This is not such a bad place to fall ill
Robin Osborne looks at the latest report card on Northern Rivers hospitals.
In a statement issued after the release of the latest Bureau of Health Information Healthcare Quarterly report (covering April-June 2023), the Northern NSW Local Health District (NNSWLHD) said its hospitals continued to make significant progress on their planned surgery wait lists.
For example, the overdue list was reduced by over 50 per cent, while 95.8 percent of all urgent planned surgery was performed on time in the second quarter of this year. A total of 3,676 planned surgeries were performed across the region throughout the quarter, an increase of 8.1 per cent over the same quarter last year.
This good news aside, the wording of the statement remained cautious.
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- Written by: Robin Osborne
Treasury flags a rising bill for elders’ health care
It seems safe to predict that by the end of the forty year time-frame encompassed by the 2023 Intergenerational Report, the sixth produced by Treasury, many readers will have shuffled off this mortal coil, or be well and truly retired. Even the Treasurer himself, as fit as the jogging keeps him, will have hung up the calculator.
But that leaves the rest of the Australian population, predicted to reach 40.5 million, much more than today, living in an economy that could have grown by an average of 2.2 per cent per year in real terms (although less than the 3.1 per cent growth over the past 40 years), and with real incomes around 50 per cent higher.
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- Written by: Robin Osborne
Read more: Treasury flags a rising bill for elders’ health care
Running the measure over ‘multimorbid’ Australia
The first analysis of Australia’s “national wellbeing”, conducted in 2020-21, has found that nearly half the population (46.6 per cent) of all ages had one or more chronic conditions, and almost one in five people (18.6 per cent) had two or more chronic conditions – a state of health known as “multimorbidity”.
The Federal Government study, titled Measuring What Matters, noted that, ‘Many chronic conditions have behavioural and biomedical risk factors that contribute to their development, for example, tobacco smoking, insufficient physical activity, poor diet, excess weight, and high blood pressure or cholesterol.
‘While recognising these risks can be driven or reinforced by factors beyond a person’s control, the management of risk factors can reduce the likelihood of developing a chronic condition – resulting in health and wellbeing gains throughout the course of life.’
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- Written by: Robin Osborne
Overweight and obesity, Physical activity & Diet
About the release:
Living with overweight or obesity can have major impacts on a person’s physical and mental health and wellbeing. It is the second leading risk factor for ill-health and premature mortality in Australia. It increases the risk of many preventable chronic conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and many types of cancer. This web report provides an overview of the prevalence of Australians living with overweight and obesity.
Staying active is essential for good physical and mental health and wellbeing. Insufficient physical activity is a key risk factor contributing to disease burden in Australia. Regular physical activity can help manage many biomedical risk factors such as high body weight, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. This report looks at the level of physical activity in Australian children and adults against Australia’s Physical Activity and Sedentary behaviour Guidelines.
Most Australians do not meet the Australian Dietary Guidelines and consume diets high in discretionary foods, sugar, salt and fat, yet not enough fruit and vegetables. Dietary risk factors are a leading cause of ill health and contribute to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and bowel cancer. This report provides an overview of Australians’ consumption of foods and drinks, and selected nutrients, and the health impacts of dietary risk factors.
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- Written by: Northern Rivers Docs
Vaping forums
North Coast joins national battle against youth vaping
Derived from the word ‘vapour’, vaping is a fairly recent term to describe “inhaling vapor through the mouth from a usually battery-operated electronic device (such as an electronic cigarette) that heats up and vaporizes a liquid or solid” (Merriam-Webster dictionary).
Importantly, because it promotes addiction, nicotine also enters the equation, as do flavourings, which give vapes a palatable taste and names such as Berry Blast and Melon Madness, which make for enticing labelling.
On one side of the debate are those who suggest the practice is less harmful than ‘real smoking’. Others, a rising majority, consider it a giant con perpetrated by tobacco companies to make up for sales losses resulting from governmental crackdowns such as rising taxes, advertising restrictions, and package warnings.
In a previous issue of this magazine I reviewed the damning book Puff Piece by John Safran who delighted in savaging vaping’s purveyors. The dirty tricks he identified as being stock-in-trade for tobacco companies was confirmed recently in connection with the Australian government’s vaping reforms consultation.
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- Written by: Robin Osborne
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