Here are a few I have come across the last week or so. Note: Each link is followed by a title and a few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.
General Comment
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Well a really scrappy week with lots of things going on but seemingly all over the place.
Interesting the perfect #mthealthrecord system was breached twice as far as we know. I wonder do we know about them all?
Have a browse to see if anything amuses!
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https://stimuluscheckup.com/2020/10/27/adha-records-two-my-health-record-security-incidents-in-fy20/
ADHA records two My Health Record security incidents in FY20
Oct 27, 2020
The agency responsible for oversight of My Health Record has revealed there were two incidents that compromised the medical records system during the 2019-20 financial year.
In its annual report, the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) outlined how one matter reported to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) involved a breach to the external IT infrastructure that supports the My Health Record System, but assured that no health information was stolen.
“This potential threat to the supporting IT infrastructure connected to the My Health Record system was identified and promptly addressed. There was no impact to the safety of health information in the system,” ADHA stated.
The other breach was in relation to unauthorised access to an individual’s My Health Record, which was reported by a state or territory authority. The ADHA said the incident involved an individual who was receiving treatment from a healthcare facility and the login used to access the record belonged to a member of the person’s treating team.
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Media release - Six steps for digital self-defence during Australian Cyber Week
26 October, 2020: The Australian Digital Health Agency is promoting six practical steps for digital self-defence against attacks such as phishing and ransomware. These steps can protect your work and personal information.
- Build security awareness with the Digital Health Security Awareness eLearning course
- Keep your software up to date
- Use strong passwords and implement multi-factor authentication
- Back up your data regularly
- Do not respond to unsolicited phishing emails, texts and calls
- If you fall victim to ransomware, avoid paying the ransom
Tony Kitzelmann, the Agency’s Chief Information Security Officer said “Like a scheduled health check-up, we encourage everyone to take time during Australian Cyber Week to review their online presence, to ensure the appropriateness of their published personal and professional information and check if it puts them at risk from a targeted cyber-attack.” 2020 has been a year where many people and organisations have relied on virtual interactions to keep in contact and to conduct business. While there are many benefits to this increased connectivity, cyber-criminals will take every opportunity to exploit any vulnerabilities to steal your data or funds.
The latest Australian Cyber Security Centre threat report1 identifies that threats ‘against Australia’s national and economic interests are increasing in frequency, scale, and sophistication.’
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/la-trobe-university-cio-moves-to-aged-care-sector-555136
La Trobe University CIO moves to aged care sector
By Matt Johnston on Oct 26, 2020 11:57AM
Peter Powell becomes Baptcare's tech chief.
La Trobe University’s executive director and chief information officer Peter Powell has left the university to take up the role of CIO at aged care provider Baptcare.
Powell had been with La Trobe since October 2017 after spending 18 years at Bupa, where he was seconded to the health insurer’s Melbourne office as CIO following the acquisition of AXA Health, HBA and Mutual Community in 2002.
La Trobe University’s vice-president (strategy and development) Natalie MacDonald told iTnews that, during his time at the university, Powell “contributed significantly to our digital footprint, technology infrastructure and was key in facilitating the university’s flip to online teaching as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic”.
“He also undertook considerable work to map out the digital transformation agenda for the University which we will continue to support under the leadership of Stuart Hildyard, La Trobe’s chief technology officer, who is now acting as our CIO.”
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https://www.miragenews.com/nurses-and-midwives-lead-healthcare-digital-transformation/
October 28, 2020 8:27 am AEDT
Nurses and midwives lead healthcare digital transformation
Following the recent release of the national digital health skills and training plan, Australia’s largest healthcare workforce of more than 400,000 nurses and midwives can now assess their digital health knowledge and skills against a new professional development framework.
Developed by nurses and midwives, the National Nursing and Midwifery Digital Health Capability Framework outlines the core digital health skills and knowledge required for professional practice in the digital era covering patient care, leadership, advocacy, education and research.
