Man Charged With Assaulting Paramedic In Mayfield

BY JARROD MELMETH

A man will appear in court next month following the alleged assault of a paramedic in Newcastle yesterday.

About 1:20pm yesterday, ambulance were called to a unit on Bull Street in Mayfield where a man was transported to the Calvary Mater Hospital.

On the way, it's alleged the 32-year-old became abusive towards a female paramedic punching her in the ribs knocking her over in the back of the vehicle.

She managed to escape the attack, through the door of the ambulance, its then alleged the patient followed behind her continuing his verbal abuse before walking away.

Both paramedics reported the matter to police later arrested the man at the Bull Street residence. 

The man was taken to Newcastle Police Station where he was charged with assaulting an ambulance officer.

He was given conditional bail to appear in Newcastle Local Court on May 16.

Sneak peek of Revamped Newcastle Transport Network

BY JARROD MELMETH

An improved Newcastle Transport network being introduced in January promises to provide customers with better links to the John Hunter and Mater hospitals as well as extended hours for core routes.

Currently, the majority of week-night bus services operate until 10:30pm but under the new network, core route buses will operate until midnight on weeknights and will run every hour on Friday and Saturday nights until 3am.

Newcastle's private transport operator, Keolis Downer has also promised to link the John Hunter Hospital and Newcastle CBD with services every 15 minutes from 7am to 7pm and every 30 minutes on Weekends, which Keolis Downer Hunter CEO Campbell Mason says will have a new number which, will be announced along with the Transport Network on Thursday.

Mr Mason said the changes come off the back of intense community consultation and analysis of opal data.

"We have been analysing - to start with - opal data but, of course, the opal data can only tell us about who is using the system and when they are using the system. We are looking to get feedback and have got feedback from others who are not currently using the public transport network. We have been running the voice of Newcastle program and getting a lot of comments from the social pinpoint website and also we have been running citizens panels to get feedback," Mr Mason said.

The Mater Hospital will also receive an upgrade in services with timetabled connections between Broadmeadow and Waratah stations and the hospital.

Picture: Jarrod Melmeth

Hunter Hospital waiting times go down as presentations go up

BY JARROD MELMETH

The John Hunter Hospital has been identified as the busiest emergency room in the state outside of Sydney, with almost 37 per cent of patients waiting more than four hours.

The Healthcare Quarterly report from the Bureau of Health Information found that 19,622 patients presented to the emergency department between April and June 2017, which is up 5.4 per cent from the same time in 2016.

The data also showed 63.4 per cent of patients left emergency within four hours of admissions, down from 68 per cent at the same time last year all the while presentations had increased by 5.4 per cent.
the average waiting time for emergency patients at the hospital is still 39 minutes above the state average.

NSW Shadow Minister for Health Walt Secord attributed the increase in patients to families being unable to afford

"Patients are flooding emergency departments because they cannot get into a GP's practice or they are unable to pay extra for a GP - Putting unnecessary pressure on the State's emergency departments. In desperation, families on tight budgets are turning to emergency departments," Mr Secord said.

Bureau of Health Information Acting Cheif Executive, Dr Kim Sutherland said over overall 663,000 patients presented to a NSW Hospital from April to June 2017.

"Patients who presented to the emergency department in that April to June quarter - there was almost 20,000 at the John Hunter Hospital, with an increase of over one thousand compared to the same quarter last year - So, quite busy and a bigger increase than we saw at a New South Wales level which, was 4.2 per cent," Dr Sutherland said.

Maitland Hospital also made an appearance in the top 20 on the list, with 11,760 presentations over the April to June quarter, which is down 0.1 per cent from the previous year. While, the Calvary Mater Hospital in Waratah placed further down the list at number 27, with 9,028 presentations to its emergency department. That number is up 4.8 per cent from the previous year.

Feel like everyone around you is sick? Well it's been the worst flu season on record.

