Diagnosis and care for people with dementia needs to be improved, according to new findings that also show carers often experience difficulties accessing support.
The Zap also reports on calls for an aged care system that prioritises prevention and ensures admission to residential aged care occurs because it is genuinely needed, “not because earlier opportunities for support were missed”.
The importance of overseas-trained doctors to the healthcare system, a specialist workforce crisis in regional areas, and developments in contraception are among other topics covered this week.
The quotables?
We need to look at how aged care, health, housing, transport, employment and participation work together to enable people to remain independent, connected and involved in their communities as they get older.”
AND
We cannot improve Aboriginal health outcomes without addressing housing. It is one of the most fundamental social determinants of health.”
AND
If the Albanese Government was really “committed to addressing the human health impacts of climate change”, it could do something to address the underlying problem – such as stopping approvals for further fossil fuel extraction.
Charles Maskell-Knight writes:
Monday 21 September was World Alzheimer’s Day, and the start of Dementia Action Week, with the theme “let’s talk about dementia”.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) released Living with Dementia Survey: insights from Australians living with dementia and Living with Dementia Carer Survey: perspectives from Australian carers supporting someone living with dementia.
The findings show that “while many Australians living with dementia report positive wellbeing and support from family and friends, the pathway to diagnosis can be complex and support services can be difficult to navigate”, the AIHW said.
While three in five people living with dementia reported receiving a diagnosis within three years of first noticing symptoms, fewer than half reported receiving a diagnosis within the first year.
Barriers to diagnosis included “delays in seeking advice because symptoms were not associated with dementia, concerns about the consequences of diagnosis, reluctance to acknowledge possible dementia, delays in tests and specialist appointments, symptoms being attributed to other causes, and appointment costs”.
AIHW spokesperson Bronte O’Donnell said: “While three in five people received information about available services soon after diagnosis, only two in five found it easy or very easy to find, apply for and book support services.”
Among carers participating in the survey, almost one-third spent 70 hours or more each week caring for someone living with dementia.
The AIHW said “many carers reported not having enough time for self-care or social activities”.
“More than seven in ten women and six in ten men reported feeling overwhelmed by their responsibilities. Nearly half said some family relationships had deteriorated since they began caring.”
Carers seeking assistance “reported encountering complicated application processes (49 percent), extended waiting times (42 percent), difficulty finding quality services (39 percent) and lack of available services (38 percent)”.
The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (DHDA) issued a statement marking the week, noting “health professionals can access free dementia training, accredited and non-accredited education, and continuing professional development opportunities through Dementia Training Australia”.
Dementia Australia said while dementia is Australia’s leading cause of death, YouGov research found seven in ten respondents say it is a topic not discussed openly enough.
The research also found that more than half of respondents reported having little to no knowledge about dementia, and only one in ten say they knew a lot about it.
Dementia Australia CEO Professor Tanya Buchanan said the “findings highlight the critical need for a national conversation about dementia to increase understanding, whilst reducing the stigma that still surrounds the condition”.
The Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) also urged Australians to start more conversations about dementia, and called on governments to strengthen the role of general practice in preventing and managing the condition.
RACGP President Dr Michael Wright said “dementia is not an inevitable part of growing older, and every conversation helps reduce stigma and reminds people they are not alone”.
The RACGP called on Governments to “implement the National Dementia Action Plan by better integrating brain health into primary care”.
“This includes a comprehensive framework backed by sustainable funding and support for general practice,” the College said.
The Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) “encouraged people who have noticed changes in their own memory thinking or behaviour, or that of a family member or friend, to start a conversation with someone they trust this Dementia Action Week”.
RDAA President Professor Sarah Chalmers said “your rural GP is an important first point of contact. They know you, your health history and often your family and community. They can assess what is happening, investigate other possible causes and help coordinate referrals and ongoing care”.
“A diagnosis is not the end of the conversation,” she said. “It can open the door to treatment, practical support and planning that helps people retain their independence and continue living well in the community they know.”
The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACCRM) echoed the RDAA message.
The CEO of Palliative Care Australia (PCA), Dr Chris Hatherly, said conversations about dementia “should give people the opportunity to discuss their goals, preferences and future care while they can be actively involved in those decisions”.
