Devonport seniors today joined Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliot and Member for Braddon Sid Sidebottom to discuss the Gillard Government’s health and aged care reforms which mean better support and better care for older Australians.
Minister Elliot said: “Older Australians are among the first and the biggest beneficiaries of the Government’s health reforms.
“We believe older Australians deserve better. Better health services and better aged care services and that is why we are getting on with the job of reforming our health, hospitals and aged care system.
“Local Hospital Networks, local aged care services and primary care services will work together to provide better care to older Australians.
“A strong economy and decisive action by the Government during the global financial crisis has enabled these important investments to be made, providing a fairer share and more support for older Australians and their families,” Minister Elliot said. Member for Braddon Sid Sidebottom said: “Almost 15 per cent of Tasmania’s population is aged 65 years and over and the Government’s reforms will build a health system that people can rely on, one that extends care beyond the hospital door.
“The Labor Government has already delivered the most significant reforms to the pension system in its 100 year history. For more than 20,000 pensioners in Braddon, these reforms have delivered increases of up to $100 a fortnight for single pensioners and $74 a fortnight for couples combined.
“Now we are working on reforms that will help older Australians have better health, hospitals and aged care services”, Mr Sidebottom said.
Minister Elliot explained how the Government’s investment of more than $900 million over the next four years will build a seamless national aged care system covering basic care at home through to high level residential care.
Minister Elliot said: “We are building a national aged care system with more aged care places, more highly skilled aged care workers, better access to GP and health services and stronger protections for those receiving care.
“The Government is also making it easier for older Australians and their carers to find the services that best suit their need by establishing one-stop shops for aged care information and assessment,” Minister Elliot said.
Delivering better health and aged care in Braddon
Last year more than 1,180 older people in Braddon received aged care services
This Government last year provided:
+ More than $35 million to aged and community care providers to provide care;
+ $5 million for a GP Super Clinic in Devonport;
+ $791,800 of elective surgery funding for the North Western Regional Hospital for surgical equipment; and
+ More than $684,000 was provided to support four respite services.
Souce: Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing
Showing posts with label Surgery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Surgery. Show all posts
20100705
Comparative Effectiveness of Nonoperative and Operative Treatments for Rotator Cuff Tears Part 5
Future Research
Recommendations for further research:
- Primary evidence is needed, comparing the effectiveness of early versus delayed surgery, nonoperative versus operative interventions, and among the nonoperative treatment options. Future research examining the comparative effectiveness of open, mini-open, or arthroscopic approaches is also a priority, as arthroscopic procedures are more costly and technically difficult.
- All future studies should employ a comparison or control group and should ensure comparability of treatment groups, optimally through the use of randomization.
- Future research should seek to minimize bias by blinding outcome assessors, using validated and standardized outcome assessment instruments, and ensuring adequate allocation concealment (where applicable) and the appropriate handling and reporting of missing data.
- Studies examining the long-term effectiveness of treatments over the course of several years are needed; at the very least, studies should follow patients for a minimum of 12 months.
- To avoid numerous studies on disparate interventions, the interventions and comparisons chosen for study should be guided by consensus regarding the most promising and/or controversial interventions.
- To ensure consistency and comparability across future studies, consensus is needed on outcomes that are important to both clinicians and patients. Moreover, consensus on minimal clinically important differences is needed to guide study design and interpretation of results.
- To permit the appropriate interpretation of results, future research needs to be reported in a consistent and comprehensive manner.
Source: Summary of strength of evidence for nonoperative and operative interventions for RC tears
Table of Contents
Comparative Effectiveness of Nonoperative and Operative Treatments for Rotator Cuff Tears
20100704
Prostate Cancer Surgery Often Performed by Surgeons with Little Experience November 18, 2009 NEW YORK, NY - A new study from researchers at Memorial
A new study from researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has found that the majority of surgeons treating prostate cancer in the United States have extremely low annual caseloads, potentially leading to increased rates of both surgical complications and cancer recurrence.
The research was published in the December issue of The Journal of Urology. Andrew Vickers, PhD, Associate Attending Research Methodologist in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, led an analysis of data on radical prostatectomy, the surgical removal of the prostate for men with prostate cancer. Of US surgeons treating prostate cancer patients in 2005, more than 25 percent performed only a single radical prostatectomy that year and approximately 80 percent of surgeons performed fewer than ten such procedures.
