Director-General of the Health Directorate (that’s a lot of directing) Dr Peggy Brown has announced her plan to speed up the Emergency Department at Canberra Hospital:
“The Health Directorate is in the process of implementing a number of initiatives to make our ED the best it can possibly be,” said Dr Brown.
The ED is increasing its [...]

Another day, another aspirational policy from Chief Minister Gallagher.
Today we’re going to tackle cancer:
if re-elected ACT Labor will partner with the ANU to provide $1.5 million to support the establishment of high profile Centenary Chair in Cancer Research at JCSMR [John Curtin School of Medical Research].
The Chair will be closely linked with the Canberra Region [...]

STOP GOING!
I was listening to Ross Solly hammer the Director-General of Health this morning on the radio and some of the feedback from listeners is a clear indication of why the ED in The Canberra Hospital is under such stress. People who cannot be in need of emergency treatment are showing up in droves. The [...]

The Greens have announced their policy on feeding children:
– Legislate to protect children from junk food advertising to children, to help parents and children to make healthy choices, and to fight childhood obesity;
– Improve school canteens, by funding a high level task force, creating new jobs, and improving canteen infrastructure;
– Create new schools [...]

ANU is letting us know about another prize win:
Professor Chris Goodnow has claimed the prestigious GlaxoSmithKline Award for Research Excellence for his pioneering work on autoimmune diseases. The prize includes $80,000 research funding.
The funding will allow Professor Goodnow from The John Curtin School of Medical Research to test a controversial theory, that autoimmune [...]

Katy Gallagher has promised a racy number of new hospital beds if she’s re-elected.
If re-elected, ACT Labor will invest in 69 more beds, more than 100 doctors and nurses and new services at Calvary Public Hospital.
Our commitment will help meet the demand for public hospital services in the rapidly growing suburbs in our cities north. [...]

Is there anything better than a Bat Warning?
ACT Chief Health Officer Dr Paul Kelly said today that in the past week the ACT Health Directorate has received a number of requests for anti-rabies treatment for people who have been bitten or scratched by bats. These injuries have occurred when people are picking up bats that [...]

Chief Minister Gallagher informs us that she’s launched an online health information system pilot:
My eHealth enables patients to access personal information relating to their health care.
“My eHealth is a secure, online service which improves patients’ access to their health information, and helps them keep track of their appointments,” the Chief Minister said.
“It gives patients [...]

Chief Minister Gallagher is letting it be known that she’s signed a Heads of Agreement with UC for the “University of Canberra Public Hospital”:
The Chief Minister and University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Professor Stephen Parker signed a Heads of Agreement this morning confirming the ‘University of Canberra Public Hospital’ will be built on the northwest of [...]

This just in:
Female genital cosmetic surgery: what do women think about it?
Two researchers from the University of Melbourne and ANU are about to find out.
The project is called Vulvatalk and the researchers are currently recruiting participants through social network giant, Facebook. This is the first major research project to actively seek out Australian women’s opinions [...]

Chief Minister Gallagher has announced that she’s OK with the existing obese population but doesn’t want to see any more:
if re-elected ACT Labor will set a “zero growth” target by of making the current recorded rates of people
who are overweight and obese as the peak of the obesity epidemic in the ACT.
To achieve this she’s [...]

The Liberals’ Jeremy Hanson is having a right old dig at the Chief Minister this morning:
ACT Shadow Health Minister Jeremy Hanson is calling on Katy Gallagher to apologise to the patients whose cancer treatment was reportedly changed at short notice to fit in with her media schedule. Mr Hanson said it is unacceptable for the [...]

The Greens’ Amanda Bresnan has unveiled her policy for a mobile primary health clinic:
“The Greens want to ease the demands on the hospital system by providing health care to people before they become acutely unwell. We can do this by investing in primary health services,” Ms Bresnan said today.
In 2009-10, 20.7% of ACT’s hospital admissions [...]

This afternoon the Kelpie of Few Accomplishments and I managed to capture on camera the vast pollen output of the pines of Haig Park.
*KERCHOO*
Got an image of Canberra you want to share with the world? Email it to images@the-riotact.com .

The Canberra Liberals have just dropped a huge slew of policies:
Today, ACT Opposition Leader Zed Seselja outlined a comprehensive plan to give Canberrans better basic services and lower rates and charges.

We’ll link them in as we get them online. But here are the headlines:
Cost of living:
– Libs won’t triple your rates
– Libs [...]

Chief Minister Gallagher yesterday announced the opening of a new Gungahlin Community Health Centre which is open to the public today:
The new $18 million health centre will offer: community nursing ambulatory clinics; allied health services including physiotherapy and podiatry; dental surgeries for children and youth; and a range of services for women and children including [...]

