Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia 2013-14

This report, published recently by the AIHW indicates that around 119,000 clients in 2013-2014 were estimated to have received over 180,700 treatment episodes from 795 publicly funded alcohol and other drug treatment agencies. Alcohol was the most common drug needing treatment for people aged over 30, and cannabis was the most common for those aged under 30.  Counselling was the most common form of treatment sought.

The report gives details on the agencies available, the drugs of concern and the types of treatment provided and compares the data to previous years. For example, since 2009-10, there has been an increase in use of amphetamines (from 7% to 17%) and an increase in smoking/inhaling as the method of administration for amphetamines.

The Sedentary Office - guidelines for moving in the office

License: CC0 Public Domain

A review of the evidence surrounding the health benefits for office workers to stand up and move around has led to a set of guidelines published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.   Commissioned by Public Health England, an international group of experts from the UK, US and Australia have published The sedentary office: an expert statement on the growing case for change towards better health and productivity. The authors recommend that desk-based workers spend at least two hours of their working day standing or moving, and that this should gradually progress to four hours a day.

Other recommendations made include regularly breaking up seated-based work with standing (as can be achieved with sit-stand desks) and avoiding long periods of standing still, which could be just as harmful as sitting for a long time. The authors suggest that these recommendations should be part of every workplace culture.

Young Australians, illness and education

Chronically-ill children who need to take extended absences from school are neither officially acknowledged nor assisted to keep up, according to this report from Julie White and Karen Roauer at the Victoria Institute: Young Australians, illness and education: report on the national database project.

Advances in medicine mean that many children are surviving diseases, but are struggling to keep abreast of their education. This report provides a detailed summary of education, health and demographic information about 2360 Australian children and young people who live with significant health conditions.  The study aims to provide an empirical base for policy recommendation and further investigation and to contribute to the growing body of evidence about pressing educational issues related to these children and young people. 

Transport to treatment for people with chronic disease

The Council of Social Service of NSW has published Staying alive: transport to treatment for people living with a chronic disease.  This report focuses on the unmet health transport needs associated with two of the most prevalent chronic diseases, cancer and chronic kidney disease. 

Gaps in the current system result in inequities in access to these services for those who need it most. This includes people with limited financial means and fewer public transport options. The extent of this unmet need in NSW is unknown, but the findings of this report are based on a national survey of health professionals engaged in cancer and kidney disease care in 2014. The report reveals that:

• 77% of respondents in dialysis units, and 81% of respondents in cancer centres, reported some level of difficulty accessing transport to and from treatment
• 66% indicated that there were not enough parking spaces to meet demand at dialysis units
• The greatest burden of unmet non-emergency transport needs was borne by older people (77%) people on low incomes (74%), people living in rural and regional areas (66%), people with a disability (44%), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (29%), and people from culturally diverse backgrounds (21%).

Hospital statistics reports 2013-2014

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released three new reports on hospital statistics:  

Australias hospitals 2013-14: at a glance - provides information on Australia's public and private hospitals. In 2013-14, there were 9.7 million hospitalisations, including 2.5 million involving surgery. Public hospitals provided care for 7.2 presentations to emergency departments, with 74% of patients seen within recommended times for their triage category and about 73% were completed within 4 hours.  

 

Non-admitted patient care 2013-14: Australian hospital statistics - In 2013-14, about 46 million occasions of service were provided for non-admitted patients by 558 public hospitals, including 6 million occasions of service for emergency care, 18 million for outpatient care and 22 million for other non-admitted patient care. 

 

Hospital resources 2013-14: Australian hospital statistics - presents a detailed overview of public and private hospital resources in Australia. In 2013-14, there were 747 public hospitals with over 58,600 beds that accounted for more than $44 billion of expenditure.  There were 612 private hospitals with almost 31,000 beds that accounted for more than $11 billion of expenditure.

Hospitals should be exemplars of healthy workplaces

This article, recently published in the Medical Journal of Australia, calls for hospitals to model policies and practices that promote health and safety.

The authors argue that hospitals should focus on health as well as illness and that reorienting their policies to reflect this should be an “integral part of the push for quality and safety in clinical care and also contributes to the triple bottom line for health care: better patient experience of care; better population health through improved social and environmental impacts; and better financial performance.”

Russell LM, Anstey MHR, Wells S. (2015)  Hospitals should be exemplars of healthy workplaces.
Medical Journal of Australia. 202(8):424-26. doi:10.5694/mja14.01437.  

Full text available through CIAP for NSW Health employees. 

Indigenous health and welfare APP

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released a new APP - Indigenous Health and Welfare Statistics.  At this stage it is only available on the Apple platform, and you can search for it in the App store under Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. 