BY LAUREN FREEMANTLE and JESSICA ROUSE

It's been confirmed: NSW has just recorded its worst flu season on record, with 64 more cases than last year reported across the Hunter New England region.

In the Hunter alone 3,300 cases have been reported.

There are four strains of the virus circulating the country, with almost half of all national sufferers in NSW. It's thought that because of international travel, strains can travel around the world more easily - when there's an outbreak in the southern hemisphere, it almost certainly travels to the northern hemisphere.

Shadow Health Minister Walt Secord says people suffering from flu symptoms are clogging up our hospital systems more and more.

"Emergency departments should be for heart attacks, car accidents, major trauma so when people get really really sick from the flu it puts an impact on our emergency departments and we have a situation where emergency departments around the state are at breaking point - I know that Calvary Mater Hospital has had a particularly difficult time with the flu season this year."

Walt Secord says our hospitals are struggling to meet demand and in the Hunter New England there are more flu-related ambulance arrivals than in Central Sydney.

"The Berejiklian government was caught completely unprepared - the outbreaks have put enormous pressure on the hospital system when they could have in fact embarked on a vaccination program to encourage people to get their vaccinations. So next year lets hope they get a vaccination program started around May so we can avoid this - the last thing we want to see is our hospitals chock full of people with flu symptoms."

Achoo! Worst flu month on record

BY JESSICA ROUSE

Shadow Minister for Health Walt Secord has renewed his criticism of the Berejiklian Government after a massive jump in the number of flu cases in the Hunter and across the state.

We are just over half way through July, and already there's been more than 350 reported cases of influenza this month in the Hunter's hospitals and across the state there been a record4,085 reported cases to the official database for NSW Influenza notifications.

Walt Secord says the government were unprepared for the huge spike in influenza cases which he says has led to an increase in the number of "bed block" incidents.

"So you have a situation where patients wait at every stage, they wait for an ambulance, they wait for the emergency department and then they wait for a bed. Sadly the Berejiklian government has been caught unprepared for the flu season - we're on track to have one of the worst years on record for flu."

The flu season is smashing regional hospitals, particularly The Calvary Mater Hospital.

"Calvary Mater Hospital in Newcastle is one of the three hospitals that have been cited as being under enormous pressure so again Newcastle is also feeling the brunt of this flu season," said Walt Secord.

He adds while it may be too late for the government to do anything about it this flu season, there are things we can do ourselves.

"You can still get your flu shot - if you're feeling well you can get your flu shot. I had my flu shot in April and I haven't missed a moment of work so again there's still time to get your flu shot. August is usually seen as the high month, the worst time of the year so there's still time."

Flu season "smashing" Mater Hospital Emergency Department

BY JARROD MELMETH

The Calvary Mater Hospital in Waratah has been revealed as an area of concern in the latest NSW Health Influenza Surveillance Report which also ranks the Hunter New England Health District with the third highest influenza notifications in the state.

Compared to June last year, hospitals across the state have seen influenza admissions rise by almost double which Shadow Minister for Health Walt Secord said is due to the unpreparedness of the NSW State Government.

"Every year we know the flu season is coming and again, the State Government has been caught off guard.

"They should have been out warning people and urging people to get vaccinated.

"In April I had my vaccinations and I have not missed a single day of work.

"Due to the failure to properly prepare, the additional flu patients in emergency departments mean other patients have to wait longer.

"The last thing NSW health and hospital system needs is to see hundreds of extra patients pouring into emergency departments with preventable flu symptoms," Mr Secord said.

Calvary Mater Hospital in Waratah. Source: ABC

Game changer for cancer patients

BY JESSICA ROUSE

A new study at the Calvary Mater Hospital is being described as a game changer for cancer patients.

Prescribing treatment dosage for prostate cancer patients today involves the patient having an MRI scan which is used to define the body's anatomy and targets, then a second scan - a CT scan - is used to work out how much dosage and what kind of treatment plan is necessary for the anatomy and targets found in the initial scan.

The new study is looking at the use of MRI scanning technology alone to find the anatomy and targets and work out dosage and treatment plans.

