Friday 12 August 2011

The highs and lows of public hospital outpatient care according to NSW consumers


Source: Outpatient care module of the NSW Health Patient Survey 2010
Click on graphs to enlarge


In August 2011 the NSW Bureau of Health Information released Patient Care Experiences (part of the Insight series) a survey of patients using outpatient services in NSW public hospitals during February 2010.

Not surprisingly, consumers on the North Coast had mixed feeling about their experience in the larger regional public hospitals and these scored in both the higher and lower satisfaction bands.

In comparison with all public hospitals in this survey, Murwillumbah and Grafton performed well and Tweed, Lismore and Coffs Harbour performed poorly.

When compared with other non-metropolitan hospitals in the survey most fell in the middle of the rating band with only Tweed Heads in the lowest ranking.

How the emergency department experience in non-metropolitan hospitals is rated by NSW Health can be found in Performance Profiles Emergency department care Major non-metropolitan hospitals Hospital Quarterly: January to March 2011.

Christopher Monckton splutters.....


Uploaded to YouTube by countrychannel99 on Aug 8, 2011:

One of the world's most prominent, and controversial, climate change skeptics, has been in New Zealand this week. Lord Christopher Monckton, the 3rd Viscount of Brenchley, is here as part of a world lecture tour promoting climate change denial. Reporter Benedict Collins met Christopher Monckton in Auckland, and while the Viscount might not believe in global warming, it didn't take long for the interview to heat up...





NBN mapping for NSW North Coast

Go to NBN CO for interactive mapping showing national broadband coverage by anticipated type in each state and region.

Thursday 11 August 2011

Just how safe is the food we buy?


 
Number of food recalls coordinated by FSANZ,
shown by recall classification,
between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2010.

 
Number of recalls by food class
from 1 January 2000 – 31 December 2010
Click on graphs to enlarge

In April 2011 a Byron Bay business was fined $1,320 for the Sale of unsuitable food - Leptin Green Coffee 800 sold on internet - contained chemical agent, bis-Desmethylsibutramine, foreign to the nature of the food. This tea (along with leptin jelly and chocolate products) originated in China according to the NSW Food Authority and, six months earlier in October 2010 it was subject to recall in Australia.
This is not the first food recall of the year as I discovered when I went to the Food Standards Australia and New Zealand website where I found this sad window on the food we eat:

July

June

May

April

March

February

January


It would appear that food recalls in 2011 may possibly outstrip the 2010 total by the end of this year.

And you wonder why American society is going down the gurgler?


By-passing the electorate appears to be the norm in the good ol’ US of A which has gone a long way towards corporatizing ‘democracy’:
“At a workshop {held by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)} I attended, one Texas legislator, who moderated the forum, went as far as to say that that we are a big football team. The legislators are the football players and the corporate lobbyists and special interest group presenters are “our” coaches. {The Progressive 6th August 2011}