Senior doctor quits 'dangerous' public hospital

A SENIOR emergency department doctor has quit one of Queensland's busiest public hospitals because it is "too dangerous and too dysfunctional". Dr Michael Cameron, senior staff specialist in emergency medicine at Logan Hospital, on Brisbane's southern outskirts, said the Bligh Government continued to ignore the problems in the health system.

He said doctors, nurses and other medical staff were under extreme pressure and patients' lives were at risk – but the Government was doing nothing to solve the crisis. "Everyone is overworked and overwhelmed . . . it had got to the point where I dreaded going to work each day, to a job I loved and was good at," he said yesterday.

Dr Cameron first spoke out about problems in Queensland's besieged health system in a frank open letter published in The Sunday Mail in May. At the time, he asked to remain anonymous, fearing that going public could have severe ramifications for himself, colleagues, patients and Logan Hospital. In his letter, Dr Cameron, who has worked for 25 years in the state's public hospitals, revealed the chaotic life in a typical hospital emergency department at Logan. His insightful words about sickness, accidents, drunken abuse, overdoses, death and miracles touched many Queenslanders.

The letter also drew an immediate response from Premier Anna Bligh and Health Minister Stephen Robertson, who met with Dr Cameron and discussed the most serious issues. Ms Bligh said at the time Dr Cameron had much to offer the Government as it continued to implement its $10 million health action plan and she vowed to turn to him for help as her special adviser. But Dr Cameron has been largely ignored since the May meeting, with neither Ms Bligh nor Mr Robertson speaking to him since.

He said one of Ms Bligh's staff had contacted him and sought his comments on proposed health funding and spending outlined in the June State Budget. Dr Cameron told him there was inadequate funding for Logan Hospital – but no extra money was provided when Mr Robertson announced a $1.2 billion boost for health for 2008-09. The doctor had also asked the Government to urgently address mental health issues at the hospital, but measures were put off for several years.

Dr Cameron said another flu-hit winter – with Logan's emergency department inundated with sick and elderly patients – was the straw that broke the camel's back. "We have seen it for eight years . . . the winter crisis. Every year the Government promised they would fix it. They said it again this year, but nothing was put in place. "It all fell over again. Every year it starts earlier, it lasts longer and is more intense. "The pressure definitely got on top of me. I just could not go through it again. I could not go through another year of that."

Dr Cameron said he decided it was time to quit, which went against all his beliefs. He even contemplated leaving the public health system altogether and finding another career. "Logan Hospital has become the dumping ground. Hospitals on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane are overflowing . . . if they are blocked they just send them to Logan. "We were overwhelmed. We could not cope. Logan (Hospital) needs to be twice the size with twice the number of staff."

Dr Cameron said other senior staff had also resigned from Logan and he felt shame for leaving the hospital in the middle of a crisis. "I felt it was personal failure . . . I should have been able to take it." He spoke to colleagues who had worked at other public hospitals in Queensland, interstate and overseas and they offered their support. "Everyone there recognises that Logan is under extreme pressure. It is too intense, too dysfunctional, too dangerous. "They had all experienced the same pressures as me. I have been there for nine years . . . I felt I could move on without any shame."

Dr Cameron confirmed reports of a system in crisis: of patients left hours without being treated, left on trolleys in corridors because there were no beds, and people dying. "The Government needs to address these problems urgently . . . but that is never going to happen, at least not in my working lifetime," he said. Dr Cameron said there had been a major recruitment program at Logan this year "but it has not had a very good response".

He has decided to stick with public health and take his emergency medical skills to Redlands Hospital, which has just undergone a $20 million upgrade. "It has a new emergency department . . . it is the right size with the right numbers . . . with limited population growth in the Redlands, it is more controlled . . . it is more closely aligned to demand. "I am looking forward to it," he said of the senior role that he will start in January.

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'Don't blame fat kids on Maccas'

THE Australian head of McDonald's says there's no mystery surrounding childhood obesity - kids are fat because they don't exercise as much as they used to. Chief executive Peter Bush also says McDonald's, according to the chain's own research, provides just one in every 72 meals an average child eats. "You've got to look at those other 71 meals kids consume that often come out of the cupboard at home," Mr Bush told a federal parliamentary inquiry into obesity sitting in Sydney.

