Latest news with #ChrisOwen
Sydney Morning Herald
01-07-2025
- Health
- Sydney Morning Herald
As it happened: Brisbane on Tuesday, July 1
Go to latest Pinned post from 1.30pm Healthcare gets booster shot as pharmacy prescribing laws become permanent By Catherine Strohfeldt Community healthcare access is expanding from today as Queensland's new pharmacy prescribing laws come into effect. The changes remove the need for patients to visit a GP or hospital in some circumstances, instead enabling eligible community pharmacists to treat minor health issues. The services include treatments for ear infections, minor wound care, skin conditions, and reflux. Prescriptions can also be provided and filled for such things as hormonal birth control and hay fever medications. Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Queensland president Chris Owen thanked the government for making the program permanent after its trial ended earlier this year. 'The continuation of these services marks an important shift in how primary health care is delivered in Queensland, making better use of pharmacists' clinical skills, and improving patient access to frontline care,' Owen said. 'Most Australians live within 2.5 kilometres of a community pharmacy, many of which are open after hours or on weekends.' Pharmacists must complete additional training to be eligible for the program. 3.10pm Today's stories Thanks for joining us today for our live coverage of news in Brisbane and beyond. We'll be back tomorrow morning. If you're just catching up, here are some of the big stories that made headlines today. Flights to and from Brisbane have been cancelled or delayed, with 'severe weather' forecast to lash parts of the east coast. The Queensland government will set up a new Treasury Transaction Team to attract private capital to help the government deliver its infrastructure pipeline, the treasurer has announced. The identity of the Melbourne childcare worker charged with more than 70 offences, including child rape, has been revealed, as authorities say 1200 children must get tested for infectious diseases. Videos, police fact sheets and court documents reveal the moments leading up to and after the violent melee that left former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas with a gruesome eye injury. Queensland Maroons coach Billy Slater has confirmed that lingering injury concerns for Reece Walsh had nothing to do with his State of Origin omission in favour of Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow. Healthcare gets booster shot as pharmacy prescribing laws become permanent By Catherine Strohfeldt Community healthcare access is expanding from today as Queensland's new pharmacy prescribing laws come into effect. The changes remove the need for patients to visit a GP or hospital in some circumstances, instead enabling eligible community pharmacists to treat minor health issues. The services include treatments for ear infections, minor wound care, skin conditions, and reflux. Prescriptions can also be provided and filled for such things as hormonal birth control and hay fever medications. Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Queensland president Chris Owen thanked the government for making the program permanent after its trial ended earlier this year. 'The continuation of these services marks an important shift in how primary health care is delivered in Queensland, making better use of pharmacists' clinical skills, and improving patient access to frontline care,' Owen said. 'Most Australians live within 2.5 kilometres of a community pharmacy, many of which are open after hours or on weekends.'
The Age
01-07-2025
- Health
- The Age
As it happened: Brisbane on Tuesday, July 1
Go to latest Pinned post from 1.30pm Healthcare gets booster shot as pharmacy prescribing laws become permanent By Catherine Strohfeldt Community healthcare access is expanding from today as Queensland's new pharmacy prescribing laws come into effect. The changes remove the need for patients to visit a GP or hospital in some circumstances, instead enabling eligible community pharmacists to treat minor health issues. The services include treatments for ear infections, minor wound care, skin conditions, and reflux. Prescriptions can also be provided and filled for such things as hormonal birth control and hay fever medications. Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Queensland president Chris Owen thanked the government for making the program permanent after its trial ended earlier this year. 'The continuation of these services marks an important shift in how primary health care is delivered in Queensland, making better use of pharmacists' clinical skills, and improving patient access to frontline care,' Owen said. 'Most Australians live within 2.5 kilometres of a community pharmacy, many of which are open after hours or on weekends.' Pharmacists must complete additional training to be eligible for the program. 