Health Ministers announce progress on e-Health

The Australian Health Ministers' Conference issued a Communique today affirming their commitment to the introduction in 2010 of national healthcare identifier numbers and agreed to release for further consultation draft legislation for establishing the healthcare identifiers.

Ministers considered feedback from the first phase of public consultations held in July-August 2009. Following these consultations and feedback, further work has been done on the identifiers to clarify and strengthen patient privacy. Ministers have now agreed:

• the legislative framework will limit the use of healthcare identifiers to health information management and communication purposes as part of delivering a healthcare service;
• healthcare identifiers will be underpinned by effective national privacy arrangements, protecting health information wherever it is associated with healthcare identifiers, regardless of whether the information is held by a public or private organisation;
• the Healthcare Identifiers Service (HI Service) will have an appropriate governance framework with transparent and accountable processes;
• penalties will apply to the misuse of healthcare identifiers; and
• to review the implementation of the healthcare identifiers after a period of two years.

According to the Communique, Healthcare Identifiers are unique numbers that will be given to all healthcare providers, healthcare organisations and healthcare consumers. These unique numbers will provide a new level of confidence when communicating patient information between the myriad of private and government healthcare providers and systems. The identifiers are considered an important building block for the eventual introduction of a patient controlled Individual Electronic Health Record.

Members are referred to the CEO's Comments in the September and November editions of the ADAVB Newsletter for further information about e-Health developments affecting dentistry.

The legislation to establish the Healthcare Identifiers will be introduced to the Federal Parliament in the Autumn 2010 sittings.

Consultation re Registration Standards

The Dental Board of Australia (DBA) published its first Consultation Paper today regarding 'registration standards and other matters'.

These draft standards are proposed to take effect from 1 July 2010, and the DBA is seeking submissions by 24 November 2009. The ADAVB intends making a submission in response and is issuing an Alert! inviting member feedback in the usual manner i.e. bullet point suggestions sent to garry.pearson@adavb.org

The consultation paper covers the following mandatory standards which will apply to all boards and various proposals for standards specific to dentistry.

Mandatory standards

• Criminal history
• English language skills
• Professional Indemnity Insurance
• Continuing Professional Development
• Recency of practice

Dentistry standards

• Scope of practice standard
• Dental specialties
• Endorsement for conscious sedation

Commentary about these draft standards will appear in the Branch Newsletter and on our website over the coming weeks.

For more information about the progress of the national registration and accreditation scheme go to http://www.ahpra.gov.au/

Sunrise exposes sugar content in soft drinks

Yesterday's Sunrise program on Channel 7 featured a segment which demonstrated that mini cans of Coca Cola, introduced 'to assist consumers with portion control', still contain 4 teaspoons of sugar, while a 2 litre bottle contains around 40 teaspoons.

The segment promoted drinking water or mineral water in preference to highly sugared drinks.

Members are encouraged to draw their patients' attention to this story as it may help them to make better decisions about their diet and so help to reduce their dental decay. The story is likely to remain online for the next few days before being archived.

DHSV 2009 Annual Report

Dental Health Services Victoria’s 2008-09 Annual Report has been tabled in Parliament. It shows a decline in adult patients treated but an increase in the number of children treated because of dental health services being provided through local health centres, resulting in greater targeting of high-risk families.

The report also reveals:

• a decline in domiciliary patients treated over the last three years


• an increase in patients treated in the teaching clinic (this is a reflection of increasing student numbers and greater utilisation of student clinic chairs)


• nearly 20% increase in the general waiting list over the course of the year, with almost 326,000 patients treated


• about 15% increase in specialist waiting lists (about 6200 patients), but a decline of some two months to just over eight months in waiting time


• the ratio of emergency:general care of 46:54 has improved from the last two years.

Blitz to lower Ballarat's waiting lists

Six dentists from the Ballarat Health Services' dental clinic tomorrow will screen 150 people in an effort to reduce the city’s public dental waiting lists.

They will determine whether the patients can be issued with vouchers to go to private dentists for treatment or, if the work is considerable, for appointments to be made at the clinic.

The work – 1000 extra treatments - is being funded under a State Budget allocation of $350,000 for this financial year and the same amount for next financial year.

Government officials are confident that this “blitz” will reduce the waiting lists.

Department of Health officers will brief ADAVB’s Ballarat members about the project, along with information about the fluoridation of the city’s drinking water, at a meeting next Thursday evening.

Teeth whitening in pharmacies

Following the recent prosecution of a beauty therapist by the Dental Practice Board of Victoria for carrying out teeth whitening, the Pharmacy Board of Victoria has determined that it may approve teeth whitening conducted within a pharmacy if – and only if – the person carrying out the business or activity is registered as a dental care provider.

If a pharmacist personally carries out teeth whitening or employs someone to do it within or separate from the pharmacy, both the pharmacist and the person actually performing the activity would be liable to prosecution unless they are registered as dental health care providers.
The Pharmacy Board’s advice does not apply to the sale or supply of products that are marketed for teeth whitening.

ADAVB comments on climate change Green Paper

The ADAVB has called on the State Government to create a positive vision for sustainable health services and reward good practice rather than inaction by adjusting the tax and utility pricing regimes.
Commenting on the Victorian Climate Change Green Paper, the Branch makes a number recommendations including that the Government should make budgetary and logistical provision for the installation of ISO 11 143 compliant amalgam separators in all public dental clinics by 2012. The Branch also urges for the encouragement of other States to follow EPA Victoria and Victorian water authorities to provide rebates for dental practices which install ISO 11 143 compliant amalgam separators.