As frontline healthcare professionals, nurses and midwives are playing a leading role in Australia’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Every Australian has benefited from the commitment and leadership of nurses and midwives.
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/half-all-patients-happy-pay-gp-telehealth-report
Half of all patients happy to pay for GP telehealth: report
However, many believe any telehealth gap fees should be less than those for face-to-face consults
28th October 2020
Half of patients say they are happy to pay out-of-pocket for GP telehealth although many believe it should cost them less than face-to-face consults, a Commonwealth Bank survey suggests.
The bank surveyed 1000 patients and 200 GPs as part of its 2020 GP Insights Report released on Wednesday.
Unsurprisingly, this year's edition focused on telehealth and the response to COVID-19.
More than 65% of patients felt telehealth consultations had made their GP more accessible during the pandemic, although another 46% said they were concerned about quality of care provided using phone or video.
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https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/electronic-pathology-requests-on-the-rise
Electronic pathology requests on the rise
Thousands of practices are using e-requests, with pathology reports uploaded to My Health Record soaring to 3.6 million in September alone.
Requesting is intended to speed up the delivery of results to GPs, as well as streamline the patient experience.
28 Oct 2020
General practices can now participate in e-requesting of pathology
tests if they refer patients to labs with the necessary software.
If labs do not currently offer e-requests, GPs and practice staff can now
request the functionality be turned on, according to Dr Rob Hosking, Chair of
the RACGP Expert Committee – Practice Technology and Management (REC–PTM).
e-Requesting is intended to speed up the delivery of results to GPs, as well as
streamline the patient experience, with faster collection, less waiting and
lower chance of transcription errors. Some results can be uploaded to My Health
Record.
The trend comes as much of Australia’s healthcare switched to digital delivery
during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, with GPs turning to telehealth
and an accelerated
e-prescribing rollout.
More than 65 million pathology reports are now available on My Health Record.
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http://medicalrepublic.com.au/what-do-phone-vs-video-telehealth-stats-say-about-gps/36233
26 October 2020
What do phone vs video telehealth stats say about GPs?
Everything is pointing to the use of video in telehealth by GPs going significantly up from its miserly current 3% of all telehealth calls. Should you be a bit better prepared?
Engage in this issue personally: For a free live webinar on this article this Thursday at 7pm AEST, where you can ask your own questions of our experts, please register HERE.
In a good percentage of telehealth consult situations, a video consult is significantly superior in terms of patient engagement and likely treatment outcome, than a phone (audio only) consult, and nowadays, accessing and using a video based telehealth platforms is pretty easy. You can use Zoom, which is free. There are even GP specific apps which are now free.
So why do GPs only use video 3% of the time they do telehealth, when their specialist cousins are marching over the 20% mark, and some allied health professionals, particularly psychologists, are well above that mark as well?
The answer in its crudest form isn’t surprising. In the circumstances, phone represents the best return on investment for the foreseeable future. Circumstances that include:
- Just months ago telehealth wasn’t a means to get paid, and never looked like it would ever be, so GPs naturally gave it little or no consideration to it in terms of training, education, or set-up within their infrastructure.
- Getting trained and set up is likely not just going to incur cost, it is going to incur time, which is opportunity cost. They can’t afford that, especially given the pressure COVID-19 has already put on them this year in terms of cash flow.
- Such a fundamental change to how you do stuff in any case, is just hard. Everything they’ve set up is for patients coming into the surgery. Space, waiting rooms, car parking, reception staff, enough doctors on site scheduled to meet that need. For many, the sooner they can start re-populating their waiting room, and the business model they’ve established over many years, the sooner things can get back to normal
The problem for lots of practices however, is that normal is probably never coming back.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/psychiatric-health-data-thief-extorting-individual-patients-555127
Psychiatric health data thief extorting individual patients
By Juha Saarinen on Oct 26, 2020 9:40AM
Sensitive information published online.
Thousands of people in Finland have filed police complaints over ransom demands after a large amount patient data was stolen from a psychotherapy centre in the Nordic nation.
