My My My
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that's all."
Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
iBlame Steve Jobs. He started the “pronounageddon”.
First it was the iMac and the iPod, then came the iPhone and the iPad. The iWatch was a step too far, however. Marketing said no.
Language is constantly changing and pronouns have come in for a battering in recent years. Latin scholars will know the declensions as nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, dative and ablative and come either as singular or plural and words take a male or female or neuter form largely depending on the declension.
In English we mostly stick with just two cases, subjective and objective, and apart from third person singular don’t worry about gender so it is pretty straightforward. Most children grasp the concept of pronouns by the age of four.
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- Written by: David Guest
On the right path on a long road - The Medicare Taskforce vision for strengthening primary health care
“It seems like you need to know that you’re going to be sick well in advance. Because sometimes, you can't get in the same day or even the same week”.
This quote is from a 25-year-old Port Macquarie woman whom Healthy North Coast interviewed last year. Her experience is not unique. Pressure on our system is mounting. In some parts of the North Coast, patients are waiting two to three sometimes four weeks to see their regular GP.
The pandemic, fires and floods have taken their toll on primary health care services in our region, but the drivers that are creating the increased pressure on primary health care were there well before the first fires started in 2019.
Our rapidly ageing population is a big driver – with nearly a quarter of all residents on the North Coast 65 years or older (double the NSW and national averages) and this proportion is set to increase. Significant reductions in the numbers of medical students choosing general practice, the stalling of increases to Medicare rebates and a slowing of progress towards mixed funding methods that more appropriately remunerate primary care clinicians for multidisciplinary and value based care have been problems for too long.
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- Written by: Monika Wheeler, Chief Executive, Healthy North Coast
MyMedicare for General Practice: how and why to sign up?
The Medicare program was set up in 1984 (by the then-Labor Government) as a Universal Health Care Insurance scheme that partially or fully covered most healthcare services in Australia.
It has served Australians well for many years, providing free primary healthcare services through payments for GP services on a fee-for-service basis.
As healthcare has become more complex, with a rising number of people living with chronic disease, often with multiple conditions and different healthcare professionals providing services, the traditional fee-for-service model has become increasingly inequitable.
Healthcare providers who provide specific specialist services, particularly certain specialist procedures, receive more generous remuneration than generalists who look after the whole person.
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- Written by: Dr Adrian Gilliland, Chair, Healthy North Coast
Read more: MyMedicare for General Practice: how and why to sign up?
JMO Update
As 2023 draws to a close and the “great junior doctor shuffle” commences around Australia, it seemed fitting to check in with the Resident Medical Officers Association at some of the hospitals in the North Coast footprint.
Coffs Harbour Health Campus - Dr. Julia Hamer JMO
As I’m sure many junior doctors would agree, the hospital you work in often becomes a second home, with long hours, late nights and early morning starts. Thankfully, Coffs Harbour Health Campus has been the type of home you love, one you feel safe in, included, and part of the family.
As JMOs, it is a privilege to form close relationships with our consultants, receive continual mentorship, on-the-floor education, guidance, and support. While the locum medical registrars provide a great mix to teams, it is really the bond between JMO and consultant that provides the continuity of care and guides the patient’s journey from start to finish.
Our rotating Basic Physician Trainees (BPTs) from St George always bring stamina, knowledge, and excitement to the hospital. It is always a very sad day at the end of their three-month rotation to watch them leave. While new BPTs rotate through and get oriented, again that bond between JMO and consultant is a crucial link during transitions for continuity of patient care and safety. I think this provides an important opportunity for JMOs to step up in leadership roles, ensure they know their patients well and provide thorough handovers.
Thankfully our surgical registrars stay with us for 12-months allowing the consults to evolve from “hey this is the JMO for team X” , often to “hey, it's me… again”. The close-knit community provides a sense of ease and familiarity. It has a beautiful way of instilling confidence early on as we start to take tiny strides as junior doctors.
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New Year will see in a new Tweed hospital
After nearly three years of construction work and a series of unavoidable delays, Northern NSW Local Health District has confirmed that its latest ‘jewel in the crown’, the $723.3 million Tweed Valley Hospital, is on track for an opening in early 2024.
Since the main works started on the new Tweed Valley Hospital, a number of external pressures have affected the construction schedule. These include the COVID-19 pandemic, the February 2022 floods, construction industry labour shortages and global supply chain interruption.
After construction is completed, many commissioning activities are essential to ensuring the hospital and its staff are ready to safely receive patients. These include installing furniture, fixtures and equipment, as well as completing clinical cleans and stocking departments with medical consumables in preparation for receiving patients. Staff orientation, inductions and training phases are also important.
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- Written by: Robin Osborne
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