Nurse shortages in remote communities blamed for biggest diphtheria outbreak since records began
The struggle to fill both nurse and GP positions in remote Australia, explains the struggle to contain the worse diphtheria outbreak in more than 30…
Paul Smith
Paul is editor of Australian Doctor Group.
Special report: Mark Butler and his attack on specialist fees
Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler.Mark Butler’s declaration that he would “test the boundaries” of the constitution to cap specialist fees has revived an…
Emptying the bins? What nurses want — and definitely don’t want
Primary care nurses want to spend less time emptying bins, photocopying, cleaning surfaces and doing data entry — and more time suturing, managing asthma, conducting…
‘It makes me feel slightly unwell to say it’: Dr Nick Coatsworth calls for cuts to taxes on cigarettes
Dr Nick Coatsworth divides opinion — certainly in the medical community. Partly it is about his allegedly permissive stance on COVID-19 protections while deputy chief…
Regulators suspend the RACP’s next president from college board
Note: This story has been updated to include the latest on the RACP’s push to postpone its upcoming AGM. The next president of the Royal…
Federal budget: The word ‘nurse’ mentioned just once in health spending budget paper
The federal budget delivered virtually nothing in the way of specific, significant reform for nurses — despite warnings that the country is heading towards a…
Budget 2026: Govt to fund GP health checks for three-year-olds
Medicare will fund GP checks for three-year-olds to assess their health and development, and potentially refer them to the Thriving Kids program, the Federal Government…
AusDoc investigation: 1.2 million MBS services hit if gap-only billing is banned
This is a story about how health policy is made when the civil service don’t provide you with the salient facts to inform public consultations.…
Is the pharmacy board acting as a handmaiden to the guild’s prescribing dreams?
“The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were…
Why is changing the way GP teams work such a dark and difficult art?
Perhaps nothing is more fundamental to the role of practice managers than the ability to successfully introduce change. But it is a dark and difficult…