Security vendor F-Secure's chief research officer Mikko Hyppönen said on social media that therapists' notes for possibly up to 40,000 patients were stolen in the hack.
Victims have been contacted by the extortionist who is asking each person for €200 (A$332), payable in Bitcoin cryptocurrency.
Sensitive information of at least 300 people has already been published online, sparking fears for the victims' health and safety.
The Vastaamo therapy centre, too, has received a ransom demand of €500,000 (A$830,360) from the extortionists for the return of the data.
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CoordiKids launches affordable, markerless programs to help children with learning difficulties
Dean Koh | 28 Oct 2020
Australian-based occupational therapy (OT) provider, CoordiKids will improve diagnostic outcomes of online sessions for children with learning difficulties through the launch of affordable, markerless programs that only require a computer with a camera.
CoordiKids, which provides both individual consultations and pre-recorded evidence-based programs to children aged 3 - 12, is a digital development plan created for children facing sensory motor, fine and gross motor skill challenges.
HOW IT WORKS
The launch has been enabled through a partnership with motion-capture technology provider, Point Motion Inc. to provide a world-first solution to OT services using revolutionary technology. A first to be applied to OT, Point Motion uses markerless technology, meaning the subject does not need to wear equipment for their actions to be tracked and progress monitored.
The partnership between CoordiKids and Point Motion will offer Australian families access to pre-recorded, tailored assessments which engage children in music-based activities, collect information through Point Motion assessment tools, and enable parents to track their child’s progress throughout the CoordiKids journey.
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https://ajp.com.au/news/digital-health-first-in-hedland-community-of-excellence/
Digital health first in Hedland ‘Community of Excellence’
Pharmacy 777 in Port Hedland has dispensed the first e-script in the Hedland, one of ADHA’s three Communities of Excellence regions nationally
This month, Pharmacy 777 Port Hedland dispensed the first electronic prescription in the region. Port Hedland is the second largest town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, located approximately 1,800km north of Perth and home to around 16,000 people.
Hedland is one of three regions selected in the Australian Digital Health Agency’s (ADHA) Communities of Excellence initiative, together with the central Queensland town of Emerald and East Arnhem in the Northern Territory.
The initiative’s aim is to embed digital health capabilities across targeted communities, chosen for their population size, strong local clinical and digital leadership as well as community support.
“We helped roll out the My Health Record system in Port Hedland and we’re now very excited to bring our town into the digital health future to be among the first pharmacies in Western Australia to process an e-prescription,” said Lee Ross, Pharmacist at Pharmacy 777 Port Hedland.
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http://www.healthintersections.com.au/?p=3059
#FHIR DevDays & LMICS Discounts
Posted on October 30, 2020 by Grahame Grieve
FHIR DevDays Amsterdam/Europe edition is coming up soon: November 17-20.
Although DevDays is purely online this time, and potentially accessible anywhere in the world, it actually is the European edition in a meaningful way – it’s loaded and rich with European content. And, of course, it’s in the european timezone, though there’s also a session specially scheduled for a friendly time in Asia/Pac.
This will be the second DevDays that is online, and it will build on the success of the last one, and be even better because of the feedback from the first online one.
So I’m really looking forward to it. Register today!
LMICs discount
I didn’t just write this blog post to flog the DevDays event, much as I love it. No, I want to raise the profile of the special discount that arrangements for the lower/middle income countries.
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http://medicalrepublic.com.au/medtasker-rolled-out-at-royal-hobart-hospital-ahead-of-schedule/36163
26 October 2020
Medtasker rolled out at Royal Hobart Hospital ahead of schedule
COVID-19 Public Health Technology
Sponsored
Following the successful introduction of the Medtasker clinical task management system by Telstra Health at Royal Hobart Hospital’s Emergency Department, the solution is being rolled out to other teams within the hospital.
The Medtasker implementation, a partnership between Telstra Health, the Tasmanian Health Service (THS) and Department of Health, aims to improve clinical communication and task management in the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) Emergency Department (ED).