Leading the study is Professor Peter Greer who believes the benefits will be well worth it because in just using one scan the results are more accurate, and it's also cost effective.

"We're hoping that this will make the treatments slightly a little bit more accurate for the patients and then in the future possibly we can even reduce the side effects of the treatments by giving less dose to the normal tissues because we're able to deliver the treatments a little bit more accurately," said Professor Peter Greer. 

25 prostate cancer patients are currently undergoing the study which is set to wrap up at the end of the year, and researchers are confident the technique could be used for all patients as early as next year.

"We're starting with prostate because we have large numbers of patients who use MRI, but we're also working on developing this technique for other sites such as other pelvic cancers, brain cancer, head and neck cancer as well," said Professor Peter Greer.

Image www.healthdirect.gov.au

New brain cancer fellowship for Hunter- based doctor

BY LAUREN FREEMANTLE

Nationally renowned radiation oncologist Dr Mike Fay has been named the inaugural recipient of a three- year fellowship funded by the Mark Hughes Foundation.

The fellowship will allow researchers from the Hunter Medical Research Institute, spearheaded by Dr Fay, to use imaging technology in order to determine reasons why some brain tumour treatments fail.

In addition to this, Dr Fay is hoping to develop scanning markers and targeted therapies for cancer cells that resist current treatments.

Dr Fay believes a fellowship program, where doctors concentrate solely on research rather than seeing patients, will allow advances to be made. "We've been hamstrung previously as most of us [the research team] work in the public health sector and there's just not enough time for research. This fellowship will free people up to do that."

It is understood that the Mark Hughes Foundation accepted many applications for the funding before deciding on Dr Fay.

"I've been involved with the Mark Hughes Foundation for a while," Dr Fay explains, "They're an amazing organisation and it's wonderful that this is happening in brain tumours, which have been a bit of a forgotten area."

Dr Fay and his team are currently carrying out their research at Newcastle's Calvary-Mater Hospital in collaboration with associates in Brisbane.

Image sources: HMRI and Mark Hughes Foundation websites

Newcastle Hospital Implicated In Chemotherapy Underdosing Scandal

BY IAN CROUCH

It's been revealed a cancer doctor who allegedly under-dosed more than 100 patients had previously worked at Newcastle's Calvary Mater Hospital.

Doctor John Grygiel worked there for two years as a medical oncologist in the 1980's, however health authorities admit they have no record of what he did or how many patients he treated.

Dr Grygiel is accused of giving low doses of chemotherapy to patients at Sydney's St Vincents Hospital as well as Orange and Bathurst Hospitals.

The revelation has prompted calls from Wallsend MP, Sonia Hornery for an inquiry into Dr Grygiel's work to be extended to include his time at the Calvary Mater.

"I'll be raising  this issue in Parliament to make the minister aware that this is of concern to us locally," she said

However, Health Minister Jillian Skinner has ruled this out saying his time there doesn't need to be investigated.

"The was before there were any protocols about the dosing to do with chemotherapy, so it was not pertinent to the inquiry conducted into his treatments out in the Orange hospitals later on," she said.

Dr John Grygiel photo courtesy dailytelegraph.com.au

NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner

Major Hunter Hospitals Coping Well Despite Record Activity

BY IAN CROUCH

The Hunter's biggest public hospitals have done well in the latest report card.

There's been a 5 per cent improvement on the number of patients being treated and discharged from the John Hunter Hospital's emergency department within 4 hours, while 98% of elective surgeries were on time during the June quarter.

18,759 patients presented at the John Hunter Emergency Department between April and June this year, up from 18,729 for the same period last year.

The Bureau of Health Information says the Calvary Mater Hospital also fared well - 96% of patients arriving by ambulance at the Emergency Department were treated within 30 minutes, while 100% of elective surgery patients received their surgery on time according to their clinical category.

8,665 patients presented at the Calvary Mater during the June quarter, up 5.5% on the same period last year.