Queensland Health has developed a survey which will give us a true demographic profile of our workforce. QNADA also encourage all staff to fill in this survey.
Complete the survey for a chance to win a free registration to the 2012 Winter School and to enhance workforce development"
The Department of Health and Ageing has been in contact with your organisation over the past month negotiating funding and the scope of your projects for the 2012-13 to 2014-15 period under the Substance Misuse and Service Delivery Grants Fund (the Fund) and the Non Government Organisation Treatment Grants Program (NGOTGP).
The recent funding rounds for the Fund and NGOTGP resulted in a large number of applications for funding and this has led to unanticipated delays in finalising Funding Agreements.
The department is working hard to ensure that all agreements comply with the legislative requirements for government funding. Please be assured that funding will be provided to cover the full project period.
Please refer to your state or territory office contact Martin Charters (A/g Senior Project Officer) on 07 3360 2786 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. should you have any enquiries regarding this process.
Regards
This document has been approved for electronic transmission by
Julia Mansour
A/g Assistant Secretary
Substance Misuse and Indigenous Wellbeing Programs Branch
28 June 2012
The Minister for Health Lawrence Springborg has released a list of changes to Queensland Health grants for the new financial year having reviewed the long list of allocations ending on or before June 30, 2012.
He said 303 grants were scheduled for expiry, including a large number providing services to reduce public demand on Queensland hospitals or support frontline service delivery. Of these, 119 were renewed at existing funding levels. Letters of notification to those organisations were being distributed.
He said the process of reviewing annual grants had been hampered by confused record-keeping that produced conflicting reports of departmental payments and allocations extending back over several years. He apologised to organisations waiting for news of the proposed changes, saying reductions in expenditure were necessary but that conflicting advice had delayed the process.
Letters had also been prepared to advise recipients whose grants status would change.
“As part of the process, allocations were divided between 202 groups given an expectation of further funding and 101 in receipt of limited one-off grants,” he said.
In the latter category, responsibility for 34 grants had been transferred away from Health as part of portfolio changes. All 67 one-off grants that remained within Queensland Health would expire on June 30.
The Minister said reductions in allocations would also apply to some groups expecting renewal in the new financial year. Of these, 59 would be given three months pro-rata funding while a further review of their financial support arrangements was carried out. This included a number of programs serving indigenous communities, where a more co-ordinated approach to service delivery would be sought.
The remainder (24) would be given a similarly-funded period to enable them to cease their state-funded activity.
A spreadsheet outlining these changes to Queensland Health grants for the 2012-13 financial year is online at https://www.facebook.com/QLDHealth
Ends
Contact: Cameron Thompson 0407-585230
BY JADE WITTMANN, ISABELL PETRINIC AND STEVEN SPIERINGS, 17 Apr, 2012. TED Cassidy, a psychiatrist at The Hills Clinic, Kellyville, said he did not have a stance on the findings of a report on the decriminalisation of drugs prepared by think tank Australia21, and said it would not affect the way he delivered treatment.
Lexi Metherell, Wednesday, April 18, 2012, ABC.net.au. There's a new tussle between unions and business over drug testing for workers.The body overseeing the rollout of revised national drug testing rules for railway workers, has defended leaving it up to rail companies to decide what method of testing they use.
April 18, 2012, news-medical.net, People with an opioid addiction had the highest risk of death when compared with rates for alcohol and other drugs, according to a new study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).
NEW YORK, April 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Depression and alcohol use are common challenges facing today's teenagers, especially those who are attending high school. On their own, these are formidable challenges to overcome. A new study reveals that they may actually have a correlation between them.
Daniel Hurst, Brisbane Times, March 2012
The new Queensland Mental Health Commission planned by the state government to manage $1 billion in funds could take a much different shape with the Liberal National Party in power
Jarrod Bleijie, LNP, March 2012
The LNP has vowed to smash organised crime in Queensland on winning government. LNP Shadow Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said the tired, 20-year Labor government had allowed organised crime to flourish – as evidenced by drug-running gangs choosing the Gold Coast as their national distribution base.
AAP - published in the Australian January 12, 2012
PEOPLE who occasionally smoke marijuana do not suffer long-term lung damage the way cigarette smokers do and may actually experience a slight improvement, a new study says.
Since the research included more than 5000 people older than 20, the authors said it should help clear up some of the confusion about the risks of marijuana smoking.
However, they warned that the danger of heavy marijuana use was difficult to assess and cautioned against regular or frequent smoking.
"Marijuana is still an illegal drug and it has many complicated effects on the human body and its function," said Stefan Kertesz, senior author of the research published yesterday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"In our findings we see hints of harm in pulmonary function with heavy use and other studies have shown that marijuana use increases a user's likelihood of a heart attack . . . and impairs the immune system's ability to fight disease."
Researchers recruited subjects between the ages of 18-30 in four US cities and followed them from 1985 to 2006. They measured "joint-years" in which one joint-year of exposure would be the equivalent of smoking 365 joints or pipe bowls.
For those who reported smoking an average of one joint a day for seven years, or one joint a week for 49 years, the study found no harmful lung effects resulted.
Researchers at the University of Alabama division of preventive medicine and at the Veterans Affairs Medical Centre in Birmingham, measured lung function by assessing the force and volume of each person's exhale.
Those who smoked cigarettes tended to have much higher lifetime exposure to smoking than marijuana users, but when researchers adjusted the data for current and lifetime exposure, they found smokers' lung function got worse over time while pot smokers' lung function actually improved slightly.
"However, the gains . . . were so small that most people would likely not notice at all," he said.