Successful implementation began a month ahead of schedule in preparation for an anticipated increased bed demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The initial go-live with doctors in the ED has been considered a monumental success, so much so that the roll-out was immediately extended to include night shift and additional workflows.
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Q1 FY2021 Business
Update
Strong
first quarter of sales, investment in growth continues
Melbourne, Australia – Alcidion Group
Limited (ASX: ALC) today released its Appendix 4C for the three-month period
ended 30 September 2020 (Q1 FY2021) and the below business update.
Highlights:
- Strong start to FY2021, with $4.8M new contracted revenue sold in Q1 – up 30% on previous quarter and up 92% on Q1 last year;
- Total contracted revenue to be recognised in FY2021 stands at $14.7M at end Q1, up 14% on Q1 last year;
- Cash receipts from customers were $6.4M in Q1, a 34% increase on Q1 FY20;
- Net cash outflow of $1.2M, reflecting ongoing investment in growing the business with cash reserves of $14.7M at end Q1;
Significant contracts signed or announced since 1 July 2020:
- Sydney LHD –12-month contract for Miya Precision to support COVID-19 virtual care
- Murrumbidgee LHD – 12-month contract for Miya Precision platform including Miya Memory
- NHS Lanarkshire – 5-year agreement to implement Patientrack across board
- ACT Health – 2-year extension to long term integration support contract and further project work
- Queensland Health – additional work on the Referral Services Directory(RSD) platform
- Lancashire Teaching NHS Trust – 5-year Smartpage contract
- Panel contract with Vic DHHS for implementation and support of the Victorian Hospital Incident Management System
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https://www.zdnet.com/article/data-breaches-upping-ato-fraud-red-flags/
Data breaches upping ATO fraud 'red flags'
There has been a 'spate' of hack-related fraudulent activity identified, the taxation office said.
By Asha Barbaschow | October 27, 2020 -- 03:21 GMT (14:21 AEDT) | Topic: Security
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has a "red flag" feature, which serves up a "ping" whenever an individual or business has been suspected of having fraudulent activity conducted against their name or if their account has been compromised.
Facing Senate Estimates on Tuesday, ATO client engagement second commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn explained that this ping was effectively a caveat on taxpayers' affairs.
While Hirschhorn said there was no increase in fraudulent activity that could be directly tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said his teams have been very focused on fraud this year.
"Obviously there are new mechanisms of potential fraud across all the programs. We have found -- I have previously testified to the level of fraud in the ERS program, which is at about 0.3% of applications on our country, which is a very, very low level of fraud. We have also been looking at JobKeeper and Cashflow Boost and have not found systemic fraud," he said.
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https://smallcaps.com.au/respiri-pleased-wheezo-feedback-initial-sales-marketing/
Respiri ‘pleased’ with wheezo feedback from initial sales and marketing
October 30, 2020
Respiri cites “very enthusiastic and encouraging feedback” from pharmacists as early indication of the device’s success.
Respiratory health management company Respiri (ASX: RSH) has updated the market regarding the preliminary release of its wheezo platform and device, saying it was “very pleased” with the responses it has received from pharmacists and partner Cipla Australia.
The eHealth wheezo solution, made up of a dedicated device and associate smartphone app, claims to take asthma management “beyond the clinic” courtesy of its ability to assist asthma patients, especially young children and adolescents.
To bring the product to market, Respiri partnered up with pharmaceutical company Cipla Australia to support the availability of wheezo, as both a device and an app, in selected pharmacies across Australia.
In recent weeks, the company has used a variety of avenues to encourage sales of its platform, including a dedicated website.
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Wednesday, 28 October 2020 12:34
On The back Of A NASDAQ Listing, Could MYQ Play A Bigger Role In Digital Health?
COMPANY NEWS: The inability to determine why some people contract the disease, while others present little or no symptoms at all has been one of the greatest mysteries of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It seems there is no clear answer to this question.
What we do know is the elderly are the most susceptible, however people as young as 30 have, in rare instances, succumbed to the virus. And according to France’s chief epidemiologist young people with obesity are also at risk.