The App is mainly based on the AIHW report, The Health and welfare of Australias Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples 2015 but includes some information from other reports.  The APP includes topics such as population, education, employment, health, housing, life expectancy and determinants of health.  It features a favourites page and a detailed glossary. 

Cancer Survivorship

This edition of Cancer Forum presents a series of articles articulating the state of cancer survivorship in Australia and work to improve psychosocial and cancer outcomes for those living after a diagnosis of cancer. While many people live for relatively long periods after their cancer diagnosis, we know a sizable proportion experience poor health and side-effects of cancer and its treatments.
Cancer survivorship;   July 2015 Vol 39 Issue No 2

Cancer Screening Statistics in Australia

Cancer screening programs aim to reduce illness and death resulting from cancer through an organised approach to screening. Measures of participation in cancer screening programs tell us how many people participate in these programs, and whether factors such as remoteness, socioeconomic status or Indigenous status mean that people are more likely to miss out on the benefits of screening.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released new cancer screening web pages:

Participation in BreastScreen Australia 2013-2014

Participation in the National Cervical Screening Program 2013-2014

An Introduction to Trauma Informed Care

ACATLGN has recently announced the launch of a free online learning website - An Introduction toTrauma Informed Care. This online learning has been designed to increase information and knowledge on the impact of experiences of adversity and trauma on children and young people. It contains information, resources, videos and links to provide a comprehensive introduction to trauma informed care.  

The program is designed as an easily accessed on-line introduction and learning program for families, carers and other professionals with responsibilities for the care of children who may need support as a result of challenging and potentially traumatic experiences. There are six modules that you can work through at your own pace, with free resources to download that accompany the modules.

The Australian Child & Adolescent Trauma, Loss & Grief Network is based at the Australian National University and is funded by the Australian Government.

Free e-learning-An Introduction to Trauma Informed Care           

FoodSwitch App

Created by the George Institute for Global Health in Australia, the FoodSwitch app is now the number one downloaded food scanning app in the Australian Appstore."The free app helps consumers find out what is in the food they are eating and suggests simple, alternative healthier choices. FoodSwitch also has several filters designed to allow consumers to focus on their specific dietary requirements, including SaltSwitch, SugarSwitch and GlutenSwitch." The app is free to download.
Click here for the FoodSwitch app.

Health and Climate Change - Lancet report

Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health has been published by the 2015 Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change.  It examines the impacts of climate change on the health of worldwide populations and suggests policy responses. This Commission includes 60 international experts from multidisciplinary fields and its central message is that tackling climate change could be the greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century.

Using clean renewable energy sources, energy-efficient buildings and active transport options are considered by the report authors to be particularly important in the effort to reduce air pollution and improve the incidence of heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes, mental illness and respiratory disease.

Healthy eating pyramid

Nutrition Australia has launched its Healthy Eating Pyramid as a simple visual guide to the types of foods Australians should eat for good health.  It's based on the Australian Dietary Guidelines (2013) for 19-50 year olds.

The bottom of the pyramid includes plant-based foods: vegetables and legumes, fruits and grains, and the guidelines suggest 70% of what we eat should come from this layer.  The middle layer includes dairy foods and alternatives as well as lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts and seeds.  The top layer has healthy fats (not saturated or trans fats).

Antimicrobial resistance strategy

Responding to the threat of antimicrobial resistance: Australia's first national antimicrobial resistance strategy 2015–2019 has been released by the Australian Government this month. It was developed in partnership with industry and government, including the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare and aims to guide actions by governments, health professionals, farmers and veterinarians to respond to the threat of antibiotic misuse and resistance.

The Strategy document discusses the looming public health issues globally and nationally related to antimicrobial resistance and “calls on all stakeholders to support a collaborative effort to change those practices that have contributed to the development of resistance and implement new initiatives to reduce inappropriate antibiotic usage and resistance.”

National opioid pharmacotherapy statistics 2014

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released the National opiod pharmacotherapy statistics for 2014.  Dependence on opioid drugs is associated with a range of health and social problems and this bulletin presents information on the clients receiving opioid pharmacotherapy treatment, the doctors prescribing these drugs, and the dosing points that clients attend to receive their medication.

On a snapshot day in 2014, over 48,000 clients received pharmacotherapy treatment for their opioid dependence at 2,432 dosing points around Australia. As in previous year, methadone was the most common pharmacotherapy drug, with around two-thirds (67%) of clients treated with this drug. There were 2,319 prescribers of opioid pharmacotherapy drugs, an increase of 15% from 2013.