An application by Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (s.217 – Application to vary an agreement to remove an ambiguity or uncertainty) will be determined by Commissioner Cribb in Court 6 – Level 6 in Melbourne.
September 12, 2017
The serial thug who attacked Wadeye nurse Vicki Myers in 2016 – his latest in a string of attacks on female nurses, teachers and service workers – has been jailed and will likely never again be allowed to live in the town. Edmund Tcherna was sentenced to two years and six months jail with no non-parole period over what Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Grant called the “disturbing assault” and a related property damage charge. He said the attack demonstrated an escalation of Tcherna’s pattern of unprovoked violence towards defenceless female service workers.
September 12, 2017
A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application by Homewood Care Pty Ltd T/A Homewood Care for its Homewood Care Pty Ltd, NSWNMA, ANMF NSW Branch and HSU New South Wales Branch Enterprise Agreement 2017 has been ratified by Commissioner Saunders in Newcastle on 8 September 2017.
September 12, 2017
Questions have been raised over the way NSW Health handles psychological injury claims among its employees, with internal documents showing the claims are sent to the department’s lawyers before they can be assessed by a medical officer. Critics – including some employees who have lodged claims – say the department’s new pre-liability early intervention process for psychological injury suggests claims are treated with suspicion and seen as potentially fertile ground for fraud. NSW Health has firmly rejected the assertion the claims are intended to discredit workers, saying the process enables employees to fast access treatment and removes barriers for claimants. From February 1 psychological injury claims where liability is a concern are sent to the local health district’s legal team before an independent medical officer (IMO), according to the guidelines. This fast-tracking process allows workers to access “reasonably necessary treatment” while their claim is investigated. “Delays in liability decisions can have a negative impact on the worker if they are unable to access the necessary treatment to facilitate their recovery,” the document read. “Immediate treatment which is reasonably necessary, can be sought by the worker even though the claim is reasonably excused.” But the guidelines also stipulate that solicitors help tailor questions for an IMO to ask employees who have lodged a psychological claim. “[Solicitors’] advice will also include the most suitable and appropriate questions for Independent Medical Investigations (IMEs) to ensure relevant information is obtained,” the process document reads.
September 12, 2017
Four youths have been charged with property offences overnight in Pimlico. Police were called to a retirement village on Acacia Street, Mundingburra after receiving information of several youths trespassing.
September 12, 2017
WA’s only female heart and lung surgeon has called for hospitals and other workplaces to level the gender imbalance. Fiona Stanley Hospital’s Dr Nikki Stamp is one of 11 female cardiothoracic surgeons in Australia, but says patients sometimes mistake her for a nurse. Dr Stamp said most instances of overt sexism in workplaces had been replaced by a more subtle and “unconscious” gender bias. She said hiring and other employment processes were often geared towards favouring men over women. “By taking some of the subjectiveness out of how we choose candidates for jobs or training, I would hope we employ more people on merit and start levelling out the gender imbalance,” she said. Dr Stamp said her most “severe” case of gender bias was a few years ago while working at a Sydney hospital where a male patient threatened to discharge himself from care when he realised his entire medical team was female. “The stereotypes can be so strong, particularly by older patients, but I don’t find that horrendously offensive, it doesn’t make me angry,” she said. “It makes me want to show that our prejudices and biases might not seem like a harmful thing but when these stereotypes perpetuate, they inevitably result in system biases which will disadvantage someone. “That’s why these stereotypes should be challenged, not to make that person (with biases) feel bad but to make our systems and our society much stronger.”
September 12, 2017
The number of reported sexual and serious physical assaults at aged care facilities on the Gold Coast is nearly 70 per cent higher than the national average. The latest statistics, released by the Department of Health, have sparked outrage from aged care advocates, who have called for more awareness of and vigilance against elder abuse. The shocking figures show two per cent of nursing homes residents or 98 people were seriously assaulted or sexually assaulted on the Coast between 2015 and 2016 — 67 per cent higher than the national average of 1.2 per cent. The findings were released this week to the 21,000-member Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association (CPSA) after it lodged a Freedom of Information request to the Department and then two appeals.
September 12, 2017
New figures from the Department of Health and Human Services have revealed there were 78 flu deaths in aged-care homes, compared with 36 at the same time last year. And this year’s flu has mutated, rendering some vaccinations ineffective. Kanta Subbarao, director of the World Health Organisation’s Melbourne influenza research centre, said this year’s strain was particularly tough on the elderly. “A/H3N2 has been the main strain this year, its in about 70 per cent of cases,” she said. “We know at any time there is a A/H3N2 strain that there will be a lot of infections in older adults.
