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 Dr Stamp said most instances of overt sexism in workplaces had been replaced by a more subtle and “unconscious” gender bias.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.
September 11, 2017
Bupa HI Pty Ltd has a new s.739 (application to deal with a dispute) on its hands. Senior Deputy President Hamberger in Conference Room 15A – Level 15 in Sydney will hear Williams complaint at 2pm today.
September 8, 2017
The death toll from influenza-related illnesses in Tasmania stands at 14, the state’s director of public health has said. Dr Mark Veitch said there had been 28 flu outbreaks in nursing homes, hospitals and other care facilities this flu season. How important is the flu vaccine? Many people are wondering if it’s worth getting vaccinated against influenza and if so, when. Here’s what you need to know. The 14 deaths this influenza season included six elderly residents at Strathdevon nursing home at Latrobe, in north-west Tasmania.
September 8, 2017
A s.185 (Enterprise agreement) application by The Willows Private Nursing Home Pty Ltd for its The Willows Private Nursing Home Pty Ltd, NSWNMA, ANMF NSW Branch and HSU New South Wales Branch Enterprise Agreement 2017 has been granted by Commissioner Saunders in Melbourne on 7 September 2017.
September 8, 2017
A Ballarat hospital has apologised after an employee told the wrong family that their father had died on Saturday. The granddaughter of the 83-year-old man, who did not want to be identified, said the family had lodged death notices with two newspapers before Ballarat Heath Services — the operator of Ballarat Base Hospital — revealed it had made a mistake, two days later. “We are all still in shock. We were at mum’s celebrating my birthday when we got the news he had passed so it was a very hard day,” she said. “We’d already started the grieving process, my mum was devastated.” Victorian Health Minister Jillian Hennessy said a staff member misheard a patient’s name and contacted the wrong family.
September 8, 2017
Hannah Thompson has had her unfair dismissal claim against the Royal Freemasons’ Benevolent Institution dismissed by Deputy President Dean in Brisbane on 7 September 2017. Fair Work ruled “Miss Thompson has not completed the required minimum employment period and her application has no reasonable prospects of success.”