Until there is a vaccine, we have to live with the uncertainty.
However, there are ways to mitigate the risk and if 2020 has taught us anything, health tech is at the forefront of mitigation practices.
Digital health services have been growing since 2018. Digital health companies raised US$8.1 billion in venture capital financing in 2018.
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Global Health’s Lifecard Personal Health platform partners with Asthma Australia
October 15, 2020 Sponsored
Australian Healthcare Software provider Global Health Limited (ASX: GLH) (“Global Health” or “Company”) is pleased to announce a new partnership of the Company’s Lifecard consumer health platform with Asthma Australia.
Almost 3 million Australian’s live with asthma, costing the community $28 Billion in real and hidden costs annually. Almost half of people living with asthma do not have control of their condition, with air pollution and recent weather events further impacting the incidence and severity of asthma.
Asthma Australia has a goal to halve avoidable asthma hospitalisations by 2030, with Lifecard positioned as a platform for empowering users to better manage their health and well-being.
Lifecard can connect consumers with their care team and empower consumers to work in tandem with their healthcare specialists to boost compliance with prescribed care plans. Integrated with Global Health’s ReferralNet, a Secure Messaging platform, subscribers can receive health and medical information directly into their Lifecard Personal Health Record. The data is stored in machine and human-readable formats and is accessible from the palm of consumers’ hands.
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Controlling infection when using mobile devices in healthcare settings
Wavelink
By Alan Stocker, Health Practice Lead, Wavelink
Tuesday, 20 October, 2020
COVID-19 has created a renewed awareness of the importance of cross-contamination and infection control in healthcare facilities.
Devices including smartphones and other mobile healthcare devices can become potential breeding grounds for the virus as well as other infections. This risk becomes far worse if the devices are shared among multiple people without being effectively cleaned at regular intervals.
When doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals are incredibly busy looking after patients, stringent disinfection protocols may be overlooked. A recent study found that almost one-third (32%) of survey respondents did not regularly clean or decontaminate the mobile devices they used in a healthcare setting.1 This can be of significant concern because SARS-CoV-2 has been shown to live on surfaces for up to several days.2
The combination of rarely cleaned devices and a days-long infection window means that healthcare facilities need to take special care when it comes to managing devices. Contaminated devices are dangerous for staff members and patients, especially those who are already vulnerable because they’re undergoing surgery, in the intensive care unit or elderly. Even a mild infection can quickly render healthcare staff unable to work and can prolong illnesses for existing patients. A more serious infection can result in adverse outcomes even in otherwise healthy individuals.
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TAFE NSW to provide health professionals hands-on blood testing training using VR pilot
Meanwhile, UniSA is using VR technology to teach skills to children with intellectual disabilities.
By Aimee Chanthadavong | October 26, 2020 -- 01:17 GMT (12:17 AEDT) | Topic: Innovation
TAFE NSW, together with CognitiveVR, NSW Health Pathology, and Werfen, have developed a point-of-care blood testing (PoCT) virtual reality (VR) pilot to provide medical professionals with hands-on training.
As part of the pilot, healthcare workers will be able to access the Werfen GEM Premier 5000 whole blood testing system using a VR headset, before using it to perform hands-on blood testing and equipment maintenance.
The New South Wales government claims the PoCT VR pilot will provide medical practitioners access to practical training, no matter their location, and would help overcome limitations such as social distancing.
"Importantly, the PoCT VR pilot aims to provide medical professionals with greater access to practical training and ensure workers have the critical diagnostic testing skills they need to provide the right care for our citizens during this challenging time," Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education Geoff Lee said.
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Bionic discoveries create real-world solutions
By Jane Allman
Tuesday, 27 October, 2020
Queensland is fast becoming a vibrant hub of bionics innovation in Australia, with a host of medtech talent committed to addressing the needs of people around the world living with complex disabilities, chronic diseases and previously untreatable health conditions.
