ASMS

“Administration and clerical staff working in public hospitals provide essential support to front line clinical staff, including senior doctors and dentists, and need to be paid fairly,” says Angela Belich, Deputy Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). She was commenting on reports that Public Service Association members who work in administration and clerical positions at district health boards are raising an equal pay claim with their employers (https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/103196585/district-health-board-admin-and-clerical-staff-raise-equal-pay-claim). Ms Belich noted the PSA’s comments that …

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Some district health boards are struggling to provide a key bowel cancer test on time. Colonoscopies are needed to diagnose bowel cancer, which kills more than 1200 people a year. DHBs are expected to provide timely colonoscopies as screening for the disease begins nationwide. But details released to RNZ under the Official Information Act show it’s proving far from easy. RNZ health correspondent Karen Brown talks to Susie Ferguson. Listen here: http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018640824/dhbs-struggle-to-give-bowel-cancer-tests-on-time

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After-hours doctors for the failed SmartHealth app cost Waikato District Health Board almost $670,000 in less than one year. And a review of the controversial virtual health project by EY (Ernst and Young) is costing taxpayers $240,000. The figures, admitted by the DHB under questioning from the Herald, add another $908,000 to the $18 million online doctor service that was canned last Monday after only attracting 10,000 users in two years. And the amounts don’t yet take in the after-hours cost …

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His day job involves tending to the injured, ill, and intoxicated at one of the country’s busiest hospital EDs. But emergency physician Dr John Bonning​ recently stepped away from the relentless bustle of Waikato Hospital to look after elite mountain bikers at the Commonwealth Games. The 51-year-old has spent the past four weeks on the Gold Coast as venue medical manager at the Nerang Mountain Bike Trails. Read more here: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/103076133/waikato-doctor-swaps-ed-bustle-for-commonwealth-games-stint

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“New Zealand has further cause to worry about the implications for our health system with the news that the US President is considering rejoining the international trade deal formerly known as the TPPA,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). He was commenting on media reports that Donald Trump has asked his advisors to look into rejoining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPATPP) (http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/354930/trump-to-take-another-look-at-tpp-disaster). Senior doctors have repeatedly called for …

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The Medical Council today released the New Zealand Medical Workforce in 2015 Survey. Mr Connolly says a major highlight of the survey is that the proportion of house officers identifying themselves as Māori increased from 5.4 to 6.1 percent in 2015. ‘While the proportion of Māori doctors for the workforce as a whole is still relatively low compared to the proportion of Māori in the general population, the fact that it has increased amongst our newest doctors bodes well for …

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A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by the World Health Organisation and the World Medical Association to reaffirm and consolidate co-operation between the two organisations. At a ceremony at the WHO’s headquarters in Geneva today, the two bodies agreed to foster understanding on topics of common interest, including the development, improvement and protection of health, and action on the social determinants of health. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, and WMA President Dr. Yoshitake Yokokura jointly signed the Memorandum, …

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I think we might’ve found Steven Joyce’s $11.7 billion hole. It looks like it was in the consistently underfunded health budgets of the last National Government. With rot, mould and sewage in the walls at Middlemore Hospital, asbestos in the maternity unit, faulty power supplies and God knows what else, the National Party has some serious questions to answer. The one at the top of my mind is this: How the hell could they have been considering tax cuts when …

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A new regime for treating addicts is so underfunded it risks unethical “revolving door” treatment that could lead to chronic homelessness, seizures and death, DHBs have warned the Government. In an extraordinary letter to Health Minister David Clark, Auckland’s health boards slammed a lack of funding for a law change to give compulsory treatment to the worst drug and alcohol addicts. Dr Lester Levy, then chair of Auckland, Counties Manukau and Waitemata, wrote of big gaps in alcohol and drug …

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There is a growing dissatisfaction and disgruntlement that is being shouted from the mouths of our nurses – silently. You see, most nurses are bound on what they can say by their restrictions on talking to the media about their workplaces. There are policies surrounding media interaction, which stifle our nurses. They are feeling undervalued, underpaid, unsafe, and unsupported. A nurse will shout black and blue to advocate for their patients, and ensure they get the care they require, but they …

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