Advances in Melanoma Care

An exciting multidisciplinary program presented by Australia's leading melanoma clinicians & researchers including summaries of the latest clinical practice guidelines, data on how clinicians are performing against these guidelines, interactive forum to discuss how to improve care & updates in many areas.

Date: 8-9 August 2009
Venue: Crowne Plaza Coogee Beach
Email: info@melanomanetwork.org.au
www.melanomanetwork.org.au

Clinical Diploma in Palliative Medicine

Are you interested in improving your skills in palliative medicine? The Australasian Chapter of Palliative Medicine offers a six month Clinical Diploma in Palliative Medicine consisting of a supervised clinical attachment.
More information >>>

Human Rights Watch: access to pain treatment

The Human Rights Watch has released a new report entitled Please, do not make us suffer any more... access to pain treatment as a human right. The report discusses the need to address the poor availability of medications for pain treatment in many countries around the world.

To access report: www.hrw.org

Inaugural Whole Person Care National Symposium, 2009

Responding to the Challenges of Whole Person Care in Clinical Practice

This symposium will be directed towards medical practitioners and other health care professionals who deal with patients diagnosed with a life threatening illness

One of the major aims of the symposium is to provide a forum for practitioners to explore the challenges faced when working daily with patients who have life threatening illness, and their families. This will be an opportunity to take stock of the impact of this work on ourselves and our patients.

International speakers will include Professor Harvey Max Chochinov and Dr Thomas Egnew.

Convenors: Professor John Kearsley and Dr Judith Lacey.

Date: 30-31 October, 2009 Sydney

Venue: Swiss Grand Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia

More information: wholeperson@iceaustralia.com

Website: www.iceaustralia.com/wholeperson09

After several years of hard work, there has been at last a development in the formation of a national body representing Palliative Care needs. This new group is called the Palliative Care Council of New Zealand.

The role of the Council will be to provide strategic advice to the Minister of Health via the Cancer Control Council on issues relevant to palliative care. The Council is made up of 8 members from the 'specialist' Palliative Care sector and in addition has consumer and Maori representation. The Council will also establish advisory groups as required to ensure that wider expertise is available to maximise all advice given to the Minister.

The 8 representatives include those nominated by the New Zealand Branch of ANZSPM, Hospice New Zealand, Hospital Palliative Care New Zealand and Palliative Care Nurses New Zealand.

The first chair of the Council will be selected from these four nominations. The ANZSPM NZ Branch representative is Carol McAllum. Carol is a vocationally trained Palliative Medicine Specialist with a background in general practice. She has a range of experience across a number of sectors including general practice, hospice (in- patient and community) and hospital settings. As such we believe she will bring a helpful depth and breadth of insight to the Council.