“Palliative care can support quality of life for people living with dementia, as well as their families and carers. It should be considered earlier, according to a person’s needs, and integrated more consistently with dementia, health and aged care services.”
PCA said palliative care physician Dr Michael Chapman explored these issues during National Palliative Care Week in May when delivering a guest lecture at Parliament House.
The PCA website includes an article on Chapman’s views and a recording of his lecture.
Ministers and government
Assistant Minister for Health Rebecca White announced “the Albanese Government is committed to addressing the human health impacts of climate change”.
Before everyone gets too excited, White was announcing the allocation of $6 million from the Medical Research Future Fund to three research projects to study and combat the mental health challenges of climate change, with a particular focus on First Nations people.
If the Albanese Government was really “committed to addressing the human health impacts of climate change”, it could do something to address the underlying problem – such as stopping approvals for further fossil fuel extraction.
DHDA is seeking expressions of interest from interested individuals for the Multistakeholder Health Technology Assessment Reform and Implementation Reference Group, which will provide advice to DHDA to support implementation of health technology assessment reforms.
Expressions of interest are due by 16 October.
By way of context, the Health Technology Assessment Review completed its work and provided a report to the then Minister for Health and Aged Care in May 2024. The report was published in September 2024.
DHDA also invited aged care providers and workers to share their experiences about delivering Support at Home aged care services, with responses due by 14 October.
DHDA released 98 responses to its Private Health Sector Reform Consultation Paper 1.
In a typical act of obscuration, the responses are identified on the website with a nine-digit serial number, and not by name. While a search facility allows users to search for a submission from a particular organisation, this does not assist in identifying submissions from unexpected sources.
It is now over a fortnight since Allied Health Professions Australia said it “warmly congratulates Tracey Thomson on her appointment as the DHDA’s Chief Allied Health Officer”.
However, the DHDA webpage devoted to the Chief Allied Health Officer does not mention Thomson, and there does not appear to be any reference to her on the DHDA website more broadly other than as a member of a committee contributing to the National Nursing Workforce Strategy.
Can any reader tell Croakey what is going on?
Treasury released the seventh Intergenerational Report on 21 September. Marie McInerney covered the report for Croakey here, including reaction from ACOSS.
Since then COTA has responded, saying the report “reinforces the need for a long-term, whole-of-government action plan to make Australia a better place to grow older”.
COTA CEO Patricia Sparrow said “we need to look at how aged care, health, housing, transport, employment and participation work together to enable people to remain independent, connected and involved in their communities as they get older”.
“The report looks decades ahead at how Australia’s population is changing and the reality of inequity within generations, particularly in housing. We now need an equally long-term plan for how we respond.”
Sparrow reiterated COTA’s call for a 10-year, whole-of-government action plan on ageing.
The AIHW released a report on neurological conditions, and associated articles on migraine and headaches and multiple sclerosis.
It also released updated reports on the health of veterans generally, and updated suicide monitoring of serving and ex-serving Australian Defence Force members to include 2024 data.
The report found the suicide rate among the male veteran community has continued to trend downwards, from 42.2 per 100,000 people in 1997-99 (almost 80 percent higher than the general population) to 25.5 in 2022-24 (40 percent higher than the general population).
The AIHW also released updated hospitals data on hand hygiene for the period July to October 2025, and hospital resources including 2024-25 information.
Finally, it released the regular monthly data on Medicare Benefits Scheme funded services.
The Ahpra and the National Boards released new interim guidance on managing financial or commercial conflicts of interest.
Ahpra said it “is concerned emerging business models are creating situations that have the potential to unduly influence the advice and treatment provided by practitioners”.
“This includes businesses that advertise, prescribe and dispense a single medicine, or provide hidden incentives for practitioners to overservice or promote particular assessments, treatments or devices.”
CEO Justin Untersteiner said Ahpra was “reminding all practitioners they must comply with their professional obligations at all times”.
“The onus is on practitioners to do the right thing, regardless of business model or employment arrangements.”
The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) said that, following a review of 25 Support at Home providers assessed as higher risk based on their compliance history, it has launched a formal investigation into a provider which may have:
- included care management costs in service delivery prices
- made price changes without first discussing and agreeing the changes with older people
- failed to provide requested information and documentation to the Commission.
The ACQSC said of the 25 providers included in the review:
- four were fully compliant
- 18 addressed compliance issues through engagement with the Commission
- two remain under ongoing compliance management and regulatory oversight
- one is now subject to formal investigation.