Bionics Queensland — a not-for-profit launched in 2019 — is playing a key role in identifying and accelerating human bionic innovations and is on a pathway to fast-track neural and AI-enabled bionic devices, myoelectric and robotic limbs, biofabricated implants and artificial organs, prosthetics and wearables.
Key to encouraging and fostering innovation in this field is the advent of the Bionics Queensland Challenge. Held for the first time this year, the Challenge brings grassroots innovators, hospital clinicians, academic researchers and industry practitioners together to turn groundbreaking ideas into real solutions.
Bionics Queensland CEO Dr Robyn Stokes said this year’s Challenge showcased Queensland-led discoveries in bionic mobility such as a lightweight exoskeleton, a bionic glove to restore finger and hand movement, a device to help restore spinal sensation plus technologies to improve hearing, spatial orientation and emotional disorders.
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We can no longer afford a business-as-usual approach to health care
By Helen Souness, RMIT Online CEO
Wednesday, 28 October, 2020
As the number of COVID-19 cases across Victoria continue to decline, Premier Daniel Andrews recently announced a plan for a phased return of elective surgeries after nearly a six-month shutdown. To address the large backlog, we need to look at ways in which we can improve this system effectively for the digital era.
Our health system has not had to navigate an event like COVID-19. Governments have an immense and ongoing task to ensure readiness in our hospital system, having stockpiled 7500 ventilators nationally.
This is unlikely to be the last pandemic — globally, we’ve already had several close calls with SARS and MERS, and researchers have been warning about the imminent danger posed by novel viruses for more than a decade.
Even before the COVID-19 crisis, we have been fast approaching a tipping point in health care. With an ageing population, and people living longer with more chronic illnesses, current healthcare models and practices will not be sufficient to deliver the kind of patient care that Australians need. It is simply not possible to continually add doctors, nurses, beds and hospitals to our health system at the required rate to ensure that the healthcare needs of this population are met.
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https://www.zdnet.com/article/accc-chief-determined-to-peg-down-nbn-entry-level-pricing/
ACCC chief determined to peg down NBN entry-level pricing
Prices for 12/1Mbps plans will be pegged 'irrespective' of what else happens.
By Chris Duckett | October 28, 2020 -- 03:40 GMT (14:40 AEDT) | Topic: Networking
Chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Rod Sims told Senate Estimates on Tuesday night that the consumer watchdog was determined to ensure NBN's 12/1Mbps plans remained low, and prices at the low end would not rise "if we have anything to do with it".
"We're intending to peg the price of the entry-level product and that would be pegged irrespective of what happens with [NBN fibre upgrades]. And indeed, that's what we're working on right now to peg that entry-level price," he said.
Sims said the regulator was looking into a special access undertaking (SAU) since the price it had in mind and the one proposed by NBN were "very different".
"Now we're so close and we've also been talking to about service standards, our judgment is we're so close," Sims said.
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NBN gives 'virtually zero' thought to 5G threat
James Fernyhough Reporter
Oct 29, 2020 – 3.22pm
NBN Co chief financial officer Philip Knox says he is not concerned about the threat 5G poses to his company's business model, arguing the cutting-edge mobile technology is not designed to deliver home broadband.
Optus and Telstra have already launched 5G fixed wireless home broadband products, and TPG this week announced it would do the same early next year. Each has explicitly said it will target the parts of the network where NBN has weak connections.
But Mr Knox brushed away the threat on Thursday at The Australian Financial Review CFO Live Summit. "We spend virtually zero time thinking about it or talking about it. We've always said it's a complementary technology. It's highly optimised for mobility and less so for fixed wireless."
He based his confidence on the fact 5G relies on millimetre wave spectrum, which, while it has far superior capacity than 4G spectrum, travels only a few hundred metres and struggles to penetrate solid surfaces.
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NBN Co's financial returns take backseat to affordability, usability
By Ry Crozier on Oct 28, 2020 12:15PM
ACCC sets the scene for a new SAU.
