Members in Order of Australia Honours

Dr Ross Bastiaan AM, OAM, RFD and Dr Ronnie Goldberg OAM were amongst those honoured in Order of Australia Awards announced yesterday.

Dr Bastiaan's honour was "for service to the preservation of military history, particularly through designing and sculpting commemorative information plaques placed throughout the world on Australian battlefields of the two world wars, and to the dental profession".

Dr Goldberg was recognised "for service to community health, particularly in support of Rotary International projects".

Dentists from other States included in this year's honours included:

Dr Kenneth Brown AM for service to forensic dentistry

Dr Brian Crisp AM for service to dentistry and dental education

Emeritus Professor Terrence Freer AM for service to dentistry

Dr Jennifer Smyth AM for service to dentistry

Emeritus Professor John Thonard AM for service to dentistry and the advancement of dental education

Dr Peter Kaleski OAM for service to dentistry

Associate Professor Geoffrey Stacy OAM for service to dentistry

National Registration Board proposed

The Commonwealth Productivity Commission today released its report on Australia's Health Workforce, including recommendations that national systems of course accreditation and practitioner registration be established, to replace the existing State based systems.

According to the report, "Australia is experiencing workforce shortages across a number of health professions despite a significant and growing reliance on overseas trained health workers. The shortages are even more acute in rural and remote areas and in certain special needs sectors. With developing technology, growing community expectations and population ageing, the demand for health workforce services will increase while the labour market will tighten. New models of care will also be required."

The Productivity Commission wants to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the available health workforce, and to improve its distribution. They state that their objectives are to develop a more sustainable and responsive health workforce, while maintaining a commitment to high quality and safe health outcomes.

With this in mind, they have proposed a set of national workforce structures which they believe are designed to:
> support local innovations, and objectively evaluate, facilitate and drive those of national significance through an advisory health workforce improvement agency;
> promote more responsive health education and training arrangements through: the creation of an independent advisory council; and a high-level taskforce to achieve greater transparency (and appropriate contestability) of funding for clinical training;
> integrate the current profession-based accreditation of health education and training through an over-arching national accreditation board that could, initially at least, delegate functions to appropriate existing entities, based on their capacity to contribute to the objectives of the new accreditation regime;
> provide for national registration standards for health professions and for the creation of a national registration board with supporting professional panels; and
> improve funding-related incentives for workforce change through: the transparent assessment by an independent committee of proposals to extend MBS coverage beyond the medical profession; the introduction of (discounted) MBS rebates for a wider range of delegated services; and addressing distortions in rebate relativities.

Wanted - directors for DHSV Board

The State Government is seeking part-time directors for the board of Dental Health Services Victoria.
They will be responsible to the Health Minister for setting strategic directions and ensuring DHSV is effective and efficient in meeting its goals.
A balanced board is sought with a mix of relevant skills, knowledge, attributes and expertise. Remuneration will be determined by the Governor in Council.
Application forms can be found here or from the Applications Officer at the Department of Human Services - (03) 9616 8021. Applications close next month.
Expressions of interest, marked ‘In Confidence’, enclosing the Application Form, Information Privacy Act 2000 Consent Form, Curriculum Vitae Form and required supporting documentation should be received by the Dental Health Services Victoria Applications Officer at Level 11, 555 Collins Street, Melbourne 3000 by 5pm on Friday, 17 February.

Health Services Commissioner Annual Report

The 2005 Annual Report of the Health Services Commissioner http://www.health.vic.gov.au/hsc/annrep0405.pdf records that there were 178 complaints about dentists - five less than in the previous year.
However the number of complaints against dental prosthetists increased by eight to 14. The report says that it seems that there may be a need for several adjustments to a denture before a satisfactory fit is achieved.
Commissioner Beth Wilson notes that there were several issues concerning health privacy legislation, in particular the storage or disposal of medical records where a practice closes.

New research linking oral and general health

The Australian Dental Association (ADA) issued a media release yesterday welcoming research released by the Sydney Dental Hospital that treatment of severe gum disease can reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.

The ADA noted that this research strengthens the relationship between oral and general health. It is for this reason that the ADA has restated its belief that money spent on improving oral health will lead to savings in treatment costs for general health.

The ADA release supported a call by NSW Minister for Health John Hatzistergos in the light of the research results to reinstate the Commonwealth Dental Health Program.