Another waste of health dollars by government

A MULTIMILLION-dollar hyperbaric chamber built at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital more than four years ago has never been used. Although demand for hyperbaric medicine has soared in Queensland in recent years, the chamber is unlikely to treat its first patient until next year. The Government yesterday defended its decision to refer public patients requiring decompression treatment to the Wesley Private Hospital as a better use of taxpayers' money.

Health Minister Stephen Robertson's spokesman said to commission and then operate the RBWH chamber for a year would cost $1.7 million. The Wesley Hospital provided the service last year for less than $1 million. "Until now, it's been cheaper to go through the Wesley . . . than to commission the one at the RBWH," [An interesting confession!] he said. "We're actually saving taxpayers' money." The Wesley has treated Queensland Health patients recommended for decompression treatment since 1998.

When asked why the Beattie Government had decided to build the RBWH hyperbaric chamber in the first place, Mr Robertson's spokesman replied: "I've got no idea." The chamber was built when Wendy Edmond, who has since retired from politics, was health minister.

The number of public patients treated in the Wesley hyperbaric chamber has almost doubled in three years, from 1083 in 2002-02 to 2097 last year. In 2002-03, the hospital treated 1083 public patients in its chamber but by last financial year, that had swelled to 2097.

Decompression chambers are used to treat a variety of patients, not just divers suffering from the bends. Patients who have had surgery on blood vessels are sometimes put in a hyperbaric chamber to assist in the repair of oxygen-starved tissue. Decompression treatment is also covered by Medicare in cases of difficult-to-heal wounds.

The Opposition and the Australian Medical Association Queensland both condemned the Government for building the chamber and then failing to use it. "It's crazy," said AMAQ president Zelle Hodge. "You'd have to ask why didn't someone do an appropriate cost analysis before this was built." [He's joking. Governments don't do that if it seems good for a self-inflating press-release at the time] Opposition health spokesman John-Paul Lanbroek accused the Government of mismanagement. "We've got this hyperbaric chamber that's supposedly the best in the southern hemisphere. What do we have to do to get it up and running as it should be for Queensland patients?" he said.

Mr Robertson's spokesman said the Minister last month had signed approval for Queensland Health to explore the possibility of running the RBWH hyperbaric chamber as a public/private partnership with a view to have it operational by 2008.

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Make mine a happy meal, thanks

I pointed out the positive role of McDonalds in hospitals on Dec. 20th., 2006 here so I was pleased to see the realistic article below. Referring to campaigns to get McDonalds out of hospitals, I said: "The fact that for many people the McDonalds is the most comforting and reassuring part of a hospital does not matter, of course. The do-gooders must have a demon to attack"



I CAN'T say I ever pictured myself as a fervent spokesman for McDonald's, but I can say anyone jumping on the bandwagon to save us from Maccas at the Royal Children's Hospital has never had a child who needs treatment there.

There is an old saying that there is good in everything and that one only has to look hard enough to find it. Unfortunately, for us, it is staring us right in the face. My daughter has been an outpatient at the RCH nearly all of her life for a seemingly endless stream of EEGs, ECGs and MRIs. On the morning of our regular visits the conversation usually goes like this:

Can I take dolly to kinder today for show and tell?

Sorry darling, but you have to go to the hospital today.

Oh.

Can I have a Happy Meal?

Of course, darling.

Yay! What a difference the promise of three nuggets, a small chips, a bottle of water and two bobs worth of a toy promoting the latest kids' movie can make. It's the chasm between having a terrified child in the car who is crying that they don't want to go and one who can't wait to get there. To a parent this is absolute priceless gold.

On the occasions I have to work and our daughter requires a protracted procedure, it also provides a place where my wife can sit and have a coffee while our little bloke has a swing on the monkey bars. So he's happy to go, too. Job done all around.

To write off Ronald McDonald House as merely a clever marketing tool does not give any credit to the contribution that has been made, or the hope given to the people who have had to avail themselves of this centre. Our hearts go out to them.

Yes, obesity is a problem. But there are many ways to tackle it. This current posturing only serves to remove a tiny oasis of joy for people who are in a desert of misery. Most of whom are far worse off than our personal situation. So on behalf of those parents that have had, have now, or will have children that need to attend the RCH, we ask the nobly intentioned to turn their focus to issues that do not involve wiping the smiles from the faces of sick kiddies.

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Global cooling continues in Queensland

I live in Southern Queensland and I can testify from personal experience that we have indeed had a long spell of amazingly cool summer weather here. In Britain it is not uncommon for people in some years to say: "We didn't have a summer this year". That is almost true of Southern Queensland lately



Has the weather gone crazy? It should be the time of year that Queenslanders are decked out in thongs and boardshorts, sweltering under the state's famous sun. Instead this summer is turning out to be more like those Christmases usually only suffered by southerners. The "Mexicans", meanwhile, are lapping up an unseasonal burst of Queensland-style weather.