Common compliance issues included:
- incomplete or inaccurate pricing information
- missing or outdated service agreements
- late financial reporting
- weaknesses in governance and prudential management systems
- deficiencies in provider documentation and record keeping.
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) said it had recently completed a review of the Research Translation Centre (RTC) Initiative, which identified opportunities to build on the achievements of RTCs to ensure they continued to support excellence in research translation.
It said the NHMRC will move from accrediting RTCs to designating them through a competitive assessment process, under which “centres will need to demonstrate high-quality research translation capability and health service led programs that address health service and community needs”.
The Office of the Inspector-General of Aged Care released the first monograph in its Preventive approach to aged care project.
According to the Office, Before the fall: The economic case for early intervention in ageing support, prepared by my former colleague Adjunct Professor David Cullen, “explores how preventive interventions could improve quality of life and delay or reduce the need for more intensive, higher-cost care services including entrance to residential aged care”.
“It discusses ten types of interventions that can improve physical functioning and support greater independence in daily activities – while accruing economic benefits in the form of reduced demand for more intensive, higher-cost aged care services.
“The monograph argues for an aged care system that prioritises prevention and ensures admission to residential aged care occurs because it is genuinely needed, not because earlier opportunities for support were missed.”
The Productivity Commission is collecting material to support its 2026 Closing the Gap Review, and on 7 September issued a call for submissions.
It invited everyone “to share evidence and perspectives in a format that is most appropriate for you, including through written storytelling, artwork, research report, case studies or a video”.
Initial submissions are due by 26 October.
The Commission also invited current and former public servants to share their views on how Governments are implementing the Priority Reforms under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap through a short survey, closing on 19 October.
Consumer and public health groups
The Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) said research published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health showed alcohol companies are more than twice as likely to tell consumers to “drink responsibly” than to warn them why.
The study, led by The George Institute for Global Health, found only 25 percent of products carried a voluntary warning, and almost all of these (99 percent) focused on advising specific groups not to drink, including minors, pregnant women or drivers.
Lead author Asad Yusoff said the study shows “alcohol companies are using weak voluntary health messaging and labels to feign corporate responsibility, while keeping consumers in the dark about the real health harms of drinking”.
PHAA CEO Adjunct Professor Terry Slevin said “the UK’s recent 10-year health plan included a commitment to introduce alcohol health warnings, while Ireland will make them mandatory from 2028”.
“It’s time for the Australian Government and its agencies to follow in their footsteps and take action to put Australians’ health above alcohol industry profits.”
The study’s publication follows the release last week of the report of the House of Representatives inquiry into alcohol and other drugs, which recommended a mandatory regulatory framework for alcohol advertising and marketing.
First Nations
The Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT) called on the broader community services sector to put Aboriginal community control into practice by embedding it in their own policies, programs and services.
In a keynote address at the Anglicare Australia National Conference in Garramilla/Darwin, AMSANT CEO Dr Donna Ah Chee said “we now have decades of experience and evidence showing that Aboriginal community control works. It delivers better access to care, culturally informed services and better outcomes for our people”.
“Aboriginal community control needs to be embedded across the services that affect our people’s lives. That means mainstream organisations thinking differently about how services are designed, who delivers them and where resources go.”
Read the full presentation at Croakey, ‘How Aboriginal community controlled health services are driving change in the Northern Territory – and what more needs to be done’.
In July the NT Government announced it had been unable to arrange a new lease with the owner of the buildings in Darwin used as the largest short stay accommodation centre in the NT, YiSSA (operated by Yilli Housing), and that the facility would close by October.
The NT Government has now announced residents will be moved to Bachelor, 100 kms south of Darwin.
AMSANT said “the looming closure of YiSSA has exposed the dangerous consequences of the NT’s chronic shortage of safe, appropriate social housing for people with serious health needs”.
It said there are reports of dialysis patients being forced into overcrowded homes, including sleeping on floors as they try to remain close to the life-saving treatment they need several times a week.
Ah Chee said “for people living with kidney disease and other serious chronic or complex health conditions, having a safe and stable place to stay is not separate from their healthcare. It is essential to it”.
The NT Government has said “medically vulnerable residents, including renal patients, will be supported to find alternative accommodation closer to their treatment”.