It is known that surgical volume is associated with improved patient outcomes, and fewer complications. Previous work from this team has indicated that a surgeon's lifetime experience with radical prostatectomy is strongly associated with cancer control; patients treated by experienced surgeons had a 40 percent lower risk of a cancer recurrence than patients treated by inexperienced surgeons. The importance of experience in cancer outcomes has been termed the "learning curve."
"We have previously shown that a surgeon needs to conduct an average of 250 radical prostatectomies to give patients the best chance of cure," said Dr. Vickers, "so we decided to look at how long it would take a typical surgeon to reach that number of procedures. While the learning curve is not the only factor in determining surgical skill, we found that the majority of surgeons who treat prostate cancer patients will not achieve that number of procedures in their entire career."
A high-volume surgeon is defined as one who performs 50 cases a year or more. According to Dr. Vickers and colleagues' research, only 2 percent of surgeons nationally and 4 percent of New York State surgeons fall into this category. Nationally, only about one in five prostate cancer patients are treated by high-volume surgeons; this rises to 40 percent in New York State, likely because of the large, specialized centers in New York City and elsewhere in the state.
There were two independent data sets used in this analysis. The first set was a nationally representative sample of hospitals, which was obtained from the 2005 Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), available from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The second data set, the Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS), includes all patient discharge records for New York State in 2005. More than 6,500 patients treated with radical prostatectomy in 2005 by one of 933 surgeons were identified. The study included radical prostatectomies that were performed laparoscopically and with robotics as well as more traditional open surgery.
On the basis of this research, Dr. Vickers said that, "prostate cancer patients considering surgery should be aware that most surgeons have very little experience treating this disease. They are likely to have a reduced risk of complications, and better chance of cure, if they are treated at a specialist cancer center by a surgeon who focuses on treating prostate cancer."
Funding for this study was provided by the Sidney Kimmel Center for Prostate and Urologic Cancers, by a SPORE grant from the National Cancer Institute, and by funds from David H. Koch provided through the Prostate Cancer Foundation.
The research was published in the December issue of The Journal of Urology. Andrew Vickers, PhD, Associate Attending Research Methodologist in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, led an analysis of data on radical prostatectomy, the surgical removal of the prostate for men with prostate cancer. Of US surgeons treating prostate cancer patients in 2005, more than 25 percent performed only a single radical prostatectomy that year and approximately 80 percent of surgeons performed fewer than ten such procedures.
It is known that surgical volume is associated with improved patient outcomes, and fewer complications. Previous work from this team has indicated that a surgeon's lifetime experience with radical prostatectomy is strongly associated with cancer control; patients treated by experienced surgeons had a 40 percent lower risk of a cancer recurrence than patients treated by inexperienced surgeons. The importance of experience in cancer outcomes has been termed the "learning curve."
"We have previously shown that a surgeon needs to conduct an average of 250 radical prostatectomies to give patients the best chance of cure," said Dr. Vickers, "so we decided to look at how long it would take a typical surgeon to reach that number of procedures. While the learning curve is not the only factor in determining surgical skill, we found that the majority of surgeons who treat prostate cancer patients will not achieve that number of procedures in their entire career."
A high-volume surgeon is defined as one who performs 50 cases a year or more. According to Dr. Vickers and colleagues' research, only 2 percent of surgeons nationally and 4 percent of New York State surgeons fall into this category. Nationally, only about one in five prostate cancer patients are treated by high-volume surgeons; this rises to 40 percent in New York State, likely because of the large, specialized centers in New York City and elsewhere in the state.
There were two independent data sets used in this analysis. The first set was a nationally representative sample of hospitals, which was obtained from the 2005 Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), available from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The second data set, the Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS), includes all patient discharge records for New York State in 2005. More than 6,500 patients treated with radical prostatectomy in 2005 by one of 933 surgeons were identified. The study included radical prostatectomies that were performed laparoscopically and with robotics as well as more traditional open surgery.
On the basis of this research, Dr. Vickers said that, "prostate cancer patients considering surgery should be aware that most surgeons have very little experience treating this disease. They are likely to have a reduced risk of complications, and better chance of cure, if they are treated at a specialist cancer center by a surgeon who focuses on treating prostate cancer."
Funding for this study was provided by the Sidney Kimmel Center for Prostate and Urologic Cancers, by a SPORE grant from the National Cancer Institute, and by funds from David H. Koch provided through the Prostate Cancer Foundation.
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