House of Representatives Committees

| House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health and Ageing

Preliminary pages

Foreword

It gives me great pleasure to present the Committee’s report of the roundtable forum on burns prevention in Australia.

Subsequent to receiving a briefing from Professor Fiona Wood OAM and Mr Julian Burton, on behalf of the Julian Burton Burns Trust, the Committee determined to hold a public roundtable forum to gather opinions and views about the state of burns prevention activities in Australia. The roundtable forum was held in Canberra on 1 February 2010, and the Committee heard that it was the first time that all the relevant stakeholders had been gathered in a room at the same time to discuss burns prevention activities.

The Committee has made a number of recommendations that it hopes will reduce the fragmentation of information and support services, improve our prevention activities and result in better quality care and support of burns survivors in Australia.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my Committee colleagues for their contribution to the report, as well as the witnesses who travelled to Canberra to speak with the Committee and people who made submissions to the inquiry.

The Committee would like to express its particular thanks to the burns survivors and their families who came to Canberra and shared their experiences with the Committee. The report is richer for your contribution.

Steve Georganas MP
Chair

Membership of the Committee

Chair	Mr Steve Georganas MP
Deputy Chair	Mr Steve Irons MP
Members	Mr James Bidgood MP (to 22/10/09)	Mrs Catherine King MP
	The Hon Bronwyn Bishop MP (from 3/2/10)	Mrs Margaret May MP (to 3/2/10)
	Mr Mark Coulton MP (to 3/2/10)	Mr Shayne Neumann MP (from 11/2/10)
	Mrs Joanna Gash MP	Ms Amanda Rishworth MP
	Ms Jill Hall MP	Dr Andrew Southcott MP (from 3/2/10)
	Mrs Julia Irwin MP

Committee Secretariat

Secretary

Ms Sharon Bryant (from 27/4/2010

Mr James Catchpole (to 23/4/2010)

Inquiry Secretary

Ms Penny Wijnberg

Administrative Officers

Mrs Jazmine Rakic

Mr Shaun Rowe

Terms of reference

That the Standing Committee on Health and Ageing, after reviewing the 2008-2009 annual report of the Department of Health and Ageing and pursuant to Standing Order 215(c), hold a public roundtable forum on burns prevention, conduct associated inspections and report to the House of Representatives.

List of abbreviations

AHMAC	Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council
AIHW	Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
ANZBA	Australian and New Zealand Burns Association
COTA	Council on the Ageing
DoHA	Department of Health and Ageing
NEHIPC	National E-Health and Information Principal Committee
NHISSC	National Health Information Standards and Statistics Committee
NISU	National Injury Surveillance Unit
NSW	New South Wales
TBSA	Total Body Surface Area
the committee	House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health and Ageing
WHO	World Health Organisation

List of recommendations

3 Can we improve?

Recommendation 1

That the Department of Health and Ageing consider burn injuries as part of any new National Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Plan 2004 – 2014.

Recommendation 2

The committee recommends that the Department of Health and Ageing develop a National Burn Injury Prevention Plan which can be used to co-ordinate burn prevention activities within Australia.

Recommendation 3

That the Minister for Health and Ageing facilitate the ongoing development of the Australian and New Zealand Burn Association Burns Registry.

Recommendation 4

That the Minister for Health and Ageing engage with the Australian and New Zealand Burn Association in the development of the E-Health system to ensure that datasets on burns incidence and treatments are collected.

Recommendation 5

That the Minister for Health and Ageing ensure that improved data collection of the extent of burn injuries in Australia be evaluated to ensure that policies aimed at reducing burn injuries are effective and accountable, and that survivors are receiving the best possible treatment.

Recommendation 6

That the Minister for Health and Ageing promote targeted national burns prevention safety campaigns to at risk groups including workers, young, older and Indigenous populations.

Recommendation 7

That the Federal Government implement age appropriate and targeted burns education campaigns to all levels of the Australian population including school children, indigenous groups, new parents and the elderly.

Recommendation 8

That the Minister for Health and Ageing in conjunction with the Minister for Housing and relevant state and territory housing Ministers apply nationally consistent regulations to limit the maximum temperature of water flowing from taps in home hot water systems.

Recommendation 9

That the Australian Government co-ordinated by the Department of Health and Ageing investigate all regulatory options which would reduce the risk of burn injuries in Australia.

Recommendation 10

That the Minister for Health and Ageing work with various support groups to implement an accreditation scheme for burns survivor networks in order to reduce fragmentation of information and support services within the health system and assist burns survivors to access the care and support that they need.

Recommendation 11

The committee recommends that the Minister for Health and Ageing support the implementation of a Burns Care Nurse training and accreditation program similar to that offered for Breast Care Nurses.

Recommendation 12

The committee recommends that the Federal Government investigate ways to ensure that more Australians benefit from first aid training.

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