ASMS

Health Minister Dr David Clark says the Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rethink how we handle some of the biggest challenges we face as a country. The Government has today publicly released the report of the Inquiry in full, less than a week after receiving it. “Mental health and addiction are issues for all New Zealanders. Every community and just about every family has someone in it that has lived with a mental health …

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A PHO’s refusal to let dentists join a collective agreement has triggered what is believed to be New Zealand’s first–ever strike by GPs. Twenty-one GPs employed by Ora Toa PHO at five Wellington region practices willtake industrial action on six dates. Association of Salaried Medical Specialists senior industrial officer Lloyd Woods says GPs will hold five one-hour stoppages from 9am on 7, 10, 13, 18 and 19 December, followed by a full–day Christmas Eve strike. Ora Toa won’t let the GPs’ two dental colleagues join the collective agreement negotiated by ASMS, Mr Woods says in a media release. …

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 The New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) supports the call by Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) for safe staffing levels for senior doctors and urges the Government to address the workload pressures and burnout for all doctors regardless of whether they are working in our hospitals or in the community. “Our membership encompasses the entire health system and regardless of healthcare setting, the supply of doctors is insufficient to meet healthcare demands” said Dr Kate Baddock, NZMA Chair. “An accord …

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Doctors at five Wellington practices plan to walk off the job in support of their dental colleagues – believed to be the first time a strike has taken place in a GP practice. Twenty-one GPs employed by Te Rūnanga O Toa Rangatira (Ora Toa Primary Health) practices across Porirua and in Newtown in Wellington have overwhelmingly voted for a series of rolling stoppages, says Lloyd Woods, Senior Industrial Officer at the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). These include five …

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The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) is calling on Health Minister David Clark to support the development of a safe staffing accord with senior doctors and dentists working in public hospitals. “Hospital specialists, like nurses and other frontline health workers, continue to suffer from high workloads caused by years of under-resourcing and neglect of the public health system, and problems with high levels of burnout and forced to work while sick and infectious,” says ASMS Executive Director Ian Powell. …

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A suite of new Government health initiatives, which Jacinda Ardern says will make going to the doctor cheaper for more than half a million Kiwis, comes into effect tomorrow. From Saturday, December 1, up to 540,000 Community Service Card holders will receive cheaper doctor’s visits. In this year’s budget, the Government announced it would spend $363 million on making doctor’s visits $20-$30 cheaper for cardholders, as well as extending the eligibility for the Community Services Card to people receiving the …

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One in five New Zealanders live with persistent pain and the health system struggles to deal with the problem effectively, researchers say. Writing in today’s New Zealand Medical Journal, University of Otago psychology expert Dr Nicola Swain and colleagues say: “pain is extremely common and increasing in prevalence in New Zealand … and current biomedical treatment is often ineffective”. “Pain is stealing people’s lives. As we live longer and are more healthy, pain is an increasing issue,” said Swain. She said …

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An elderly man had to make at least seven visits to his doctor and optometrist over a five-and-a-half-month period before the DHB would see him for deteriorating eyesight – by which time he was “essentially blind”. Allan Darlow was given a minor change in his prescription after having a routine eye exam at Specsavers in Tauranga in June last year. A month and a half later he visited his GP after suffering a fall. That started a process during which …

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New research shows female doctors and other medical professionals are facing major issues in the workplace including significant work/life conflict, gender bias, bullying and burnout. The research was carried out by the union for senior doctors and dentists and was prompted by an earlier study which highlighted the growing number of women in the medical profession suffering from burnout. The lead researcher says unless the issue is addressed, the country’s shortage of doctors will get worse as more women avoid the …

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DHBs need about 20 per cent more doctors to deal with the patients they’re seeing, says Murray Barclay, new president of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. The figure comes from member surveys and economic analysis by the association, which has also found that a quarter of senior doctors plan to leave the medical workforce within five years. Professor Barclay says he was motivated to take on his new role by a desire to do anything he could to ensure the country gets more doctors. “Ultimately, the …

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