House byline
Health correspondent
Connor Blake is a house byline for InfoHandle’s Health desk.
Price-disclosure reductions took effect on 1 October for hundreds of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme brands, lowering ex-manufacturer prices while general patient co-payments remain capped at $25 and concessional at $7.70.
Health department data released after Senate pressure shows more than 6,400 approved clients died on the Support at Home queue last financial year, averaging seventeen deaths a day.
University of Sydney researchers are recruiting schools for Pain Smart, a classroom program launched as global data show chronic pain affecting one in six adolescents.
ACT pharmacists can now initiate ongoing contraceptive pill prescriptions for eligible adults after a territory regulatory change took effect Monday.
ACT pharmacists can now resupply certain low-risk oral contraceptives without a new GP script if patients meet age and continuity rules under a 24 April authorisation.
The Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute opened the Australian Cardiovascular Disease Data Commons, a cloud platform linking national heart and stroke cohorts after $2.9 million in MRFF funding plus NCRIS support.
From October, the PBS will subsidise nirsevimab for eligible premature infants as hospitals prepare for winter RSV admissions.
Wildlife rescuers counted 59 dead birds on an island at the popular lake after a sick ibis report Wednesday; Agriculture Victoria is testing samples as authorities stress no H5N1 case has been confirmed in the Bendigo region yet.
Victoria’s workplace regulator flagged gloves at the Royal Children’s Hospital that were not certified for cytotoxic drugs, triggering a decade-long exposure review and a statewide procurement audit.
Universal hospital cover stops at the kerb because ambulance was never on the Medicare Benefits Schedule—and each state funds the sirens with fees, levies, or waivers.
ATAGI’s 2025 annual immunisation statement shows only 21.1 per cent of children under five had received an influenza vaccine by mid-2024, urging GPs to push shots before spring peaks.
Thousands of physicians and radiographers stopped work Thursday after more than a year of bargaining, with the state government still unable to confirm it has tabled a pay offer.
Northern Territory authorities confirmed Australia's first cases of Monosporascus cannonballus in melon and cucumber fields, warning growers the soil-borne pest cannot be eradicated.
Thousands of NDIS participants saw community participation budgets cut by roughly half from 1 October as reassessments align plans with tightened reasonable-and-necessary tests.
Queensland Health figures show six infant deaths linked to syphilis passed in utero since 2024, with 55 pregnant women diagnosed this year alone as infectious cases run 20 percent above the five-year average.
Victorian emergency departments recorded their busiest September week for influenza presentations as the Super-K H3N2 subclade drove a late-season surge.
From 1 October, reassessed NDIS plans will cut social and community participation allocations by 50 per cent as the government implements $2.8 billion in support resets.
Up to 10,000 public hospital doctors will stop work for four hours on Thursday, rallying at Spring Street after 14 months of enterprise bargaining without a written pay offer.
Northern Territory pharmacies began pharmacist-led COPD spirometry checks funded under a 60AHT contract, aiming to keep exacerbations out of wet-season emergency departments.
SA Health listed Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s emergency fast-track wing on a 28-site measles trace as Holdfast Bay clinics reopened for southern Adelaide students returning Monday.
Four students at Brighton Secondary are now linked to a measles cluster spanning seven exposure sites, with SA Health running a pop-up vaccination clinic and the state's 2026 case count reaching eight.
Four measles cases at Brighton Secondary School triggered a Friday vaccination pop-up at Holdfast Bay and renewed two-dose messaging, as South Australia's 2026 tally reached eight — its highest year-to-date count since 2016.
Victoria Police and frontline services warn family violence reports rise over AFL grand final weekend, citing 315 incidents on grand final day last year—a 5 per cent increase—as Brisbane and Fremantle prepare for Saturday’s decider amid alcohol and gambling sponsor scrutiny.
The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme listed a long-acting RSV immunisation for eligible infants as winter ward admissions eased, giving GPs and maternity hospitals a new tool before the southern hemisphere respiratory season peaks.
The RACGP is pressing Western Australian GPs to book eligible patients into RSV programs while WA Country Health Service rolls out additional vaccine fridges to remote clinics that cannot rely on daily courier runs.
Australia’s National Health Literacy Framework is pushing pharmacies toward plainer dispensing labels, building on ACSQHC standards that spell out dosing intervals, active-ingredient signposting and minimum label sizes.
Western Sydney Local Health District is routing positive RSV rapid nasal swabs from community pharmacies through fridge logs and same-day GP callbacks, treating pharmacy cold-chain as triage data rather than retail stock alone as notifications stay above 5,000 cases statewide.
SA Health triaged coach arrivals from the Eyre Peninsula into a same-day bone-injury fast lane at Port Lincoln Hospital after winter sports fractures stacked up behind routine clinic lists.
Melbourne polyclinic networks are adding evening pertussis booster slots and walk-in triage ahead of September AFL finals travel, after state notifications tied infant cases to unvaccinated adults in shared accommodation.