Author: Robert Fedele

‘Look, feel, learn’: Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2023

Kerry Patford, Chief Nurse for the McGrath Foundation, has worked in breast care nursing for more than two decades. For as long as she can remember, breast cancer was “always part of the conversation” due to a strong family history. Then, while on maternity leave with her second child, a close friend was diagnosed with […]

‘No respect’: Red Cross Lifeblood nurses rally over proposed enterprise agreement

“I just don’t think what they’ve put on the table for us so far is showing very much respect at all,” says Lifeblood enrolled nurse (EN) Kelly Costello about her employer’s proposed single enterprise agreement, which for the first time would cover all workers across the country. Kelly has worked at the Australian Red Cross’ […]

Telehealth reform key to making voluntary assisted dying work long-term, clinicians say

How can voluntary assisted dying (VAD) be improved across Australia over the next two years? According to hundreds of clinicians working in the field who attended the country’s first national VAD conference in Sydney last week, run by charity Go Gentle Australia and VADANZ, improved access to telehealth, which involves some consultations via phone, video […]

Workforce investment key to ‘unleashing’ mental health nurses’ potential

Skilled and knowledgeable health professionals, mental health nurses possess a range of invaluable attributes including the ability to show great empathy, provide tailored patient-centred care, and respond and adapt to often complex situations. But Australia doesn’t have enough of them working in the system to their full scope of practice, and lacks new and innovative […]

Have your say on scope of practice review

The federal government is seeking submissions for its independent workforce review examining the barriers and incentives Australia’s health practitioners face working to their full scope of practice in primary care. Launched last month, the Unleashing the Potential of our Heath Workforce Review, a recommendation of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce, wants to hear what key stakeholders […]