ASMS

In an effort to hear more from Muslim voices following of the Christchurch mosque attacks, this week Kyle MacDonald gives his column over to Dr Khalid Shah, a trainee GP in Auckland. Dr Shah has a special interest in cross-cultural psychiatry and is a member of the Muslim community. In the Christchurch mosque terror attacks it was not just the Muslims offering their prayers to God who were massacred mercilessly. Rather, it was an organised attack launched on a small …

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Fionnagh Dougan has been appointed as the new joint Chief Executive (CE) for Capital & Coast and Hutt Valley District Health Boards (DHBs). She will start in the role on 1 July 2019. Fionnagh will return to New Zealand to take up the role. She is currently the Chief Executive of the Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service, and an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Queensland. Before moving to Australia, Fionnagh held a …

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An intensive care specialist has described the surreal scenes inside Christchurch Hospital after the mosque attacks, as doctors operated on scores of gunshot victims while armed police stood guard. Geoff Shaw was at the hospital as ambulances ferried the badly injured survivors of the shootings from the two mosques. It felt as if the hospital was under siege, he says. “The dynamic was armed police coming in when they thought the hospital was a secondary target. It was pretty disconcerting …

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The demands of the NHS plus better conditions in the EU means pressure will mount on already overstretched staff. Staff sickness and uncertainty caused by Brexit have worsened NHS staffing shortages. A recent NHS staff survey showed that just under 40% are unwell with stress, the highest that we have seen in five years. And with health and social care relying heavily on staff from the EU, Brexit has the potential to compound our existing …

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Acute hospital admissions are increasing well above the population growth rate despite increased use of general practice (GP) services, says Lyndon Keene, Director of Policy and Research for the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). This is one of the findings of an ASMS Research Brief looking at whether access to primary care, with a greater focus on health promotion and illness prevention, reduces pressure on hospitals, available online at: https://www.asms.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Research-Brief-on-primary-prevention_170857.2.pdf “Evidence from New Zealand and overseas shows this …

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Politicians stoke fears of ‘queue jumpers’, but refugees deserve the same dignity and agency we all value “Can you help me understand why that man died when you said he wasn’t as sick as your other patients?” The medical student deserves a neat explanation; instead, her innocent question brings my regrets crashing to the surface as I wonder how best to explain to her the practice of medicine that increasingly comes wrapped in layers of politics. Read more here:

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Four clinical buildings and three office buildings at Taranaki Base Hospital have been confirmed to be earthquake prone. Hospital staff have been informed of the final reports by expert engineers and assured there is no cause for concern, Taranaki DHB chief executive Rosemary Clements said in an written  statement. “Overall the reports provide validation for plans that are already underway to improve the structural integrity of the hospital campus including the new east wing building to be completed in 2023 …

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A pathologist who led the body identification team in Christchurch after the shootings has defended the time it took, saying the process couldn’t have been done any quicker. The team used a CT scanner, the first time the technology has been used in a mass casualty situation in this country. Radio New Zealand Health Correspondent, Karen Brown is in Christchurch and filed this report. Listen here: https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018688381/pathologist-defends-time-taken-to-identify-mosque-victims

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The district health board which operates the largest radiation therapy service in the country is having to outsource to private practices as it struggles with demand. Auckland DHB’s unplanned outsourcing is putting a strain on its clinical services budget, the Hospital Advisory Committee heard last week. Each year more than 3000 patients receive radiation therapy at Auckland City Hospital. Six DHBs offer it across the country: Auckland, Waikato, MidCentral, Capital and Coast, Canterbury and Southern. Auckland DHB has been struggling with “unusually high” radiation demand …

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A National Remembrance Service for the victims of the Christchurch mosques terrorist attack, and all those affected by it, will be held at 10am on Friday 29 March, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. The service will be held in Christchurch in Hagley Park and will be jointly led by the Government of New Zealand, the city of Christchurch, Ngāi Tahu and the Muslim community. Considerations are being given to simultaneously broadcasting the service to events in Auckland, Wellington and …

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