Our Team

Penny TimmsSenior Health Reporter

Penny Timms is a multi-platform health reporter. She has a particular interest in consumer health, future preparedness, and medical science. Penny joins The Australian following a background in public and independent journalism in Sydney, London, the Northern Territory, and Queensland.

Latest

EXCLUSIVEMedical

Professor Hamish Campbell and Matthew Worrad with the freight cargo drone, part of NACAS' research into autonomous systems and their potential uses. Pic: Supplied/CDU

Flying doctor service without the doctor

It’s sleek, red, and will soon be sailing through the sky with the end goal of delivering faster healthcare across outback Australia.

Penny Timms

PROTEIN EXPLAINEDDiet

Collagen supplements are marketed as being good for your skin and hair. What do the experts say? Picture: iStock

Collagen: gimmick or green light? We ask the experts

With hefty promises of more youthful skin and greater wellbeing, are collagen supplements worth the hype or just clever marketing?

Penny Timms

EXCLUSIVEMedical

The AMA says patient safety is at risk when hospitals are under pressure. Picture: iStock

Critical condition: AMA website clocks hospital emergency wait times across nation

The AMA has launched a website tracking and rating real-time hospital wait times, saying the findings are grim and show patients are languishing as they wait for care

Penny Timms

EXCLUSIVEMedical

The Heart Foundation wants new clinical guidance to consider the intersection of cardiovascular disease and obesity. Picture: Getty Images/The Australian

Ozempic for heart disease? Doctors think it’s worth considering

The Heart Foundation says Australia can no longer overlook the role of obesity in cardiovascular disease and wants to form a national taskforce to improve patient outcomes and consider if GLP-1 drugs could help.

Penny Timms

PAY DISPUTEMedical

Doctors to walk off the job across NSW over pay and conditions. Picture: iStock.

Doctors threaten to walk off the job for the first time in decades

Thousands of burnt-out NSW doctors say they will strike for three days next week in a move that will significantly impact non-urgent care and defy a court order.

Penny Timms

EXCLUSIVEMental Health

Construction worker, Kaine Thompson, understands the importance of mental wellbeing after seeking help to deal with anxiety and depression. He would like others to do the same. Picture: supplied.

The ‘horrifying’ statistic from nation’s construction sites, and the people trying to change it

They’re vital to our nation building, but statistics show construction workers are at an elevated risk of mental harm. These people are trying to change that.

Penny Timms

COSMETIC INJECTABLESwellbeing

There are calls for minimum post-graduate training standards to be applied to anyone who wants to perform non-surgical cosmetic procedures. Picture: iStock

‘Is that illegal?’ Calls for greater clarity over cosmetic injectables

‘It just started feeling really, really, unsafe’: calls for nationally recognised minimum training standards to be applied to those practising cosmetic injectables.

Penny Timms

DATA CONCERNMedical

The use of artificial intelligence technology is growing globally, offering significant efficiencies but also questions of security and patient safety. Picture: iStock

That caring, knowledgeable nurse? She’s AI

Australia has been slower to take up AI tools in healthcare. But with an ageing population and a health workforce under pressure, doctors are seeing the benefits of artificial intelligence.

Penny Timms

Budget 2025wellbeing

Mental health advocates would like to see more support for the sector. Picture: iStock

‘Urgent’ need for more support goes begging

The mental health sector calls for more support amid growing crisis crisis that has been exacerbated by increased demand for help and workforce shortages.

Penny Timms

healthNation

18 March 2025; a photo comp of health minister Mark Butler for the Federal Budget 2025. Artwork by Emilia Tortorella. Sources: supplied and iStock. Ratio 4:3

NDIS reined in but aged care left wanting

Health is a significant focus for the government as it delivers its re-election budget and is hoping cheaper medicines and more bulk billed trips to the doctor will be enough to sway votes.

Sarah Ison, Penny Timms and Stephen Lunn

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/penny-timms/page/4