Ah Chee said while finding alternative accommodation for those patients was essential, the immediate crisis pointed to a much larger problem.
“There simply are not enough safe, appropriate and affordable housing options in Darwin for people who need to come in from remote communities for health care, or for the many other Territorians who need social housing.”
“That shortage has consequences across our health system. Overcrowding contributes to poor health, housing instability makes it harder to manage chronic disease, and when people have nowhere safe to go, hospitals and health services inevitably carry more of the burden.”
“We cannot improve Aboriginal health outcomes without addressing housing. It is one of the most fundamental social determinants of health.”
Trade unions
The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and the College of Emergency Nursing Australasia issued a joint statement, urging parties contesting the Victorian election to address increasing violence against emergency department staff.
The Colleges called for the Government to:
- Ensure every Victorian ED has dedicated security officers, trained specifically to work in health care settings and skilled in de-escalation, employed as part of the ED clinical team and available 24/7, with dedicated funding
- Re-establish the Victorian Violence in Healthcare Taskforce, with a direct reporting line to the Minister for Health, bringing together frontline clinicians, health services, government and key agencies to drive a more coordinated statewide response to violence against health care workers.
ACCRM reminded rural generalists that allergy assist® can help them deliver allergy care in their communities.
The free national service connects GPs and rural generalists with clinical immunology and allergy specialists. With patient permission, doctors can submit clinical cases online and receive advice within 48 hours.
ACCRM President Dr Rod Martin said “for patients outside urban Australia, seeing an allergy specialist… can involve travelling hundreds of kilometres, taking time away from work and family, and finding somewhere to stay”.
“Allergy assist does not replace specialist referral when it is necessary, but can help ensure patients receive timely care close to home.”
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) released its inaugural Aged Care Report Card, “revealing growing delays in aged care assessments, lengthy waits for home and residential aged care, and an alarming rise in the number of hospital days used by patients who are clinically ready to leave hospital but cannot access appropriate care”.
AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen said “we cannot clear the hospital logjam while ignoring what happens beyond the hospital doors”.
“Fixing aged care is essential to fixing our hospitals,” she said. “All Governments need to come together and come up with a concrete plan for transitioning patients out to community and into residential care when needed.”
The AMA also published an article by McMullen on the importance of overseas-trained doctors to the healthcare system.
She wrote that “for many Australians, the doctors they know and trust may have begun their medical career somewhere else in the world”.
“Their contribution is also reflected in the numbers. International medical graduates make up 53 percent of the rural medical workforce and a substantial proportion of Australia’s GP workforce, underscoring just how critical they are to patient access to care across the country.”
McMullen argued for simplification of the “maze of registration requirements, visa processes, assessments and administrative hurdles” facing international graduates, and the need to address racism and discrimination.
She also wrote skilled migration should complement domestic training, not substitute for it.
“That’s why we continue to call for improved workforce planning through an independent workforce agency. We cannot continue lurching from one workforce shortage crisis to the next and expect migration policy alone to fill the gaps.”
The RACGP welcomed the Victorian Government’s commitment to secure the future of cohealth’s Collingwood site by purchasing and redeveloping the site to provide a permanent home for cohealth and 69 social housing units.
The College also called on all parties in the Victorian election to agree to:
- remove payroll tax on GPs
- fund the cost of medicines for children in foster and kinship care
- increase incentives and mentorship support for GPs who provide medication assisted treatment of opioid dependence
- reinstate the Chief General Practice Adviser position.
The RACGP joined the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Rural Doctors Association of Victoria in a joint letter to the Victorian Health Minister setting out their shared concerns about the expansion of new retail pharmacy prescribing models for contraception in Victoria.
They said “contraceptive care extends beyond the supply of a medicine [and] requires clinical assessment, discussion of available options, consideration of individual risk factors and ongoing review”.
After pointing out issues, including the lack of an evidence base supporting the model, the focus on oral contraceptives rather than the full range of options, the potential for further delays in obtaining contraception for women with complex needs, and the inherent conflict of interest in pharmacists prescribing medicines they then dispensed, the group called for “the next Victorian Government to commit to an independent review of patient outcomes and adverse events, and broader system impacts associated with these new models of care, including Chemist Care Now”.
