George Lombard Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 Taking effect next week, there are some significant changes for health professionals, people with diabetes, carer visa applicants and pregnacy situations. This is the summary from the agents' gateway: Health Services Australia (HSA) has been re-branded as Medibank Health Solutions. All references to Health Services Australia throughout the PAM have been removed and replaced with Medibank Health Solutions. Whilst family members who are student visa applicants must complete health assessments to the same standard as the principal student applicant, if the principal applicant is a student of a health care profession, the dependant applicant will not have to complete the additional blood tests unless they themselves fall into a category of special significance. For more information please refer to Section 9.2,9.5 and 23.1 of the Health PAM. A nursing home is considered a hospital or health care environment, however an applicant likely to enter a private doctor's or dentist's surgery is not considered to fall into this category of special significance. As such, the additional health requirement that they undergo a chest x-ray may not be applicable. For more information please refer to Section 12.1 of the Health PAM. A list of health professionals who are not considered to be doctors, nurses, paramedics or students of these professions, for the purpose of their health assessment, has been included in the PAM. Applicants planning to work in these professions may not have to undergo the additional health requirements of HIV, Hepatitis Band C tests. For more information please refer to Section 13 of the Health PAM. Applicants under 40 years of age who suffer from diabetes will be required to submit a treating doctor's summary. The summary is to be emailed to the HOC seeking their advice as to what other health assessments are required, if any. Applicants with diabetes who are aged 40 years and over will be required to undergo a Form 26 health assessment. For more information please refer to Section 17 of the Health PAM. For a Carer (subclass 116/836) visa, the caree, that is the person who requires care, is required to have their level of impairment assessed by Medibank Health Solutions. 'On the papers' assessments for carees are no longer available. A caree must be assessed by Medibank Health Solutions in person. For more information please refer to Section 36 of the Health PAM. All pregnant offshore visa applicants, intending to give birth in Australia, will be required to undergo a Hepatitis B test performed by a panel doctor. Offshore applicants (who are not required to complete a full Form 26 medical examination) will also need to complete specific parts of Form 26 when submitting their Hep B test. For more information please refer to Section 37.7 of the Health PAM. A baby born to temporary provisional visa holders in Australia will have to complete health assessments before the permanent visa is granted. For more information please refer to Section 48.5 of the Health PAM. For health assessments of babies born in Australia, six months of age or younger, the 'Child Health Record' or 'Personal Health Record' booklet will no longer be accepted. For more information please refer to Section 48.5 of the Health PAM. Papua New Guinea has been added to the list of countries that can, in some circumstances, provide local clearance for the limited temporary caseload. Only those x-rays and medicals which are undertaken at Port Moresby Private Specialist Medical Centre, and are reported on by a radiologist from Cairns Diagnostic Imaging can be locally cleared. For more information please refer to Section 53.7 of the Health PAM. See Agents Gateway - Changes to Health PAM - 27 March 2010 . Cheers, George Lombard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KerryCraig Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 Hi, More changes!!!! Im a Diabetic aged 38, we had our medicals last Saturday (13th March) does this mean i will be affected with the new changes will they require this new doctors summary? we have our ENS121 lodged employer nominee approved in Feb waiting for case officer!!!!! Many thanks Kerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted March 28, 2010 Share Posted March 28, 2010 Hi George Applicants under 40 years of age who suffer from diabetes will be required to submit a treating doctor's summary. The summary is to be emailed to the HOC seeking their advice as to what other health assessments are required, if any. Applicants with diabetes who are aged 40 years and over will be required to undergo a Form 26 health assessment. For more information please refer to Section 17 of the Health PAM. I am not happy about this. Since when has anybody been expected to discuss his or her medical affairs with a mere clerk at the HOC, for a start, and do so in a fashion that potentially involves every spammer on the planet, via the insistence that the diabetic visa applicant must use e-mail? I think it is all wrong. Has Dr Douglas decided that it is perfectly OK for half the planet to gossip about the fact that Bloggs suffers from diabetes? If he has, he should be reminded firmly about what medical confidentiality is, I would suggest. The other thing I am not happy about is retrospectivity. What about all the people who have told their RMAs that they or someone in their family suffers from diabetes and the RMA has told