"Where we sit on this is that we probably look at it as a very perplexing and complicated issue. "Certainly the studies have indicated that the issue is linked to a change on lifestyle - kids exercising less, watching more TV, kids playing video games."

Mr Bush said academics where now properly studying the causes of obesity, but most pre-existing data blaming fast food was inconclusive. "When the very first obesity summit was held in Sydney in October 2002, my predecessor sat through the two days of that session," he said. "Through that time, overwhelming evidence was presented, but not substantiated, that fast food was the culprit. "What also emerged at that time was there were very few studies completed worldwide at that stage." Mr Bush said fear of crime was a factor in obesity, arguing parents do not allow children to walk to school anymore.

The House of Representatives standing committee inquiry, which began in May, is looking at the increasing prevalence of obesity and future implications for the health system. University of Sydney Associate Professor Jenny O'Dea presented the findings of a study on obese children and a survey of 345,713 adults. It showed poorly-educated parents were more than twice as likely to have obese children as well-educated mums and dads.

The Roy Morgan survey also showed the rate of obesity for adults in the lowest socio-economic groups grew at almost triple the rate of those belonging to the highest earning and educated groups between April 2000 and March 2007. Nearly a third of people in the lowest socio-economic group were regarded as obese in March last year, compared with 26.6 per cent in April 2000. In the highest socio-economic group, 17.8 per cent were obese, up from 15.9 in 2000.

Dr O'Dea said governments should rethink obesity campaigns, saying they must address social inequities rather than opting for "shame and blame" strategies, which did not work. She also said the international standard for measuring obesity was generally fair, but the label should be treated with care as the body mass of some ethnic groups differed. "You can't assume that an overweight, obese child is carrying too much fat," she said. "There are kids who fit into that category. They are the the Samoan kids and the Fijian kids and the Greek boys who are very muscular and the Lebanese boys."

Dr O'Dea studied 960 families of children, from years two to six, in 10 primary schools across regional and rural NSW. She discovered 2.7 per cent of tertiary-educated mothers had obese children compared with six per cent of mums who had completed year 10 or less. Seven per cent of fathers in the low-educated group had obese children, while the figure was three per cent for those in the highly-educated group.

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There's no substitute for a loving home when it comes to looking after the little ones

A childcare worker is being investigated over claims she forced a boy, 4, to wipe urine off the floor with a paper towel and bare hands. Mother Nesrine Aziz says she was horrified to find her son Emmanuel on his knees cleaning up a puddle when she collected him from beleaguered childcare giant ABC Learning Centres' Berwick South kindergarten.

State government officials last night confirmed an inquiry had begun into a mistreatment allegation. Inspectors will examine the centre's discipline and hygiene standards.

Mrs Aziz and husband Sam have since removed both their children from the centre. "If you put your children in care you don't expect this kind of unsanitary service," Mr Aziz said.

The Herald Sun believes the carer has told her bosses she ordered two boys to clean up the mess in an inside play area after neither would confess to deliberately soiling it. She faces disciplinary action if found guilty of over-the-top punishment.

Mr Aziz claimed he got an appalling and unco-operative response from ABC Learning Centres' management when he raised worries about his son's treatment. The couple pulled Emmanuel and seven-month-old Nicholas out of the centre after Tuesday afternoon's incident. The boys are now being looked after by their grandmother as their full-time working parents battle long waiting lists for alternatives. Mr Aziz said several other centres nearby were booked out until January.

ABC Learning Centres' spokesman Scott Emerson said quality care and education was the company's priority and all concerns raised by parents were treated seriously. He said an internal inquiry was immediately launched when the matter was raised. Investigations are continuing.

The complaint is the latest woe for Australia's biggest childcare provider, which has been plagued with financial problems.

Department of Education and Early Childhood Development spokeswoman Jennene Rodgers said childcare regulations banned corporal punishment or unreasonable discipline. She said they promoted positive guidance of children's behaviour and set out personal hygiene requirements. "It is vital parents have confidence that their children are well cared for in childcare," Ms Rodgers said. Victoria had the nation's most robust childcare centre inspection system, with more than 4000 held last year, she said.