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians said “the Australian regional healthcare system is facing a continuing specialist workforce crisis”.
It released a report Australia’s Regional Healthcare Crisis, “revealing a stark imbalance between where people live and where physicians are training and practising which is contributing to longer waits for care, delayed diagnoses and poorer health outcomes for many Australians”.
The report called for action to:
- support trainee physicians from regional, rural and remote areas to train and remain there
- establish coordinated national rural health workforce planning
- make it easier for physicians and trainees to relocate and remain in regional areas
- address heavy workloads and physician and trainee burnout
- enhance collaboration between physicians and other health professionals.
Industry groups
The Pharmacy Guild said research it commissioned from YouGov “shows Australians trust pharmacists, support pharmacist prescribing and recognise the benefit it can deliver for patients and the broader health system”.
The polling found 88 percent of respondents trust their pharmacist to provide advice for common, non-complex health conditions, and 79 percent support trained pharmacists assessing, treating and prescribing for everyday conditions like ear infections, eczema and impetigo.
According to the Guild, “Australians identified reducing pressure on GPs (40 percent), more convenient access through community pharmacies (33 percent), and having an additional care option alongside GPs, specialists and hospitals (26 percent) among the key benefits”.
As details of the polling were not provided, we can only speculate as to whether respondents identified these benefits spontaneously, or if they were prompted.
Guild President Professor Trent Twomey said the findings “reinforced the need for the Government to introduce nationally consistent prescribing frameworks”.
Ramsay Health Care released its response to the DHDA Private health sector reform consultation paper 1, indicating broad support for many of the proposals.
Ramsay also released The future of Australia’s private hospitals, a policy reform paper developed by Deloitte Access Economics that “sets out a broader vision for strengthening Australia’s health system”.
(A “broader vision” than what is not made clear.)
The main recommendations are:
- Make private health insurance work better for patients. Modernise private health insurance products to improve transparency, support contemporary models of care and ensure patients get value for money
- Train more clinicians where care is delivered. Expand funded training pathways across public and private hospitals and remove barriers to workforce entry
- Fund innovation and the workforce, not just activity. Introduce targeted funding streams to support workforce development, productivity, clinical innovation and digital transformation
- Unlock private hospital capacity for public patients. Create multi-year public–private partnerships that make better use of private hospital capacity to support public patient demand
- Support fair bargaining in the private health system. Establish fair bargaining frameworks for insurer-hospital funding contracts to ensure funding supports patient care.
It is interesting that this initiative comes as Ramsay is withdrawing from APHA. It clearly believes it can advocate effectively on its own behalf.
A measure of Ramsay’s influence may be that following its criticism of the National Private Price proposal (reported here in Croakey) that option seems to have disappeared from Government consideration.
Politicians and parliamentary committees
The Senate inquiry into the Support at Home aged care program held hearings on 21 September, attended by a wide range of sector peak groups, providers, carers, consumers, and DHDA.
All witnesses except those from DHDA were critical of at least some elements of the design or implementation of Support at Home.
DHDA witnesses deployed the usual suite of defences – obfuscation, unavailability of information at the hearing, and “contextualisation” aka distraction.
Shadow Minister Anne Ruston wasn’t having it.
Ruston asked questions about the outcome of review of decision requests in relation to the Integrated Assessment Tool, leading to the following exchange (at page 78 in the transcript):
Deputy Secretary Sonya Stewart: it’s important for the committee to note – I’m not sure if you’ve got the percentage figure there – that there was a record number of assessments done. That’s around the 500,000 –
Ruston: That’s fine. You don’t have to contextualise everything. I just asked a question, and I’m happy just to get the answer…
Stewart: Sorry. I just thought proportionality is quite important. I think it’s –
Ruston: Proportionality is fine, apart from when you’re one of those people that’s had an assessment that has appeared to be clinically wrong… Everybody’s a person; they’re not a statistic or a number. I really think maybe the Department would be well advised to stop talking about things being statistically relevant, or otherwise to actually think about the people that are being impacted by those decisions.
The Senate inquiry into the Aged Care Legislation Amendment (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aged Care Commissioner and Other Measures) Bill 2026 containing the Government’s “fix” to the IAT issue held a hearing on 24 September.
