ANU Medical School graduates are usually guaranteed a first round offer to intern at the Canberra Hospital, however as of this month a new policy will deny them that if they choose to also apply for positions interstate. Outside of the ACT, graduates with multiple offers are given two days to make a decision.
The students [...]

Copa, the restaurant at the heart of Canberra biggest salmonella outbreak ever has reopened its doors with the blessing of ACT Health reports ABC News.
This is good news as I really would like to go…
I may avoid the mayonnaise.

Emergency wards are clogged up with over 80 people suffering from food poisoning, and things look like they’re about to get worse.
Another food poisoning incident has occurred, reports ABC News.
ACT Health has also confirmed a second and unrelated food poisoning outbreak at an unnamed venue in Canberra’s south, with up to 150 people potentially exposed [...]

ACT Health released their Chronic Conditions Strategy for 2013 until 2018 yesterday.
The increasing prevalence of chronic conditionsis one of the biggest burdens facing the Australian
health system and has significant ramifications for the Australian economy and the lives of those living
with one or more chronic conditions.
The whole report is available here if you’d care to [...]

Hospital food is always going to be a vexed issue.
Every penny spent on it could be going towards another staff member’s salary, a piece of equipment, a secure multi user data entry system, a bottle of hand sanitiser, the list goes on.
On that constrained budget then consider the vast swathe of humanity to be catered [...]

This in from c_c.
More when it comes to hand.
Got an image of Canberra you want to share with the world? Email it in to images@the-riotact.com .

And this just in from our man:
Firies packing up after taking a white drum in and out a couple of times. Some of them wearing BA. Just when it looks [...]

The Liberals’ Jeremy Hanson is taking a swing at the latest awful numbers coming out of the emergency department:
“Waiting times are worse in every category, worryingly only 42 per cent of patients requiring urgent treatment and 44 per cent of patients requiring semi-urgent treatment were seen on time,” Mr Hanson said.
“For six years Katy Gallagher [...]

On Saturday, the Canberra Times brought word that the Australia Day storm caused a total power outage at Calvary Hospital:
Calvary Hospital lost all power, both main and auxiliary, for about 30 minutes during the storm.
No patients were affected and no operations were being conducted during the storm.
But the hospital came close to declaring a “code [...]

The ABC has the grimly familiar news of another cockup in health, this time at the Birth Centre which is turning away 400 women a year despite running at half capacity:
Last year the centre was expanded from three birth suites to five as part of the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
But documents obtained under [...]

The Legislative Assembly has posted a recall hearing of the Estimates Committee (Bresnan, Hargreaves, Coe, Hunter, Smyth) for Thursday (today) in which the Chief Minister will be fronting to talk about her health directorate.
The hearing is from 2-5pm and one images Health Statistics will be the name of the game.
UPDATE 05/07/12 11:47: Apologies, today is [...]

On-line survey about Canberrans’ daily lives is open 16th-31st May. It is funded by ACT Health and has a big prize draw of 3 iPads and 43 gift vouchers.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s MyHospitals website has just rated the nation’s hand hygiene in hospitals.
Sadly Canberra Hospital has managed 64.8%, well below the national benchmark of 70%.
The information presented here refers to the hand hygiene audit period July-October 2011.
The national benchmark for hand hygiene is 70%.
To learn more about hand hygiene ‘moments’ [...]

News have the terrifying information that the stunningly lethal deathcap dinner was cooked in a commercial kitchen here in Canberra:
HEALTH authorities in Canberra say the meal which contained death cap mushrooms that killed two people was prepared in a commercial kitchen.
The ACT Health Directorate says the food was for a private meal and no food [...]

ACT Health has issued a warning about Death Cap Mushrooms:
Three people have recently been admitted to ACT hospitals after becoming ill from eating Death Cap Mushrooms.
“The Death Cap mushrooms often grow near established oak trees and are found when there is warm, wet weather. In Canberra this usually occurs in Autumn, but recent summer [...]

Auditor-General Maxine Cooper has announced the release of her report into the Management of Food Safety in the Australian Capital Territory:
the audit found shortcomings in the ACT Health Directorate’s Health Protection Service’s administration of food safety that need to be addressed to provide the community assurance that the food they buy and [...]

