Tag Archives: oceania

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CEO of company behind COVID-19 vaccine bungle stood aside

The CEO of the company responsible for administering two overdoses of the COVID-19 vaccine to elderly patients in Queensland has stood aside in the wake of the bungle.

Jason Cartwright, CEO of Healthcare Australia (HCA), has agreed to stand aside on the vaccine rollout after the Commonwealth-contracted company failed to check whether the doctor in question was trained and then misled the government.

Health Minister Greg Hunt revealed during question time today Mr Cartwright was being stood aside while investigations continue.

READ MORE: Company behind vaccine overdoses having 'book thrown at them'

"The secretary for the Department met with and spoke with the CEO initially and with the chair of the company, I'm advised that the CEO was being stood aside as a consequence of the discussions and in particular, the company is installing new management," Mr Hunt said.

Healthcare Australia chairman Daren McKennay confirmed Mr Cartwright had agreed to step aside while the investigation takes place.

"While the review is being finalised, Healthcare Australia CEO Jason Cartwright has agreed to step aside from his role and an interim CEO with extensive experience in the health sector will be imminently appointed," Mr McKennay said in a statement.

"We will also further strengthen the Healthcare Australia management team with additional executive support."

READ MORE: Hunt backtracks, says doctor who gave two elderly patients a vaccine overdose was not trained

An investigation by the Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Michael Kidd found HCA to be at fault on two counts.

"A mistake was made, a human error, and a serious error, and, of course, we need to learn from these mistakes if they occur," Professor Kidd said.

"This error should not have happened and we apologise to the residents and their families and the carers at the facility for the distress that this has caused."

READ MORE: Queensland premier 'very upset' about vaccine bungle

The patients, a 94-year-old woman and an 88-year-old man, were given a dose of the vaccine thought to be four times the recommended amount.

While a potentially grave error, Mr Hunt said the dosage was not dissimilar to those given during clinical trials.

"Both patients are well. Neither is suffering any adverse effects. The woman will return home to her residential home in the facility after she's had lunch today," he said.

"That was the request of the family. The man will stay in hospital for no other reason other than he was actually admitted in preparation for elective surgery and an appropriate procedure unrelated to this."

READ MORE: Concerns deepen over vaccine rollout in Australia's aged care homes

Professor Kidd said HCA did not meet its contracted requirements with the government.

"This doctor should not have been permitted to carry out these vaccinations without having completed the required training," Professor Kidd said.

"This doctor should not have been permitted to carry out these vaccinations without proof of his completion of training being sighted by the company.

"And this doctor should not have been required to carry out these vaccinations as the sole registered health professional deployed by the company to this site."

HCA Australia has since checked the training requirements for all staff registered to administer the vaccine, and the company has been put on notice that a second breach of contract will see its role terminated.

READ MORE: The vaccine can be stored in a fridge for up to three months

The Pfizer vaccine is prepared at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Vaccination Hub in Sydney,

Almost 18,000 Aussies have been vaccinated

Almost 18,000 Australians have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

To date, across the states more than 17,500 vaccination doses have been administered.

A total of 71 aged care facilities have been completed, including 4715 residents.

There has been a 95 per cent take-up rate of the vaccine so far.

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Infograph shows the life expectancy in your suburb

Where you live in Australia can influence your life expectancy, a new study has revealed.

Research by Torrens University showed the suburbs and neighbourhoods where Australians have the longest and shortest life spans.

A suburb in Melbourne's south-east, Ashburton, and the areas of Unley and Parkside, south of Adelaide's CBD, took out joint first place for the highest median age at death in Australia, both sitting at 89 years.

The lowest median age at death among cities and their suburbs was Melbourne's CBD at 59 years, followed by the Forrestdale, Harrisdale, Piara Waters areas in Perth at 62 years.

The overall lowest median age at death nationwide was found in regional areas: Newman in Western Australia, the APY Lands in South Australia and remote Northern Territory communities.

READ MORE: Queensland to reopen border to Greater Melbourne on Saturday

The suburb comparisons revealed there were "significant disparities" in neighbourhoods, despite some being a similar distance from the CBD.