them that it is most unlikely that this will cause any problems? RMAs are not blessed with the power of divination but a lot of RMAs are going to be in for complaints to the OMARA when Bloggs suddenly learns that he should have sent e-mails back and forth ever since March 2010 so that a mere clerk at the HOC could advise him about his health issue called diabetes. Bloggs will be even more annoyed with the RMA if Bloggs' visa should be refused. And why has Dr Douglas made this change now? On 17th March 2010 he admitted in Hansard that the new Guidance Note for the MOC that deals with diabetes is not yet available. According to him, it might be ready by the end of June 2010. So I would suggest that Dr Douglas - and his employers DIAC - are jumping the gun more than slightly, aren't they? If I were the MIA, I would jump on this and find out what the HOC and Dr Douglas and DIAC are up to about diabetes. You can bet your little cotton socks that complying with whatever demands the clerks make of Bloggs will be expensive to do. Cheers Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Lombard Posted March 28, 2010 Author Share Posted March 28, 2010 Hi Gill, We never allow people to think that diabetes is free of issues, I don't think that many RMAs will be caught on the hop unless they're the kind of agents who try to pretend that every medical condition is free of issues, and then express surprise when people are refused for child autism, blindness, etc. However yes I think it's deplorable that Dr D did not mention this to the Committee, since the actions described in the Departmental notification were clearly afoot beforehand. There were any number of weasel word paraphrases available to him, but it's clear that this was simply misleading. I think in fact it's probably contempt of Parliament, see Contempt of Parliament - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . This brings me back to the possibility that he was inadequately briefed by the Department going into the hearings; no sentient bureaucrat, and certainly not one as bright as Dr D, would ever commit such a gaffe knowingly. Of course, if the guidance note on diabetes has nothing at all to do with the announcement on diabetes, I will retract my criticism :-) Cheers, George Lombard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted April 11, 2010 Share Posted April 11, 2010 Hi George Applicants under 40 years of age who suffer from diabetes will be required to submit a treating doctor's summary. The summary is to be emailed to the HOC seeking their advice as to what other health assessments are required, if any. Applicants with diabetes who are aged 40 years and over will be required to undergo a Form 26 health assessment. For more information please refer to Section 17 of the Health PAM. Its me again and I'm still harping on about diabetes. It is not a condition that I know anything about since I don't have it and nobody in my close family has it. However I looked at the Medibank website for the first time this evening, to show someone where the Medibank surgeries in QLD are. (Miles away from him, probably.) I found that there is some sort of Government initiative in Oz called "Beat diabetes." Who we are - Medibank Health Solutions, Corporate Health, Injury Treatment, Injury Prevention, Flu Shots, Pre employment medicals. Health Assesment It is listed under "services for Government" along with doing the onshore visa medicals. I am wondering whether the onshore MOCs at Medibank now have to report on the likelihood of the person developing diabetes or something? Does section 17 of the Health PAM provide any clues, since DIAC refer to that? It might be that Dr Douglas decided either that the diabetes thing isn't clinically important enough for him to have mentioned it to the Public Inquiry? Having checked the Hansards carefully, an "opportunity to mention it" didn't really crop up in his evidence to the Inquiry - ie none of the Senators asked Dr D about it? I think one would probably have to ask a doctor to explain why diabetes suddenly requires special attention from the HOC when no other condition seems to require anything similar? Especially since the new Guidance for the MOC Note on Diabetes has not yet been finalised and published? Cheers Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 666dame Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 “Beat Diabetes” is a nonsense statement, as only type 2 diabetes, which is hereditary, can actually be prevented, by keeping a healthy diet and regular exercise. Type 1 diabetes, can actually come on at any time, usually in childhood, and there is no known preventive measure. Major complications caused by diabetes are virtually all down to a lack of carbohydrate/insulin control. People just think that they can carry on with their lifestyle without modification, which is when subsequent medical problems occur. I have a close family member who has lived with the condition for the past 26 years since they were 9, and due to a careful daily balance, they have managed to have a healthy and fruitful life so far (touching wood), without any of the potentially serious medical conditions with which diabetes is associated. Comments like yours do little to inform the average layperson about the condition, and of why the DIAC have felt it necessary to single this out. Regards D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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