Emma Pollard

2 weeks ago | abc.net.au | Janelle Miles |Emma Pollard

The Queensland government is facing desperate pleas to make an 11th-hour bid to save Toowong Private Hospital, with patients describing the mental health facility as life-changing. Eliza Johnston, 34, said the hospital had saved her life "on numerous occasions". "Without it, there's nowhere else to go — the public system just doesn't cover it," she said. "The public system will discharge you unless you're a danger to somebody else.

2 weeks ago | abc.net.au | Janelle Miles |Emma Pollard

The financially strapped Toowong Private Hospital in Brisbane will close this week amid concerns seven other private mental health hospitals across the country are at "imminent" risk of collapse. Australian Private Hospitals Association chief executive Brett Heffernan blamed "rapacious profiteering" by health funds over three years as the over-arching reason for the 58-bed hospital's closure and the potential loss of more private psychiatric facilities.

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Janelle Miles |Emma Pollard

A new study has revealed newborns who are vitamin D deficient at birth are at a higher risk of future mental health disorders. Researchers analysed vitamin D levels from more than 70,000 people born in Denmark between 1981 and 2005, where blood spot tests from newborns are kept. Vitamin D is one of the topics being considered by a federal government-funded review of Australia's pregnancy care guidelines.

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Janelle Miles |Kate McKenna |Emma Pollard

The mother of a transgender teenager has launched a legal challenge to the Crisafulli government's freeze on public access to hormone treatments for children with gender dysphoria, claiming it is unlawful. Her lawyers say the legal action alleges Queensland Health's Director-General David Rosengren improperly exercised his power when he issued a directive suspending the treatments, including puberty blockers, in late January.

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Emma Pollard |Janelle Miles

Aged care resident Arlene Freeland admits it's getting harder for her to clean her teeth properly as she grows older. "I try my best and some days it's not good enough, really," she says. "There should be more help for us oldies, who need as much help as we can get."Dental therapist Leonie Short visited Arlene's Ipswich aged care facility, west of Brisbane, educating residents and their carers about preventative oral health care for seniors. "Some of it was tips I didn't know," Arlene said.