ASMS

Of the most senior medical positions in our District Health Boards and government, only 15% are filled by women. That’s despite women making up more than half of the country’s medical students and 80% of the health workforce. Dr Juliet Rumball-Smith, has been working hard to change those statistics with her peer network and mentoring programme, Wāhine Connect. Its aim is to connect female health professionals with knowledgeable mentors. Listen here: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018699238/wahine-connect-helping-women-in-health-to-crush-it

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A Wanaka midwives support group have rejected Southern DHB’s claims a woman who gave birth on an office floor had access to a procedure room in a medical centre next door. The DHB’s chief executive Chris Fleming told Checkpoint tonight the woman would have had access to an interim maternity hub in the building, but a community group supporting Wanaka midwives say the medical centre was closed and it was too late to move her without a stretcher. Kristi James, who gave …

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Southern DHB CEO Chris Fleming joins Checkpoint live to discuss concerns about a lack of maternity facilities in the Southland and Otago regions. This follows several incidents in recent months, including a Lumsden mother who gave birth in an ambulance on the side of the road and a Wanaka mum who gave birth on an office floor. Listen here: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018699122/southern-dhb-24-7-maternity-facilities-in-rural-regions-not-possible

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Junior doctor strikes have cost district health boards more than $19 million and are causing significant delays for elective surgeries. Tomorrow, Auckland DHB is due to discuss the number of elective surgeries cancelled and postponed due to the strike action, saying it’s had a huge impact on waiting times. “There remains a significant risk with the position deteriorating further if increased strike action is planned from the NZRDA and further risk of action from the Public Service Association,” director of …

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Strike action has increased hospital wait times and there is “significant risk” this could deteriorate further, a senior staff member says. On Wednesday, the Auckland District Health Board’s hospital advisory committee and senior staff will talk about the “significant impact of industrial action”. In the agenda, director of surgical services, Arend Merrie, said strike action had resulted in an increase to elective operating wait times. “There remains a significant risk with the position deteriorating further with increased strike action planned …

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A private health firm has lost one of the biggest and longest-running contracts to treat NHS patients, in a significant blow to the creeping privatisation of care. Circle is losing the contract it has held for 11 years to run the Nottingham NHS Treatment Centre, which provides 240,000 operations and checkups a year. Nottingham University Hospitals NHS trust (NUH) has been handed a £320m contract to run the centre for the next five years after a …

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The fraught relationship between the Southern District Health Board and the operators of the Lumsden Maternity Centre has deteriorated further, as the SDHB opted not to send a representative to a maternity services meeting in Lumsden today. Centre owner the Northern Southland Medical Trust has organised briefings with MPs, and invited the SDHB to send a representative to a meeting with Invercargill Labour list MP Liz Craig scheduled for today. The future of the centre remains uncertain. It has become …

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The flu season continues to hit the top of the south hard and fast, with more than 200 people presenting to hospital with influenza symptoms in May alone. Of those, 39 people, including two pregnant women, needed to be admitted to hospital. Nelson Marlborough Health chief medical officer Dr Nick Baker said the health board was also seeing large numbers of young people with flu-like illnesses in hospital, especially young children and infants. He said the flu was putting pressure on Nelson and Blenheim’s Wairau …

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The mother of a woman who left a Christchurch psychiatric unit twice in one week is frustrated staff could not keep her daughter at the facility. Louise Litchfield has tried to get her drug-addicted and mentally unwell 32-year-old daughter compulsory treatment over the past seven years, but says the health system has not supported her. The 59-year-old is nursing a black eye after her daughter allegedly punched her. She says it was this act of violence that convinced mental health services to admit …

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People with an intellectual disability who need secure care will have fewer options if Canterbury health authorities stop providing services because of funding concerns. Correspondence released under the Official Information Act shows the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) has considered exiting a contract with the Ministry of Health to provide services delivered in its Assessment, Treatment and Rehabilitation (AT&R) unit at Hillmorton Hospital, Christchurch. The unit is for people with an intellectual disability and significant challenging behaviour, some placed there by the courts. Violence in the …

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