While Brisbane's rainy skies yesterday meant the temperature struggled to reach 25C, almost five degrees below the long-term average for January, in Melbourne the mercury soared to 33C - seven degrees above normal.

To make matters worse, the 37mm of rain which fell on Brisbane's central business district yesterday (and up to 50mm at Caboolture and on Bribie Island) failed to make any difference to the region's record-low dam levels. Despite the rain bringing fresh hope for some farmers in the state's west, the city's dam catchments missed out again yesterday. Just 5mm fell at Somerset Dam and just 1mm at Wivenhoe. The only dams in the state topped up in recent days were the Fairbairn Dam near Emerald (up from 12 per cent capacity to 14 per cent) and the Kinchant Dam near Mackay (up from 76 per cent to 80 per cent).

SEQ Water operations manager Rob Drury said 50mm of solid rain in the catchment was required to start any significant inflows to the southeast's dams, with a further 100mm then required immediately to lift their combined levels by just 10 per cent. That level was at just 23.7 per cent yesterday. The only good news is that yesterday's falls are likely to cut consumption as gardens would not need to be watered for a couple of weeks, particularly with more rain forecast over coming days. "Even smaller falls of between 10-20mm will add welcomed extensions to our current supplies," Mr Drury said.

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Vikash Prasad said there was a chance the "dam areas" would receive some showers and storms early next week. But he said the long-term outlook remained bleak. "The rainfall is likely to be below average in southeast Queensland (for the next three months), mainly due to the El Nino weather pattern we have had so far," Mr Prasad said.

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For any humour-deficient Greenie who may read this, I should point out that the heading on the article immediately above is sarcastic





Government: Do as I say, not as I do

A government that created a water shortage by its deliberate inaction is still wasting water itself

Public servants are wasting millions of litres of water as the rest of Victoria goes dry. Bureaucrats using taxpayer-funded toilets and showers churned through millions of litres of water in the past financial year at the same time as almost 200 Victorian towns endured water restrictions. The Herald Sun can reveal that government water use has jumped by 137 million litres, or about 25 per cent, in the past financial year.

Ten departments used 680 million litres, significantly higher than the previous year's 543 million litres. The same amount of water would supply 3400 Melbourne households a year, or fill 272 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The Department of Education and Training was one of the worst offenders, almost doubling its water use, while the Justice Department's water use rose from 9.9 million litres to 22.6 million. The figures - except for those from the Department of Primary Industries - apply to water used by public servants in their offices.

The true figure is much higher. Two departments - Steve Bracks's Premier and Cabinet and John Brumby's Treasury and Finance - have been unable to work out how much water they have used because of metering problems at their offices, both at 1 Treasury Place. Only one department - Water Minister John Thwaites's Department of Sustainability and Environment - reduced water consumption, cutting 6.1 million litres from its yearly consumption after being ordered by Mr Thwaites to cut back. A furious Mr Thwaites, who is acting Premier, has demanded an immediate audit of government water use, blasting the wastage as unacceptable.

Just last month he told the Treasury - one of the two departments that cannot count its own water use - to find water savings across every department. "Any increase in water consumption by government departments is totally unacceptable," Mr Thwaites said yesterday. "At a time when the general community is saving water, government departments must set an example. "The figures are particularly disappointing when the previous year showed an 18 per cent water saving across departments. "But this year the figures from some departments are unsatisfactory and will be improved."

The Government said a range of reasons had contributed to the increase, including an increase in employee numbers because of the Commonwealth Games and errors in metering across some government departments.

The official water wastage is revealed as 3.6 million Melburnians move to stage 3 restrictions and dozens of cities and towns endure a second year of severe cuts. The Department of Sustainability and Environment, which cut its water usage to 39.5 million litres, has installed dual-flush toilets and waterless urinals in all its male toilets and low-flow shower heads and flow-restrictors on all taps. It's now installing dual-flush cisterns in all its female toilets across the state. "As a result of concerns I had about the drought and government water use, before Christmas I asked the head of Treasury to ensure departments maximised water savings and worked with office building owners to install water-saving measures," Mr Thwaites said. "There will also need to be increased sub-metering, as a number of departments share office buildings with other tenants but the whole building is served by only one meter. "We will ensure all departments implement such water-saving measures. "We will also work to make recording of water use more rigorous."

The figures are based on the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 financial years - the most recent figures available - and are contained in departmental annual reports tabled in Parliament late last year. The Department of Primary Industries used most of the water: its consumption rose from 322 million litres to 419 million litres last year. However, the department does not separate its office usage from its field usage. Most of its water is believed to be used on field activities such as running fish farms and nurseries and on laboratory experiments.

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