Health Policy

A royal commission has heard a lack of services vital to collecting evidence of sexual assault in regional South Australia has resulted in some victim-survivors walking away from potential prosecutions of perpetrators.

Adam Quarrell says being an NDIS participant is like "being in an abusive relationship". He's fighting to have funding restored in his care plan for catheters, without which he says he will die.

Police released the review three days before they were set to given evidence at South Australia's Royal Commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence — after a four-month-long fight to block the ABC's freedom of information request.

The woman needed hospital treatment after suffering a late-night haemorrhage on Magnetic Island earlier this month, but the region's rescue helicopter was unavailable.

NSW's entire hospital system would be put under strain if half of the salaried workforce leave, but many psychiatrists believe it is the only way to get the government's attention, the doctors' union says.

A young woman presented at a Melbourne hospital following an alleged needle spiking at a nightclub but wasn't able to get any tests to help her prove it. Here's why.

Australia's COVID-19 response saved countless lives, but it also left hundreds of people believing they were suffering a constellation of strange symptoms from the vaccines. Now they're fighting a class action against the federal government.

A pilot program allowing women to get the contraceptive pill directly from a pharmacist is supposed to improve accessibility, but some Queensland women believe it's not as easy or cheap as originally announced.

Two new clinics providing abortion services are set to be established in Queanbeyan and NSW's south coast. It comes after an ABC investigation exposed that Queanbeyan Hospital had ceased providing surgical terminations.

Canberra Health Services walks back a proposal to block non-ACT residents from accessing specialist medical appointments at the Canberra Hospital, as part of its plan to reduce massive patient backlogs.

Many 26- to 65-year-olds who "fell between the cracks" when it came to accessing government assistance have turned to Sarah Dockrell and her hearing aid bank.

The Royal Children’s Hospital’s professor Margie Danchin says many mothers have been discouraged by the vaccines’ cost of up to $350.

A Victorian woman was left waiting three hours for an ambulance while suffering a potentially catastrophic brain bleed, amid the state's ongoing ambulance crisis.

There are calls for government action to mandate indoor air quality standards and improve "terrible" ventilation in Australian schools that can hamper student learning.

The LNP had vowed to scrap the service arranged by the previous state government, but now says it will go ahead as a contract has already been signed.

Charlie, like so many others, had so much life left to live but sadly that was not to be. The memory of him, symbolised by shoes and his story, will be just one of many taken to Canberra to "raise awareness of the horrific effects and unimproved life expectancy from brain tumours".

The long-awaited drug summit starts today, with the NSW government signalling it is open to a change of direction in drug policy. However, legalisation of cannabis in the state has already been ruled out.

Mark Butler says the leaders who oversaw Australia's COVID-19 pandemic response don't need to say sorry to rebuild public trust.

Monitoring disease outbreaks, alerting the public and collaborating with state and federal governments are all duties the new CDC will take up. 

After years of campaigning, a free pill-testing service was supposed to be at Schoolies in the Gold Coast this year. Doctors and researchers are fighting the newly elected Queensland government to keep it that way.