 30 years, according to research published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Most blindness was due to readily preventable or treatable causes of vision loss, including cataract, diabetes, refractive error and trachoma.
Prof Hugh Taylor, Harold Mitchell Chair of Indigenous Eye Health at the University of Melbourne, Prof Jill Keeffe, Program Manager of Vision Care Delivery at the Vision Cooperative Research Centre in Sydney, and their co-authors studied a random cluster sample of Indigenous people of all ages from 30 communities across Australia, and compared these with a sample of non-Indigenous adults aged 40 years and older from several remote sites.
GP Network News Issue 10, Number 8 - 12 March 2010
In this issue of GP Network News Issue 10 Number 8 - 12 March 2010: PM addresses AMA Parliamentary Dinner; AMA participates in 12th Annual Health Conference; Primary care debrief for pandemic H1N1 2009
Putting Health Reform above Party Politics - AMA President addresses AMA Parliamentary Dinner, Canberra
AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, addresses the AMA Parliamentary Dinner, Great Hall, Parliament House, Wednesday, 10 March 2010
GP Network News Issue 10, Number 7 - 5 March 2010
GP Network News Issue 10, Number 7 - 5 March 2010, AMA responds to major health reform announcement, National clinical practice guidelines portal.
National Health Reform Plan
On 3 March 2010, the Commonwealth Government announced its National Health and Hospitals Network policy – the first phase of its health reform package. The first phase focuses on arrangements for the funding and governance for public hospitals and primary care.
The Prime Minister also foreshadowed in his speech further initiatives in the future concerning:
- the inadequacy of hospital bed numbers, including specific problems in emergency departments, elective surgery and sub-acute care;
- the expansion of primary care;
- the undersupply of doctors, nurses and other health professionals;
- the inadequacy of electronic health records across the system; and
- preventative health care, aged care, mental health and dental health services.
Transcript: AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, Doorstop Press Conference - Government health funding announcement
AMA President Dr Andrew Pesce discusses the
Government's health reform plans at a Press Conference in Canberra.
Major health reform must be given a chance to deliver - AMA
AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the public hospitals policy unveiled by the Prime Minister is major reform that must be taken seriously and given due consideration by the States and the health sector because we need a system that will give better access to quality health services for the Australian population into the future.
Dr Pesce said the policy is a credible response to the problems and deficiencies in the public hospital system and is evidence that there has been considerable consultation with patients and with doctors.
“The AMA supports the Prime Minister’s preparedness to take responsibility for health through a more dominant role for the Commonwealth in funding our public hospitals,” Dr Pesce said.
“Upon first examination, the new National Health and Hospitals Network is responding to the needs of patients.
Doorstop: AMA response to Government Health Reform Plans
AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, is in Canberra today and will be
available for comment on the Government’s health reform plans outside
the National Press Club following the Prime Minister’s address.
Dr Pesce will be in Canberra for the rest of the day and will be available for further media interviews upon request.
Dr Pesce Doorstop:
Time: After Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s National Press Club Address
Date: Wednesday 3 March 2009
Venue: Outside the National Press Club
Dr Pesce will be in Canberra for the rest of the day and will be available for further media interviews upon request.
Dr Pesce Doorstop:
Time: After Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s National Press Club Address
Date: Wednesday 3 March 2009
Venue: Outside the National Press Club
Transcript: AMA President Dr Andrew Pesce discusses health funding with Fran Kelly, Radio National Breakfast
Dr Pesce discusses the Government's health funding reform plan with Fran Kelly on Radio National Breakfast.
THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY TO REDUCE BURDEN OF DIABETIC KIDNEY DISEASE
MJA Media Release - THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY TO REDUCE BURDEN OF DIABETIC KIDNEY DISEASE
Countries must act locally to reduce the global health burden caused by diabetic kidney disease, according to an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Prof Robert Atkins, Head of Kidney Disease Prevention at Monash University, Melbourne, and Prof Paul Zimmet, Director Emeritus and Director of International Research at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, write that World Kidney Day on 11 March is a time to intensify action on diabetic kidney disease.
ENDEMIC TRACHOMA STILL A MAJOR PROBLEM IN INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES
MJA Media Release - ENDEMIC TRACHOMA STILL A MAJOR PROBLEM IN INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES
Blinding endemic trachoma remains a major public health problem in many Indigenous communities, despite the knowledge that has been gathered about its control since the 1930s, according to the authors of a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Prof Hugh Taylor, Harold Mitchell Chair of Indigenous Eye Health at the University of Melbourne, and his co-authors conducted a national, random cluster sample survey of eye health in Indigenous children (5-15 years) and adults (40 years and older) in 30 communities across Australia.
OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY COSTS AUSTRALIA OVER $21 BILLION PER YEAR
MJA Media Release - OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY COSTS AUSTRALIA OVER $21 BILLION PER YEAR
In 2005, overweight and obese Australian adults cost the Australian economy $21 billion in direct health care and direct non-health care costs, plus an additional $35.6 billion in government subsidies, according to a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Prof Stephen Colagiuri, Professor of Metabolic Health at the Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition and Exercise, University of Sydney, and his co-authors analysed data from the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle study, collected in 1999-2000 and 2004-2005.
HIGH-RISK CARDIOVASCULAR PATIENTS UNDERTREATED IN GENERAL PRACTICE
MJA Media Release - HIGH-RISK CARDIOVASCULAR PATIENTS UNDERTREATED IN GENERAL PRACTICE
Patients who are at high risk of a cardiovascular event are substantially undertreated, according to the authors of a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Dr Emma Heeley, Senior Research Fellow at the George Institute for International Health, and her co-authors conducted a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey of 322 GPs, who were asked to collect data on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and their management in 15-20 consecutive patients aged 55 years and over.
GP Network News Issue 10, Number 6 - 26 February 2010
GP Network News Issue 10, Number 6 - 26 February 2010, Medical board responds to AMA call for recognition of VR GPs as ‘specialist GPs’, General practice pharmacies – a positive health reform for patients, AMACGP meets in Canberra, Nominations for election to AMA Federal Council now open.
Medical Board responds to AMA call for recognition of vocationally registered GPs as ‘Specialist GPs’
The AMA welcomes the decision by the Medical Board of Australia to include vocationally registered GPs on the Specialist Register of the new national registration scheme that takes effect from 1 July 2010.
AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said the AMA last week wrote to the Board recommending that vocationally registered GPs be given Specialist General Practitioner status.
“The Board has made the right decision,” Dr Pesce said.
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Administrative Assistant, Policy Branch
The Australian Medical Association, as the peak health advocacy organisation, exists to advance the health of the community and the professional interests of doctors. The AMA represents Australian doctors and is the public face of Australian Medicine.
The AMA is seeking to appoint a highly motivated and enthusiastic person to the position of Administrative Assistant.
Copyright 2010 Australian Medical Students' Association.
