NEWS 9
ausdoc. com. au 20 MARCH 2026
NEWS 9
Hospitals face maintenance menace
AAP and Bella Rough INFESTATIONS of insects, possums and birds at major hospitals have been revealed after two deaths prompted a sweeping maintenance review of hospital infrastructure.
The snap investigation in NSW uncovered incidents involving pests and fungus, dating back more than a decade, which were never reported.
The investigation followed the deaths of two patients from fungal infections linked to construction work at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
in Sydney. Six patients in the transplant ward developed infections between October and December last year, possibly the result of aspergillus, a common mould found in soil, dust and damp environments.
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said that across the state’ s public hospitals, there were 38 non-routine maintenance issues still unresolved from last year. These included ongoing pigeon infestations at Tamworth Hospital and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and five hospitals needing roof repairs.
But NSW Health is not alone in grappling with maintenance issues and ageing infrastructure, as a backlog of work has also emerged in hospitals
A pipe failure sent sewage spewing into treatment bays. across WA and Queensland. In August 2024 at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth, staff in the ICU declared multiple‘ code yellow’ internal emergencies after a pipe failure sent sewage spewing into patient treatment bays.
And in Brisbane, an audit revealed that staff at the Princess Alexandra Hospital and Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Hospital were searching eBay and Amazon for replacement parts for their ageing electrical systems.
Ovarian cancer risk cut by 75 %
Bella Rough OPPORTUNISTIC bilateral salpingectomy reduces the risk of serous ovarian cancer by more than 75 % compared with hysterectomy or tubal ligation, research suggests.
Researchers have compared 40,527 patients who underwent opportunistic bilateral salpingectomy( OBS) with 45,296 patients who had either hysterectomy alone or tubal ligation between 2008 and 2020.
Five or fewer serous ovarian cancers occurred in the OBS group— the precise number was suppressed for privacy because it was so low— compared with 21 in the other group.
Ovarian cancer’ s five-year survival rate is just 50 %.
The researchers, led by the University of British Columbia in Canada, acknowledged the OBS group was generally younger than the typical age for high-grade serous carcinoma.
“ Nonetheless, these findings provide robust support for the effectiveness of OBS as a preventive intervention and underscore that broader implementation of OBS has the potential to significantly reduce the incidence and mortality of serous ovarian carcinoma,” they wrote in JAMA Network Open.
A reanalysis using breast cancer as the primary outcome to assess for selection bias found no significant difference between the groups.
The researchers added that 23 % of ovarian carcinomas in patients without fallopian tubes were high-grade serous carcinomas, compared with 68 % in patients with fallopian tubes, based on historical international data.
OBS did not appear to reduce the age of menopause onset, they said.
DON ' T MISS THE SIGNS
Juvenile arthritis is one of the most common chronic diseases affecting young Australians. 3
Early diagnosis is crucial for preventing life-long pain and disability. 1, 2 You can change a child’ s life.
Learn more at jafa. org. au / hcphub
or scan code to visit the resource hub
STIFF I SWOLLEN I SORE
RECOGNISE AND REFER 1, 2
References: 1. Juvenile Arthritis Foundation Australia. About juvenile arthritis. Available at: www. jafa. org. au / about / juvenile-arthritis / [ Accessed August 2025 ]. 2. Healthdirect. Arthritis in children Available at: https:// www. healthdirect. gov. au / arthritis-and-children-juvenile-arthritis [ Accessed August 2025 ]. 3. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Chronic musculoskeletal conditions: Juvenile arthritis. Available at: https:// www. aihw. gov. au / reports / chronic-musculoskeletal-conditions / juvenile-arthritis # Livingwitharthritis [ Accessed August 2025 ].
Juvenile arthritis – HCP’ s program received grant funding from the Australian Government.
JAMA Netw Open 2026; 2 Feb.