Exclusive
Healthcare
Hundreds of staff underpaid by private healthcare provider
Healthscope, one of Australia’s largest private hospital operators, is making remediation payments after estimating it underpaid staff by $21.7 million.
- by Jewel Topsfield and Henrietta Cook
Latest
It’s winter, your nose is runny. But these cold and flu tablets may not help
What some consumers don’t realise is that a common drug used to treat blocked noses does not work when taken in tablet, capsule or liquid form.
- by Jewel Topsfield
Exclusive
Baby formula
‘My milk dried up’: Assistant minister says mums who formula feed need support
Assistant Health Minister Ged Kearney says it’s important to continue promoting the message that breastfeeding gives babies the best start in life, but it’s not easy for everyone.
- by Jewel Topsfield
Doctors fear elective surgery lists will blow out again
Victoria blitzed elective surgery waiting lists down after the pandemic, but looming health cuts threaten to blow them out again and force more people to take out private health insurance.
- by Jewel Topsfield
Exclusive
Hospitals
Secret recording reveals sense of budget crisis in Victorian hospitals
Bed and ward closures, reducing elective surgery, cancelling breast screenings and even closing special-care cots were all openly discussed as possibilities to save money.
- by Chip Le Grand, Jewel Topsfield, Henrietta Cook, Benjamin Preiss and Broede Carmody
‘Turn the lights off’: Hospital staff offered cost-cutting tips in budget crackdown
Workers at three major Melbourne hospitals have been told that simple things can save money, as Alfred Health reviews costs in a desperate bid to cut spending.
- by Jewel Topsfield and Broede Carmody
‘No one wants to be sharing this message’: Major hospitals confirm budget squeeze
Two of Victoria’s largest health services have imposed hiring freezes in response to government demands for huge savings, causing stress for health workers.
- by Jewel Topsfield and Henrietta Cook
Exclusive
Healthcare
Hiring freeze and cuts to surgery, stationery: Hospital chief’s warning over ‘challenging’ budget
Western Health has imposed a hiring freeze, cut back elective surgery and told staff to look for other savings as it grapples with state government budget cuts.
- by Jewel Topsfield and Rachel Eddie
Exclusive
Healthcare
Elective surgery waiting lists to balloon as health budget cuts bite
With the Victorian government demanding savings from hospitals, some doctors have been told their contracts won’t be renewed.
- by Jewel Topsfield, Henrietta Cook and Benjamin Preiss
The search to reveal why so many autistic girls go undiagnosed
New research is trying to uncover whether girls differ from boys in the early childhood signs of autism, leading to delayed or missed diagnoses in girls.
- by Jewel Topsfield
Nurses fought back against their union for better pay. Here’s what’s now on the table
The leadership of the nursing and midwifery union was last month left reeling when members rejected an earlier deal they were expected to accept.
- by Jewel Topsfield and Lachlan Abbott