ACT Health need to consider the difficulties faced by The Canberra Hospital patients getting to the main building from Multistory parking

ACT Health has released Statistical Subdivisions in the ACT 2007-09 – Health Snapshot Series No. 1.
(We’re not entirely sure how three year old data counts as a “snapshot”, but it’s what we’ve got)
The big numbers are:
In 2008:
– Belconnen and Tuggeranong were the most populous subdivisions in the ACT.
– Gungahlin-Hall had the largest proportion (25%) of [...]

It’s trench warfare outside ACT Health’s Alinga Street offices on Friday mornings as pro and anti abortionists try to get their messages across.
RiotACT can also report we’ve started getting emails, from the anti side, demanding we remove stories relating to this issue.

Gungahlin Al has sent in this photo of the pro-choice protest outside ACT Health this morning as advertised last week.
We note a lack of trucks and stopped traffic.
One can only hope the time rich catholics who usually protest there have found somewhere else to get there weekly social engagement.

This morning counter-protesters gathered out the front of ACT Health for the third time to oppose the presence of anti-choice religious protesters.

Health Minister and RiotACT Twitter follower Katy Gallagher (hello @KatyGMLA ) has announced that the ACT’s elective surgery wait times are better than they’ve ever been before:
The number of elective surgery procedures provided this year alone is now sitting at 10,100 procedures, and this number is significantly contributing to bringing our elective surgery waiting list [...]

ACT Health’s website has announced it’s commenced operations of the Chronic Disease Telephone Coaching Service.
The Chronic Disease Telephone Coaching Service is a telephone based support service provided free of charge by ACT Health. The program will help people with chronic diseases improve their ability to self manage their condition.
This leads to improved quality of life [...]

Health Minister Katy Gallagher is calling for your input into her Draft Primary health Care Strategy.
“The ACT Primary Health Care Strategy aims to be a visionary document that reflects the thinking of the ACT community in relation to their needs and priorities for primary health care,” said the Minister.
“The previous ACT Primary Health Care Strategy [...]

Katy Gallagher has proudly announced that her nurse-led walk-in centre has now treated people.
“This milestone for the Walk-in Centre indicates that the Canberra community appreciates the Walk-in Centre as an additional tier to the ACT Health system,” the Minister said.
The Centre opened to the public in May 2010, offering fast, free, one-off advice and treatment [...]

Chief Minister Stanhope is very excited that ACT Health is approaching mediocrity when it comes to hospital bed numbers:
“The Productivity Commission report shows ACT public hospitals equalled the major city average for number of beds per 1,000 people in 2008-09 of 2.5 beds. This was a marked improvement on the 2004-05 figure of 2.1 beds [...]

The ACT Government has spent millions upgrading the Catholic Church’s Calvary Hospital for public use (except for things the church doesn’t like but which are entirely legal).
Today in the Canberra Times John Thistleton reports that following the aborted buyout process the ACT Government is now looking to build a North Canberra hospital:
The ACT Government is [...]

1. Reaching agreement:
ACT Policing and ACT Health have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in which the Territory’s health authority will provide forensic and other medically-related services to the police.
The three-year agreement, worth $942,800 annually, will provide for a range of services including medical call-outs to the ACT Watch House, attendance at death scenes, examination [...]

The Liberal’s Jeremy Hanson is banging the drum on claims that ACT Health is fluffing it’s numbers be reclassifying people needing surgery:
While the Minister was yesterday boasting of sipping rosés in the South of France on her recent holiday, she was yesterday unable to address the very serious allegations of manipulation of surgery lists that [...]

Nicola Roxon has announced that Mark Cormack, head of ACT Health has been appointed the CEO of Health Workforce Australia.  He’s off to live the high life in Adelaide.  There doesn’t appear to be any news on his replacement, but at least Katy has congratulated him on the appointment.

Over the Long Weekend, I had the fortune of attending The Canberra Hospital due to a family member being involved in a head-on collision with a lunatic driver (wrong lane, speeding, child in the passenger seat), who arrived at TCH by ambulance.
We were told to wait and once they had arrived and been assessed, we [...]

I would like to share my experience with the medical care facilities in the ACT in the hope that some change in focus begins to occur. My three year old son was referred for a hearing test and paediatrician consult for a speech delay last week. Upon calling the ACT health number for a hearing [...]