3.10pm Today's stories Thanks for joining us today for our live coverage of news in Brisbane and beyond. We'll be back tomorrow morning. If you're just catching up, here are some of the big stories that made headlines today. Flights to and from Brisbane have been cancelled or delayed, with 'severe weather' forecast to lash parts of the east coast. The Queensland government will set up a new Treasury Transaction Team to attract private capital to help the government deliver its infrastructure pipeline, the treasurer has announced. The identity of the Melbourne childcare worker charged with more than 70 offences, including child rape, has been revealed, as authorities say 1200 children must get tested for infectious diseases. Videos, police fact sheets and court documents reveal the moments leading up to and after the violent melee that left former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas with a gruesome eye injury. Queensland Maroons coach Billy Slater has confirmed that lingering injury concerns for Reece Walsh had nothing to do with his State of Origin omission in favour of Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow. Healthcare gets booster shot as pharmacy prescribing laws become permanent By Catherine Strohfeldt Community healthcare access is expanding from today as Queensland's new pharmacy prescribing laws come into effect. The changes remove the need for patients to visit a GP or hospital in some circumstances, instead enabling eligible community pharmacists to treat minor health issues. The services include treatments for ear infections, minor wound care, skin conditions, and reflux. Prescriptions can also be provided and filled for such things as hormonal birth control and hay fever medications. Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Queensland president Chris Owen thanked the government for making the program permanent after its trial ended earlier this year. 'The continuation of these services marks an important shift in how primary health care is delivered in Queensland, making better use of pharmacists' clinical skills, and improving patient access to frontline care,' Owen said. 'Most Australians live within 2.5 kilometres of a community pharmacy, many of which are open after hours or on weekends.'
The Guardian
09-03-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
High street opticians could use AI to spot dementia risk with eye scan
High street opticians could play a key role in pinpointing individuals at risk of dementia by spotting distinctive patterns in the retinas of those in the early stages of cognitive decline. These diagnoses would carried out during routine eye checks. The prospect follows the development of an AI technique known as Quartz that can be used to study eye scans and identify key differences in the shapes and sizes of retinal blood vessels in a few seconds. The technology automatically measures width and the extent to which these tiny veins and arteries – known as arterioles and venules – twist and turn. The blood vessels in the eye act as an extension of those in the brain and the development of Quartz gives researchers a unique opportunity to analyse retinal scans as a non-invasive way to assess the characteristics of blood vessels elsewhere. In particular, it allows them to study the eye for markers of brain health and for signs of neurodegeneration. Scientists based at the newly formed research centre City St George's, University of London used Quartz to carry out eye scans of more than 63,000 people aged between 40 and 69. The team then assessed each person's cognitive score using a combination of tests of memory, reaction time and intelligence and compared results with images of their eye scans. The researchers found that those possessing retinal blood vessels that had reduced width and had particular patterns of twisting were linked to lowered scores in tests for memory, reaction time and intelligence. These associations were adjusted for age, sex and ethnicity. As to the reasons for this linkage, the scientists believe changes in retinal blood vessels may be due to reduced blood supply in the brain, which in turn may be an early cause or consequence of diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer's. The crucial point is that by studying the eye in this way it should become possible to pinpoint those in the early stages of neurodegenerative conditions. This point was stressed by Professor Chris Owen, lead author of the study which was funded by Alzheimer's Research UK and published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia. He said the technique could one day be 'seamlessly embedded' into the daily routines of high street opticians and eye clinics. 'It would provide an easily accessible, low cost and quick way to flag people who are at risk of developing neurodegenerative conditions in the future without the need of invasive tests.' His comments were backed by David Thomas, head of policy for Alzheimer's Research UK. He described the prospect of developing a way to detect early signs of dementia through routine eye tests at a high street optician as a gamechanger. 'Integrating these scans with existing tests, like brain scans, would ensure people get the full picture of their condition, and the support they deserve, more quickly,' he said. At present, there are no treatments that can cure neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer's disease, and the development of a test that could pinpoint individuals in the early stages of untreatable condition raises concerns. However, Thomas stressed that only individuals who specifically request a retinal eye scan that would reveal their possible cognitive decline would be given such a test. 'It is also very unlikely that we will have this technique ready for high street use for another five years. By that time the first effective treatments for dementias may have become available. 'When these arrive, we will want to have ways to pinpoint those in the early stages of dementia, and eye scan tests could prove invaluable for doing this.'