NBN Co’s ability to make a return on fresh investments in fibre will require some hoop-jumping, with the regulator emphasising price and usability over the company’s ability to generate returns.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chair Rod Sims told senate estimates that NBN Co’s ability to generate returns on its investments is effectively a secondary concern.
Sims faced questioning by Labor late on Tuesday night on the extent to which NBN Co might be able to make a return on its fresh investment in fibre upgrades by raising it’s entry-level and mid-tier pricing.
He said this would not be permissible “if we have anything to do with it.”
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The towns that will get NBN upgrade first
The rollout has begun of local fibre networks in select regional and suburban areas in an effort to get the $3.5bn NBN upgrade underway, says federal Communications Minister Paul Fletcher.
Speaking at a CommsDay telecommunications industry event on Tuesday, Mr Fletcher said NBN Co has “commenced work with its construction delivery partners to design and construct local fibre networks passing around 100,000 premises in areas currently serviced by fibre to the node technology”.
The areas to be connected first in NSW are Belmont North, Charlestown, Toronto, Carramar, Castle Hill, Holsworthy, Liverpool and Wetherill Park.
In Victoria, Lundhurst and Narre Warren will be hooked up, as will Osbore in South Australia.
In Queensland Acacia Ridge, Browns Plains, Eight Mile and Oxenford will be connected, as will Cannington and Double View in Western Australia.
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NBN Co reveals first locations with an FTTN upgrade path to full fibre
By Ry Crozier on Oct 27, 2020 11:54AM
Starts work on bringing fibre from node to street.
NBN Co has revealed the first 17 towns and suburbs where it will start bringing fibre from the node into streets, putting customers in those areas among the first to know they can ask for a full fibre connection.
The 17 locations collectively comprise about 100,000 premises out of about 2 million that are in NBN Co’s sights under the near $3 billion upgrade works.
The places announced by NBN Co today cover as yet undisclosed "parts" of:
- NSW: Belmont North, Charlestown, Toronto, Carramar, Castle Hill, Holsworthy, Liverpool, and Wetherill Park
- Victoria: Lyndhurst and Narre Warren
- Queensland: Acacia Ridge, Browns Plains, Eight Mile and Oxenford
- South Australia: Osborne
- Western Australia: Cannington and Double View
NBN Co said these are areas where it “anticipates strong demand for higher speeds; has established construction and delivery partners with an existing workforce in place; and “where it is cost-effective to start work now”.
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https://itwire.com/telecoms-and-nbn/nbn-co-begins-work-on-upgrading-copper-areas-with-fibre.html
Tuesday, 27 October 2020 11:45
NBN Co begins work on upgrading copper areas with fibre
The NBN Co is beginning work this week to extend fibre into some metropolitan and regional areas in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.
In NSW, Belmont North, Charlestown, Toronto, Carramar, Castle Hill, Holsworthy, Liverpool and Wetherill Park will be the first to be upgraded.
Lyndhurst and Narre Warren in Victoria will get fibre as will Osborne in South Australia.
In Queensland, Acacia Ridge, Browns Plains, Eight Mile and Oxenford are the first areas selected while Cannington and Double View in Western Australia will also get fibre.
In September, the NBN Co announced plans to upgrade about 75% of homes on its network, making a total of eight million in all, by the end of 2023, at a cost of about $3.5 billion.
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Moon richer in water than once thought, offering fuel possibilities
· AFP
There may be far more water on the Moon than previously thought, according to two studies published Monday raising the tantalising prospect that astronauts on future space missions could find refreshment — and maybe even fuel — on the lunar surface.
The Moon was believed to be bone dry until around a decade ago when a series of findings suggested that our nearest celestial neighbour has traces of water trapped in the surface.
Two new studies published in Nature Astronomy on Monday suggest there could be much more water than previously thought, including ice stored in permanently shadowed “cold traps” at lunar polar regions.
Previous research has found indications of water by scanning the surface — but these were unable to distinguish between water (H2O) and hydroxyl, a molecule made up of one hydrogen atom and one oxygen atom.
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Enjoy!
David.
