More than half of doctors in Australia’s public hospitals are working unsafe hours – some more than 70 hours in a single shift. A new audit by the Australian Medical Association found that 53 per cent were on rosters that placed them at significant or higher risk of fatigue. Intensive care physicians and surgeons were the most stretched. One doctor reported working an unbroken 76-hour shift, alongside others who endured shifts of between 53 and 72 hours. AMA president Michael Gannon was left dismayed. “It is disappointing that work and rostering practices in some hospitals are still contributing to doctor fatigue and stress, which ultimately affect patient safety and quality of care and the health of the doctor,” he said in a statement.
July 18, 2017
Three children are to give evidence against their parents in a trial over the alleged neglect death of an elderly woman at her family’s home. Police allege the woman, aged in her 80s, did not get the care she needed from her son and his wife in the nine months before she died in October 2013. Ambulance paramedics were called to the family’s Melbourne house after the woman died, and alerted police when they were appalled by the sight of her in a soiled nappy on a rotten mattress, with food scraps strewn around and a stench through the home. A medical examination later found the woman’s 34-kilogram body had begun to decompose, that her limbs, chest and forehead were covered either in bruises or scabs, and that parts of her body were discoloured, according to court documents. The son, 50, and his wife, 45, were last week committed to stand trial on charges of reckless conduct endangering life and reckless conduct endangering serious injury. Both pleaded not guilty. The couple and the elderly woman cannot be named so as to protect the identities of the couple’s children. The man and wife appeared before the County Court on Friday so a judge could set a date for their trial. They will stand trial in May next year. The couple had their bail extended. The court heard three of their children – two of them teenagers and one younger – were listed as prosecution witnesses. Court documents say one of the couple’s children found her grandmother dead. Judge Lisa Hannan said she was concerned for the children but was told authorities were monitoring the case.
July 18, 2017
Community Caring Pty Ltd is facing a brace of s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) before Commissioner Platt in his Adelaide chambers at 11.30am (Dignon and Morris).
July 18, 2017
Life Without Barriers will front up at 4.30pm to defend a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) lodged by Ezea.
July 18, 2017
An employee of a care home allegedly photographed residents without their consent and shared the image with her fellow co-workers on social media, police said. The alleged incidents came to light when a staff member came forward about the conduct of five fellow colleagues.
July 14, 2017
It was ironically running a deli in Sydney during the 1980s that confirmed the importance of nursing for Veronica “Ronnie” Croome, who is retiring as the ACT’s Chief Nurse today. She took on the small business in Eastwood during a four-year sabbatical from nursing and found the qualities imbued through nursing had held her in good stead. “The delicatessen was quite successful and I think the reason for that is because people have a level of respect and trust in nurses,” she said. “So once your customers know you’re a nurse, they know that you’re going to be honest and trustworthy; that you’ve got good hygiene standards and it was a pretty exciting thing to do but hard work.” Ms Croome ended up selling the business and happily returning to nursing. She retires from the profession after 43 years as a nurse, the last almost nine years as the ACT’s Chief Nurse, providing leadership to nurses and midwives in Canberra; advising the minister and director-general and sitting on committees to foster the calling.
July 14, 2017
Security officers at several Sydney hospitals are fighting plans that would force them to wear a suit, which they say is “inappropriate and restrictive”. Seventeen guards at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital have unanimously voted against Sydney Local Health District’s (SLHD) plans to roll out new security uniforms, saying they need functional clothing to do their jobs, which often involve restraining violent patients and visitors. “The suits are inappropriate and restrictive and it’s not like an ice addict is going to wait for you, like you can say: ‘Hold on a minute, let me take off my suit jacket so I can restrain you,’ ” said Ron Pike, a Health Services Union organiser who has worked as an RPA security officer for seven years. SLHD’s chief executive Teresa Anderson said the new uniforms were part of a bigger strategy to create a safe and secure environment for patients. She said the current “police-style” uniforms had a “paramilitary flavour”, which may intimidate some patients, especially those who are sensitive to their surroundings. “You might be sick with sepsis, get delirium and your behaviour might escalate. We want to have an environment where the officers can de-escalate issues in a quiet and calm way,” she said. “The old uniform with large boots is very police like, and our security staff are not police, they don’t need to have that style in terms of the work they do.” She said they had trialled several designs over the past couple of years and settled on a “breathable, flexible, wool-blend” suit that exuded a “quiet authority”. The suits will soon be seen at SLHD’s five hospitals – RPA, Concord, Canterbury, Balmain and Sydney Dental hospitals.
July 14, 2017
The Islamic Society of Victoria is accused via a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) of dispatching with the services of Abou-Eid in a manner contrary to accepted procedures.
