Health Alert - 21 February 2011

21 February 2011

Welcome to this week's edition of Health Alert. The Health Alert is transmitted on Monday of each week (unless there is a public holiday on Monday).

Health Alert is a summary of the critical judgments, legislation, press releases and news items which have come to our attention each week. Many of the summaries will contain a hyperlink.

If an item is of special interest, we may insert commentary into the body of Health Alert. However in general, Health Alert is a quick and effective means of ensuring that you are aware of significant recent changes with little or no commentary from us.

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The DLA Phillips Fox Health Team

Judgments

Victoria. Coroners Court of Victoria Redacted interim Ruling on Cause of Death - Broughton Hall (PDF 2.3MB)

This interim coronial ruling concerned the causes of the deaths of four residents of the Broughton Hall Nursing Home following an outbreak of gastroenteritis. The Coroners Court heard submissions from counsel for the nursing home and from counsel assisting the coroner regarding the legal test for causation of death in the coronial context, as opposed to the civil or criminal law.

State Coroner, Judge Coate referred to the South Australian Supreme Court case of Saraf v Johns in holding that causation will be established where something plays a sufficient and material part in the death under investigation to warrant being acknowledged by a reasonable and competent medical practitioner on the death certificate as a contributing cause.

All four deceased were found to have gastroenteritis as at least an antecedent cause, which contributed in a material way to their deaths. Accordingly the deaths were ordered to remain part of the coronial investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

New South Wales. Nurses & Midwives Tribunal HCCC V O'Hagan [2010] NSWNMT 37 (21 December 2010)

This Nurses and Midwives Tribunal of NSW decision concerned a complaint that a registered nurse's conviction of wilful and obscene exposure in public rendered him unfit to practice as a nurse. Throughout the tribunal hearing, the nurse continued to deny that he had masturbated in a car park, despite a court finding to that effect.

The tribunal ruled that it had to determine whether the nurse was unfit as of the date of the hearing, rather than as at the date of commission of the offence. It viewed the nurse's consistent denial of the offence as a factor to be taken into consideration when determining fitness to practice. However, non admission was held to not be sufficient to lead to a finding of unfitness to practice. It noted that the offence was not committed within the practice of nursing and that the nurse had cooperated with police and complied with his good behaviour bond.

The Tribunal ended by noting that it is not the fact that a nurse has committed a crime, but the circumstances surrounding the commission of the crime, which influence determinations regarding fitness. The unlikelihood of the nurse reoffending and the lack of any underlying pathology led the tribunal to find that the requisite standard for proving unfitness and a lack of good character were not established.

United Kingdom British Pregnancy Advisory Service v Secretary of State for Health [2011] EWHC 235 (Admin) (14 February 2011)

XYZ v Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust [2011] EWHC 243 (QB) (14 February 2011)

Legislation

Commonwealth Quality of Care Amendment Principles 2011 (No. 1)

Reports

Australia. Council of Australian Governments COAG Communiqué: 13 February 2011 - RTF 133KB | PDF 39KB

Attachment A – Heads of Agreement - National Health Reform RTF 221KB | PDF 531KB

Australian Health Ministers' Conference 17 February 2011 - AHMC Communique

17 February 2011 - AHWMC Communique

Australia. Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme Framework for the introduction of parallel TGA and PBAC processes

Framework for the introduction of a Managed Entry Scheme for submissions to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee

Fact Sheet for Be medicinewise

Australia. Department of Health & Ageing Prime Minister, Minister for Health announces National Health Reform - The Prime Minister and the Minister for Health have announced a new deal delivering national health reform that will last, built on a genuine partnership between the Commonwealth and the States and Territories.

Media releases

18 February 2011- Discuss Giving Life During Donatelife Week-Australia's first national DonateLife Week has been launched by the Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing, Catherine King. 17 February 2011- Australian Health Ministers' Conference Communique-The Australian Health Ministers' Conference met in Hobart on 17 February 2011 17 February 2011- Australian Health Workforce Ministerial Council Communique-The Australian Health Workforce Ministerial Council met in Hobart on 17 February 2011 17 February 2011- Seeking Indigenous Runners for New York Marathon-Outstanding natural long-distance runners are being sought to join Rob de Castella's Indigenous Marathon Project and run in this year's world-famous New York City Marathon. 16 February 2011- Better Training of Health Professionals for Tasmanians-Health students at the University of Tasmania will now have better access to clinical training through a new Commonwealth-funded IT management system, to be run in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services. 16 February 2011- Call for e-health partners -Personally controlled electronic health records are a step closer following the call for partners to help develop the system. 16 February 2011- Clarence GP Super Clinic Moves Closer to Completion-Better coordinated healthcare for the...