My husband is a moley moley moley man and wants to have a thorough check up to scan for any irregularities.
Have any Rioters got any experience with where is the best place to start in Canberra?
Is there a skin cancer clinic you can go to without a referral or do you start at [...]

I have recently been diagnosed with TMJ and I’ve been told that a chiropractor might be able to help.
Does anyone have a good (or bad) experience to report, and has anyone had success in treating TMJ with chiropractic?

Joy Burch has announced that the West Belconnen Health Co-op is going to open a bulk-billing GP clinic in Chisholm with start-up funding from the ACT Governmetn and the Bendigo Bank.
ACT Minister for Community Services and Member for Brindabella Joy Burch said the new centre in
Chisholm is the result of an innovative partnership between the [...]

Katy Gallagher is promising to offer schools a teeny weeny little bribe in exchange for giving up the ongoing revenues of selling soft drinks to their students:
If re-elected in 2012 ACT Labor will establish a $500,000 fund
to install water bottle refill stations and supply reusable drink bottles to any school that agrees to end the [...]

On the last sitting day the Health Directorate has sent in the ACT Chief Health Officer’s Report 2012.
With no data since 2010 it’s a little hard to tell where we’re at, but here are the conclusions on demography:
The ACT is expected to experience significant changes in its demographic profile between 2010 and 2056:
– The [...]

The Walk-in Centre at Canberra Hospital has been in touch to let you all know they’re now doing free Chlamydia screenings:
Free Chlamydia screening for 16 – 30 year olds is on offer in the Walk-in Centre from 13 August 2012.
This will be offered for approximately 3 months.
Approximately 5% of 16 to 30 year olds may [...]

The Health Directorate is kicking off a community consultation on the Mental Health (Treatment and Care) Act.
They promise that at some point you’ll be able to get busy on the Time To Talk website.
In the meantime there are a lot of documents to read.
The Summary of Proposed Changes lists these key amendments:
– If a person [...]

The Liberals’ Jeremy Hanson is doing a fine job of putting the frighteners up us this morning on standards compliance at the Canberra Hospital:
ACT Shadow Health Minister Jeremy Hanson said today that an internal audit of the Canberra Hospital’s compliance with the Surgical Safety Checklist has identified appalling levels of non-compliance that has put [...]

Chief Minister Gallagher has announced the opening of a linear accelerator at Canberra Hospital to increase cancer treatment:
A linear accelerator (Linac) is a device used for external beam radiation treatments for patients with cancer. It delivers high-energy x-rays direct to the region of the patient’s tumour. These x-ray treatments are designed in such a way [...]

The Liberals’ Jeremy Hanson is taking an interesting tack on the Public Accounts Committee report into the health statistics scandal:
“The report has revealed a number of recommendations including that the government needs to review the adequacy of controls of IT systems and security of patient records,” Mr Hanson said today.
“The fact that the Committee [...]

An intriguing set of documents thrown up on the Open FOI website.
Someone has asked for documents relating to “Identification of issues with emergency department data in February 2012″.
First we have an email from Andrew Bailey, to Lee Martin, Phil Ghirardello, Michael Hall, Kate Jackson (the only person to resign over the health statistics fraud), and [...]

[ 19 September, 2012; 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm. ] Pedal Power ACT is calling on the next ACT Government to increase spending on cycling to $50 million over four years.

Canberra’s facilities are great for dedicated, confident riders but they don’t encourage enough new riders and there are too many unfinished projects. Cycling increased by 70% between 2004 and 2010 but has not grown since.

ACT [...]

My baby boomer partner needs a new lower denture.
He’s sick of dribbling his ham and pea soup down his trackie daks
Quote from a dental lab, admittedly a very good one, $12,000.
Could buy an old ute for that!
Any recommendations?

Chief Minister Gallagher has announced ACT surgeons are to start work at Queanbeyan Hospital:
As part of wider cross-border collaboration in health, seven urology operations were performed at Queanbeyan Hospital on 6 August and four gynaecology operations were performed on 9 August.
Fifty operations will be performed at the hospital ahead of a review, which will consider [...]

The ABC has one of Canberra’s worst kept secrets:
A Canberra psychiatrist struck off for making sexual advances on a patient and over prescribing her drugs can now be named.
The ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal this week lifted a non-publication order that prevented Dr Hugh Veness from being named.
Earlier this year the tribunal found Dr [...]

There’s no media release yet available to the likes of us, but the ABC has the word a needle exchange at the Alexander Maconochie Centre is going to be trialled.
(Bear in mind that in the ACT a “trial” is not about testing the idea, it’s about testing the implentation.)
The decision is part of a [...]