The Herald Sun this year revealed dozens of children and babies had been mistreated or allowed to roam free from Victorian childcare centres over the past three years. The Government is reviewing child-to-carer ratios amid reports of stressed childcare staff buckling under enormous workloads.

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Cast out terror TV

HEZBOLLAH'S terrorist television station is once again being beamed into Australia. Al-Manar, translated as "the beacon", has been called more accurately a beacon of hatred and violence. It is to be hoped that the Rudd Government and the Australian Communications and Media Authority are doing everything in their power to block the station, as has been done in the past.

This is in no way hypocritical, nor does it undermine Australia's commitment to freedom of speech. Even in societies whose commitment to freedom of speech is as strong as Australia's, there are limits to that freedom, such as where the speech incites violence or racial hatred. Indeed, this balancing has already occurred here for stations such as Al-Manar. In 2005, ACMA proposed new standards prohibiting broadcasts that directly supported terrorist organisations. These standards were the direct result of an ACMA investigation into Al-Manar the previous year. And ACMA has acted again since then to have the station removed from satellites that broadcast into Australia.

Significantly, Australia is not alone in drawing a line between freedom of speech and incitement to violence. The US, France, Canada and the European Union have banned their nationals from broadcasting Hezbollah's TV station into their territories because of the station's message and its dominance by a terrorist organisation.

The prohibition is well deserved. Al-Manar acts as the propaganda arm of Hezbollah, helping to raise money for, and recruit members to, the terrorist organisation. The group and its TV station demonise the West and incite violence against it, repeatedly calling for resistance against coalition forces in Iraq and glorifying terrorism, with videos showing suicide bombers detonating themselves. Al-Manar also helps to perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by stoking violence against Israel.

In one example, a child dressed as Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah repeats one of his speeches to a crowd of children, some of whom are dressed in suicide vests to punish the "Zionist enemy". Other programs extol the virtue of jihad and suicide operations, calling for death to Israel by exploding bodies. The station spreads anti-Semitism by perpetuating noxious anti-Jewish myths and conspiracy theories, such as the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion, blood libel and the lie that Jews were behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in 2003, the station broadcast a 30-part anti-Semitic series, one episode for each night, depicting a supposed Jewish global government. If claims that Al-Manar is popular among Arabic speakers in Australia are true, it is even more important to stop it influencing and inflaming its audience.

Al-Manar cannot be separated from Hezbollah's military wing. Although the terrorist group holds seats in the Lebanese parliament, it makes no distinction between its armed and political branches. Al-Manar, likewise, promotes Hezbollah's political as well as military messages, be it its so-called resistance against Israel or attempts to justify the group turning its arms on Lebanese people, as it did recently. And, as we all know, money is fungible. Hezbollah's funding of Al-Manar cannot be separated from the funding of its armed branch.

So what could the Government do? First, capitalising on its friendly relations, it should reach out diplomatically to the Indonesian and Qatari governments - both of which own shares in the satellite company that broadcasts the station - as well as private shareholders and impress on them the importance of removing Al-Manar from the menu of channels available on the satellite.

The Indonesian Government has made significant strides in the past several years in combating its militant problem. Broadcasting the propaganda of a foreign terrorist group to Indonesians as well as to populations throughout Southeast Asia and Australia is clearly not in Indonesia's interests. Consistent with those interests, it is to be hoped that the responsible leadership we have seen in public and private domains in both countries will come to the fore on this issue.

The Rudd Government should also pursue all domestic legal measures available to it. It is almost certainly illegal under Australian law to provide support to Hezbollah, a banned terrorist organisation, and, by extension, to its TV station. The Government should determine whether any Australian nationals own part of the satellite company and, if so, take appropriate legal action. The Government should do the same for any Australians found to be facilitating the broadcast of Al-Manar in Australia.

Al-Manar spreads a dangerous and violent message in its role as a Hezbollah mouthpiece. It should not be able to use Australia's airwaves to disseminate such poison to undermine our harmonious multicultural society.

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