All emergency department staff at Broome Hospital are to undertake self-defence lessons in the wake of new figures showing they deal with about 10 incidents each week involving alcohol or drug-fuelled violence from people seeking treatment. Figures from the WA Country Health Service reveal there were 488 reported incidents of violence out of 24,354 presentations in 2017. That equates to 2 per cent, or about 41 people every month.
March 20, 2018
The operator of a Latrobe aged care home where six residents died during last year’s horror flu outbreak says it expects all its staff to get flu vaccinations unless there is a medical reason not to. Uniting AgeWell, which operates Strathdevon at Latrobe, said it had implemented an enhanced flu vaccination and infection control program to ensure all its aged care communities were well prepared for the flu season. Uniting AgeWell chief executive Andrew Kinnersly said immunisation clinics would be held in April and May to ensure employees had easy access to free vaccinations.
March 20, 2018
Pay rises in the property industry are outstripping other sectors, with junior staff enjoying the best gains and companies moving to quarterly salary reviews to protect their best employees from poachers. A range of positions reported healthy pay rises, including assistant contract administrators in the building, design and construction sector, who saw a median 3.5 per cent pay increase to $81,000. Assistant village managers working in retirement living and aged care had a 3.3 per cent increase to $68,000.
March 20, 2018
This week NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard, unveiling the State Government’s flu strategy, said that health professionals – including “medical staff, nurses, doctors, allied health staff” – working in the state’s most vulnerable hospital wards will receive a compulsory flu shot. These wards include neonatal, cancer and intensive care wards. The move sparked a call from the Immunisation Coalition to extend compulsory flu shots outside NSW and across all health workers. The Coalition says that health care workers have a duty of care to protect vulnerable patients from the threat of flu.
March 20, 2018
The Whanganui District Health Board has offered apologies to the family of an elderly woman who died of complications after district nurses failed to get urgent help for a deteriorating leg wound. Health and Disability commissioner Anthony Hill upheld complaints of inadequate care in a decision released on Monday. The woman’s condition and pain levels grew worse while waiting for a hospital appointment, and after attempts to save her leg, it was amputated below the knee and she died of complications at another hospital. Health board nursing director Sandy Blake said the board and one of the nurses involved in the 80-year-old’s care had formally apologised, and a second nurse had retired. The board had also improved systems to avoid repeating shortcomings identified by the commissioner. One problem was that three staff had independently assessed referrals for the woman, each unaware that there were others, and that her condition was getting worse.
March 20, 2018
Ebos Group has hired Telstra executive Shaun Hughes as chief financial officer after the health-care and pet-care products group promoted John Cullity to chief executive.
March 19, 2018
An armed man who led police on a pursuit and rammed three of their vehicles, held officers at bay for two hours before being arrested at Wollongong Hospital. The emergency department of the NSW hospital had to be evacuated.
March 19, 2018
The Health Services Union and G4S Custodial Services Pty Ltd still have a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) on foot before Fair Work Commissioner Lee in Court 5 & Conference Room D – Level 6 in Melbourne.