Professor John Glover, from the Public Health Information Development Unit (PHIDU) at Torrens University, said various factors influenced residents' lifespan.

"Variations in the median age at death between suburbs are impacted by many factors including socioeconomic disadvantage, as influenced by unemployment, education, housing and income," he said.

"Events like road traffic accidents among young people lower the median age, and the location of residential aged care facilities raise the median age."

READ MORE: Coles drops price of roast chickens to $9 in Victoria

However, socioeconomic disadvantage was a "strong influence" in life expectancy, Professor Glover said.

"Socioeconomic disadvantage is clearly evident in the pattern of potential years of life lost across our capital cities," he said.

"Regardless of variations between areas, I expect the data will place those areas with lower lifespans under the spotlight, and hope that social and health policymakers, agencies and providers will be informed by these data, investigate the causes and further consider the needs of people in these areas."

Ashburton resident Judith Cameron told 9News she was surprised her suburb came out in first place.

"I wouldn't have thought," she said.

"I thought there would have been other suburbs that would have been better than Ashburton."

Highest median age at death – Australian capital city

Ashburton (VIC) – 89 years

Unley/Parkside (SA) – 89 years

Castle Hill/Cherrybrook/Glenhaven (NSW) – 88 years

Lowest median age at death – Australian capital city

Melbourne CBD – 59 years

Forrestdale/Harrisdale/Piara Waters (WA) – 62 years

Driver/Gray/Moulden/Woodroffe (NT) – 62 years

Highest median age at death – regional Australia

Yackandandah (NSW) – 86.5 years

Grovedale (VIC), Mayfield/Warabrook/ Waratah/North Lambton (NSW), Clear Island Waters/Merrimac (QLD), Nuriootpa/Tanunda (SA) – 86 years

Lowest median age at death – regional Australia

Newman (WA) – 45 years

APY Lands (SA) – 53 years

Alice Springs – Remote (NT) – 54 years

LIVE UPDATES: Company behind vaccine overdoses having 'book thrown at them'

Highest median age capital city breakdown

MELBOURNE

Ashburton – 89 years

Brighton/Brighton East – 88 years

Camberwell/Surrey Hills/Canterbury – 88 years

SYDNEY

Castle Hill/Cherrybrook/Glenhaven – 88 years

Cromer/ Narrabeen/ Collaroy – 88 years

Gordon/Killara/Pymble – 88 years

BRISBANE

Centenary – 87 years

Chermside – 87 years

Enoggera/Keperra/Mitchelton – 86 years

ADELAIDE

Unley/Parkside – 89 years

Colonel Light Gardens/Mitcham – 87 years

Fulham/West Beach – 87 years

PERTH

Manning/Waterford – 87 years

Canning (north) – 86 years

Innaloo/Doubleview/Karrinyup/Gwelup/Carine – 86 years

HOBART

Mount Nelson/SandyBay/ South Hobart area – 86 years

New Town – 86 years

Bellerive/Geilston Bay/Howrah/Lindisfarne – 85 years

DARWIN

Casuarina area – 76 years

Inner Darwin – 70 years

Nightcliff area – 70 years

READ MORE: Brittany Higgins makes formal statement to police

Lowest median age capital city breakdown

MELBOURNE

Melbourne CBD – 59 years

Docklands/Southbank/West Melbourne – 66 years

Kinglake – 68 years

SYDNEY

Haymarket/The Rocks – 67 years

Homebush Bay/Silverwater – 68 years

Mount Druitt/North-West – 69 years

BRISBANE

Springfield Lakes – 57 years

New Chum/Redbank Plains – 63 years

Bellbird Park/Brookwater/Springfield – 64 years

ADELAIDE

Lewiston/Two Wells – 69 years

Adelaide – 69 years

One Tree Hill – 73 years

PERTH

Forrestdale/Harrisdale/Piara Waters – 62 years

Seville Grove – 65 years

Kwinana – 65 years

HOBART

Bridgewater/Gagebrook – 67 years

Rokeby – 71 years

Austins Ferry/Granton – 76 years

DARWIN

Driver/Gray/ Moulden/ Woodroffe – 62 years

Litchfield – 65 years

Marrara/Berrimah – 66 years

headline

Brothers killed in alleged hit-run to be buried together after court battle

Two brothers killed in an alleged hit-and-run will be laid to rest together in NSW's Central West, after an excruciating court battle between their estranged parents.