The transcript is not yet available, but according to Health Services Daily the hearing “exposed a sharp divide over the Government’s proposed human escalation pathway in the Support at Home assessment process. DHDA rejected suggestions the IAT was fundamentally flawed while advocates backed the measure only as an interim fix”.
Greens ageing spokesperson Penny Allman-Payne said the hearing saw “aged care experts slamming Labor’s ham-fisted attempt to repair its broken aged care assessments system”.
International organisations
The World Health Organization (WHO) released WHO guidelines on expanding contraceptive options, recommending a wider range of safe and effective options so people can choose contraception that meets their needs.
WHO said “an estimated 164 million women who want to delay or avoid pregnancy are not using contraception, underscoring the urgent need for better and expanded access to contraceptives”.
Finally
Professor Stephen Duckett AM posted a link to the report prepared for Ramsay by Deloitte on LinkedIn, commenting that it would be a useful teaching aid for health economics courses.
After quoting the first paragraph of the report
“Australia’s high-performing health system relies on a structured public–private model. Around 45 percent of Australians hold private hospital cover, and private hospitals deliver 70% of elective surgery while also contributing $14 billion to GDP. Private hospitals relieve pressure on the public system, support patient choice and timely access, sustain regional services, enable specialist practice, and contribute to workforce development and clinical innovation”
Duckett suggested a discussion question: “how many errors in this para, and how would you rephrase it to be accurate and fair?”
Consultations and inquiries
Here is our weekly list of requests by government bodies and parliamentary committees for responses to consultations or submissions to inquiries, arranged in order of submission deadlines. Please let us know if there are any to add for next week’s column.
National Health and Medical Research Council
- Nutrient Reference Values – Public Consultation on Draft Recommendations – Vitamin B6
- Nutrient Reference Values – Public Consultation on Draft Recommendations for Sodium
30 September
Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee
Rapid Review of PBS medicines for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis
1 October
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
Requirements in the draft National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards to improve the cultural safety and quality of care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
2 October
Therapeutic Goods Administration
Consultation on sharing more information about medical devices
2 October
Medical Services Advisory Committee
- Surgical Procedures for Gender Affirmation in Adults with Gender Incongruence
- Breyanzi (lisocabtagene maraleucel) for the treatment of large B-cell lymphoma
- Implantation of an active middle ear implant (Vibroplasty) for treatment of mixed and conductive hearing loss
- Supervised oral food challenge in patients with suspected food allergy
- Genomic testing for the diagnosis of primary immunodeficiency
- Procedures for the implantation and refill-exchange of the Port Delivery System with ranibizumab to treat neovascular age-related macular degeneration
9 October
Therapeutic Goods Administration
- Proposed amendments to the Poisons Standard in relation to 4-methylbenzylidene camphor (4-MBC)
- Proposed amendments to the Poisons Standard in relation to nitrous oxide
- Other proposed amendments to the Poisons Standard
12 October
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Aged care providers and workers delivering Support at Home
14 October
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
New Framework Planning and NDIS Supports
14 October
Medicare Benefits Schedule Review Advisory Committee
MBS Time Tiered Items Draft Report
15 October
Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and the National Boards
Scoping survey to help shape the review of the codes of conduct
15 October
House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability
Inquiry into the access to and affordability of medical specialists
16 October
Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Specialist Affordability: Options to Address Excessive Fees
19 October
Productivity Commission
Closing the Gap Review
26 October
Therapeutic Goods Administration
Additional public consultation on amending the Poisons Standard regarding ethylene oxide, propylene oxide and epichlorohydrin
26 October
Food Standards Australia and New Zealand
Proposed addition of phytosterols, phytostanols and their esters as a novel food to bread
27 October
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
Consultation on draft Point of Care Testing Guide for Health and Aged Care Services |
30 October
Medical Services Advisory Committee
F-18 Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography for evaluation of complex infection
6 November
Senate Community Affairs Committee
2025 National Health Reform Agreement with Western Australia
27 November
Author details
Charles Maskell-Knight PSM was a senior public servant in the Commonwealth Department of Health for over 25 years before retiring in 2021. He worked as a senior adviser to the Aged Care Royal Commission in 2019-20. He is a member of Croakey Health Media; we thank and acknowledge him for providing this column as a probono service to our readers. Follow on X/Twitter at @CharlesAndrewMK, and on Bluesky at: @charlesmk.bsky.social.
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