Media Releases
Over the Counter Medicines Poll Results Released - 7th September
A new poll shows that a third of children aged under the age of six-years receive over-the-counter cough and cold medicines. However, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) warns that they are ineffective and could harm children of this age. Today the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne released the findings from the 4th Australian Child Health Poll. A quarterly national survey of Australian households examining issues expereicned by the Austrtalian public. The latest poll reveals that Australian parents are spending millions of dollars on cough and cold medicines for children when there is no evidence to support this.
The poll also revealed that an estimated $74 million is being spent on vitamins and supplements for children aged less than 15 years when their diet is normal, and they have no nutritional deficiency. Read more here and find the detailed report here.
Royal Commission into Youth Detention - 6th September
Today, September 6th 2016, the Royal Commission into Youth Detention was opened. While the proceedings of the Royal Commission are being established, CHA calls for action to be taken to prevent further harm being caused from the mistreatment of children and youths in detention. Acting CEO Julie Hale said “a nation-wide moratorium needs to be called, ceasing practices such as the use of tear gas, prolonged isolation, stripping children of their clothing, the use of restraints and the placement of hoods over the heads of juveniles in the detention setting.” Read more here
Welcome to new CHA Members: Redcliffe (QLD) and Cairns & Hinterland Hospital and Health Service (QLD).
Redcliffe: The Paediatric unit at Redcliffe is a 10 bed unit, with a 6 bed short stay area in development. This unit caters for children from birth to 14 years of age and their families. Our dedicated team have identified their vision and strategic focus as being: Making a Difference - Patient comes first, Safety for all, Building Teams, Doing it Better.
Cairns & Hinterland HHS: The Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service (CHHHS) is responsible for the delivery of Health Services in a geographical area of 141,000 square kilometres ranging from Cairns to Tully in the south, Cow Bay in the north and Croydon in the west. The health services outer western region encompasses extremely remote communities.
BE Medicinewise week 22nd to the 28th August 2016
Follow this link to see more about this initiative
NPS MEDICINEWISE has released a series of videos to assist families to understand medicines for children. The videos include:
- Reading medicine labels and packaging
- Knowing your childs weight
- measuring liquid medicines accurately, and
- Keeping track of medicines given to children
This valuable series of videos can be found here
IV FLUID ALERT
This year the Queensland Government - Medicines Regulation Division released a Patient Safety Alert regarding the use of IV Hypotonic Solution for paediatric patients.
NSW Health has produced some IV fluid standards to try to avert this sort of issue. The second version of the Standards for Paediatric IV Fluids were released fairly recently. Find a copy of these standards here
Child's Rights Videos
In 2014, NSW Kids and Families developed videos for children and young people to help them understand their rights when receiving healthcare in hospitals and other settings. CHA thanks NSW Kids & Families for making these videos publicly available and encourages all Australian health services to share these videos with patients and their families
