Medicus April 2016

N E W S

IN BRIEF

WACHS AND LIONS EYE INSTITUTE PARTNER TO SAVE EYESIGHT People living with diabetes in remote areas of the Goldfields region can now access advanced retinal screening closer to home thanks to a new partnership between the WA Country Health Service and the Lions Eye Institute. The initiative provides patients with early screening for diabetes-induced vision impairment and uses telehealth or communication technology to deliver screening results to regional patients. Aboriginal health workers and nurses in Leonora, Laverton and Norseman as well as doctors at Kalgoorlie Health Campus have been trained by staff from the Lions Eye Institute to use a Digital Retinography System (DRS) to carry out retinal screening. CONSTRUCTION STARTS AT KATANNING HEALTH SERVICE Work has begun on the $32 million redevelopment of the Katanning Health Service, which will include a new emergency department. Expected to be completed in mid-2018, the Katanning Health Service redevelopment would deliver a new ED, medical imaging department and a new outpatient care facility. Surgical services and the associated sterilising department would be refurbished, and a new laundry and morgue would also be built. OUTBACK VISION VAN HITS THE ROAD The Lions Eye Institute’s Outback Vision Van, WA's newest mobile eye health clinic has begun holding clinics. The van, which will allow specialist eye care to be delivered to parts of regional and remote WA, has been made possible with the support of a $1.9 million Lotterywest grant and a $2 million Department of Health contribution. The 20-metre long van is fitted with the latest specialist equipment to provide comprehensive eye care for

conditions including cataracts, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. It plans to travel more than 24,000km each year, serving 16 regional centres and has the capacity to treat up to 200 patients a week. The Lions Outback Vision service will work in partnership with 20 community controlled Aboriginal medical services across WA. WA YOUTH DRINKING RATES LOWEST IN A DECADE State Government initiatives to reduce alcohol consumption in young people have resulted in fewer young people aged 12 to 17 consuming alcohol than at any time in the past decade. As former Mental Health Minister Helen Morton launched the latest phase of the Parents, Young People and Alcohol campaign last month, she said not only were fewer young people drinking, of those who drank, fewer drank at risky levels. “The latest survey of Western Australian school students shows the proportion choosing not to drink alcohol has more than doubled from 12.3 per cent in 2005 to 31.5 per cent in 2014,” Mrs Morton said. Family and friends were the main source of alcohol for young people and Ms Morton said the State Government’s new secondary supply laws, which ban providing alcohol to children in private settings without parental consent, empowers parents to deny access to alcohol. The survey also found that the young people who did drink were doing so less often. The proportion of students who said they had drunk alcohol in the week and month prior to the survey had almost halved between 2005 and 2014. Of those who drank in the previous week, fewer were drinking at risky levels or with the intent of getting drunk. Research also showed that almost all parents (96 per cent) were now aware that no alcohol was the safest choice for under 18s, up from 68 per cent in 2012. More than 60 per cent now denied access to alcohol, compared with 56 per cent in 2012. ■

Master classes for GPs

OVER 40 GENERAL Practitioners attended St John of God Murdoch Hospital’s first education session last month to hear an expert panel speak about the diagnosis and management of prostate cancer.

described the complex, and often controversial, diagnosis pathway and treatment options, as well as gave valuable information about the GPs’ role in diagnosis. GPs had the opportunity to ask questions and discuss the best way to

treat high-risk patients and those with various stages of cancer. The next session on Saturday 7 May will be an Orthopaedic master class for GPs. For all enquiries contact Events Manager Sarah Sydney-Smith at rsvp@educationondemand.com.au ■

A team of Urologists and a Radiologist

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