Not being able to pass wind for 24 hours is just one example of the 95,000 unnecessary calls to Victoria’s triple-0 service every year. The State Government said the non-urgent calls were putting unnecessary pressure on ambulance crews who should be responding to life-threatening situations. A new advertising campaign has been launched to educate Victorians about when they should call for emergency help, Health Minister Jill Hennessy said.
March 6, 2017
A Territory staffer has been suspended on full pay despite being charged with a string of drug offences. Police have charged the 27-year-old woman with five drug offences after seizing two separate parcels of drugs in the mail.
March 6, 2017
Senior doctors at Princess Margaret Hospital have warned that staff shortages and high levels of distress pose “a major risk to safety” at the hospital. In a position statement dated last Friday, the PMH clinical staff association claim many doctors have lost confidence in hospital management.
March 6, 2017
Ipswich Hospital has been forced to temporarily close its intensive care unit after a mould outbreak.
March 6, 2017
The Senate clerk has acknowledged concerns the Government’s decision to release personal information to a journalist could have a “chilling” impact on sources. The Department of Human Services (DHS) has stood by a decision to release a Centrelink client’s personal information to a journalist to counter her claims in the media.
March 6, 2017
Orthopaedic patients at the new South East Regional Hospital in Bega are in the dark about when they will be operated on, after surgeons walked away in support of their colleague whose contract has not been renewed.
March 6, 2017
A Tasmanian accountant who embezzled more than $2.3 million from a long-time Hobart client to splurge on a cocaine-fuelled Melbourne lifestyle has been jailed for eight years. Patrick Simon Mitchell, 42, formerly of Southbank in the Victorian capital, had pleaded guilty to 25 counts of stealing by misappropriation. In sentencing Mitchell to serve at least five years in prison, Justice Michael Brett said the crimes were made even more heinous by the high level of trust the victim had in the defendant. Justice Brett said the victim’s significant portfolio of assets included both an inheritance from her mother, as well as her own savings from her 40-year career as a nurse.
March 6, 2017
The boss of the Territory taxpayer-backed ambulance service draws a second income by renting a personal investment property to his own organisation. An investigation has revealed St John Ambulance NT rents a home from its CEO, Ross Coburn, in Darwin’s northern suburbs. Another senior St John staff member has also negotiated a similar arrangement, where they rent an investment property to their employer. St John refused to reveal how much it pays its staff in rent for the two houses, but rental data showed that Mr Coburn’s property in Tiwi was last publicly listed in 2008 for $450 per week. A spokeswoman for the organisation said St John arrangements were negotiated at arms-length on commercial terms and, despite being government funded, there was no obligation to tell the taxpayer where money was spent.