Shane Shorey, seven, and Sheldon Shorey, six, died after an unlicensed driver allegedly did a burnout before ploughing into the boys on a footpath near a local swimming pool in Wellington on January 6. At the time they were walking with their mother, who was also seriously injured.

Yesterday Justice John Sackar made a "difficult" and "challenging" decision, allowing for the brothers to be buried in Wellington, where they spent most of their short lives.

READ MORE: Memorial held for brothers killed in alleged hit-run

LIVE UPDATES: Concerns deepen over aged care vaccine rollout

The ruling comes after the boy's mother Shayleen Frail fought to have her sons buried together and "on country". 

Father Joseph Shorey had proposed for the brothers to be cremated and their ashes divided. 

"The boys had a strong connection with the Aboriginal community in Wellington and their unique body of beliefs," Ms Frail's lawyers said in a statement to 9News following the court outcome.

"Our client made an application to the Supreme Court because it was her wish for the boys to be buried to allow them to have a final resting place where their spirits can enter the Dreamtime."

Mr Shorey has told The Dubbo News he was "devastated" by the decision.

Justice Sackar acknowledged the boys had spent the last year of their lives living in Queensland with their father, but for the most part had been raised by their mother and grandparents in the Wellington area.

"It is not possible in a case like this absent compromise to produce a perfect solution," Justice Sackar said in a judgement handed down in the NSW Supreme Court yesterday.

"I consider the community where the boys have spent a substantial proportion of their lives has been in the Wellington area where not only their mother, but their maternal grandparents adhere to their beliefs about burial as opposed to cremation.

"Burial on country is the tradition they had been brought up in."

READ MORE: 'I feel empty': Father of boys killed in Wellington crash speaks of grief

Mr Shorey is comforted at the crash scene where his two sons were killed.

The judge also found Ms Frail had been "entirely candid" about her history of drug use and incarceration and that Mr Shorey had allowed them to live with her and their grandparents since their separation in 2016.

In an interview with 9News, Ms Frail said she was not afraid to be honest about her past.

"Just because I've been to jail, just because I've been an ex-user does not take anything away from me being a good mum," she said.

"It doesn't take away from the fact I love my boys and this is a tragedy."

When she was in jail, Justice Sackar found Mr Shorey had "unilaterally decided to take the children away from their mother and grandparents in early 2020" and moved them to where he lived with his new partner in Emerald, Queensland.

"I can accept [Mr Shorey] may genuinely have believed what he was doing was in the best interests of the children but at the time he had no orders of any court which permitted him to do what he did," Justice Sackar said.

"A substantial proportion of their lives was spent in the Wellington area and in particular under the stable and loving influence of their maternal grandparents when their mother was incarcerated when the defendant was either away working or in Queensland.

"They spent most of their pre-school and schooling in Wellington and made many contacts with other Indigenous persons and learnt their secret men's business from their grandfather in Wellington."

Mr Shorey described his two sons as "the happiest kids in the world".

Ms Frail said the boys were closely connected to Wellington, having spent much of their time at Nanima Village mission.

"They absolutely loved their culture: doing the clap sticks, doing the Koori dance," Ms Frail said, remembering a video of them dancing like snakes and goannas.

"Sheldon, he was just a little show-off, real centre of attention, he would uplift any party … a real little character."

Shane was destined to be an NRL player.

"Shane was a placid kid, a caring big brother and absolutely loved footy," Ms Frail said.

Ms Frail said she plans to finally lay her children to rest next week.

"Our client would like to thank the first responders at the scene of the accident, the medical staff who cared for her at Wellington Hospital, Westmead Hospital and Dubbo Base Hospital, all of the people who donated to her GoFund Page and the Wellington township for the enormous support she and her family have received and continue to receive," she said.

The man accused of crashing into and killing the boys –  25-year-old Jacob Donn – remains in custody and is next expected to appear in court next month.