Category: Health

Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Dr Khalid Shah: ‘I’ve never had such a sense of belonging in NZ’

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.

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Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: DHBs face million dollar bills after underpaying holiday pay

Thousands of health workers may be owed millions of dollars because of years of underpayments under the Holidays Act. But after three years trying to untangle the mess, the district health boards are still unable to say just how many of their 70,000 workers are owed how much. Phil Pennington reports.

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Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Poor housing costing taxpayers $145m a year – report

A day after the Government announced tough new insulation and heating standards for rental homes, new research from the University of Otago says poor housing conditions cost taxpayers more than $145 million a year in ACC claims and hospitalisation costs. It says those costs were solely attributable to homes that were cold, damp, mouldy, or dangerous to live in. The study’s co-author, Dr Lynn Riggs, speaks to Philippa Tolley.

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Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Insurers funding record healthcare as access to public system worsens

Health insurers have been funding record levels of healthcare and covering more surgery as DHBs struggle to meet people’s needs in a reasonable timeframe, the Health Funds Association (HFANZ) said today.
Commenting on the release of health insurance statistics for the 2018 year, HFANZ chief executive Roger Styles said health insurance was actually providing a safety net to the public system for those who have it.
“It’s clear we have not seen any improvement in access to public surgery in the past year. If anything it seems to have got worse,” Mr Styles said.
He said there had been huge disruption in the public hospital sector, with waves of industrial action having an adverse impact on DHBs meeting people’s surgery needs, and DHBs set to cut spending further to avoid massive debt blowouts.
“Health insurance has provided timely access to surgery for the nearly 30% of New Zealanders who have it – with funded healthcare claims up nearly 10 percent in the past year,” Mr Styles said.
“Of course, with more claims funded, premiums are also up over the past year by around 8%, although there has been an increase in total lives covered – up by 20,000 over the 2018 year, or around one and a half percent.”
Despite concern over recent years around the affordability of sustained premium increases, particularly for older New Zealanders, health insurance coverage for those aged 65 and over remained at around 22% of the population.
Mr Styles said HFANZ had some tips for those looking to mitigate the impact of rising premiums.
“Opting for a higher excess is the most common. This effectively means self-insuring a portion of potential treatment costs and covering smaller medical bills out of pocket, but having health insurance for the big things if needed. Most insurers offer excesses of $2000–$4000 in return for a lower monthly premium.”
Choosing major medical rather than comprehensive insurance would also reduce annual premiums, he said. This was now the most common policy with around two-thirds of those insured.
Mr Styles said it made sense for people to simply talk with their insurer about what options might be available to limit or even reduce premium increases.
The latest HFANZ statistics showed the number of lives covered was up by 2100 for the December 2018 quarter, bringing the total number of New Zealanders with health insurance to 1.403 million.
Claims paid in the December quarter was up 11.9% to $346 million on the same period in 2017, while annual claims paid for calendar 2018 totalled $1.3 billion, up $115 million or 9.7%.
Premium income for the quarter was up $12 million or 3.2% on the September 2018 quarter to $403 million. Annually, premium income rose $119 million or 8.3% to $1.55 billion.
 
 

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Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: DHBs accuse junior doctors union of misleading claims

District health boards are accusing the junior doctors’ union of making misleading and or deceptive statements in their deepening pay row. The doctors are taking ongoing strike action at public hospitals in a bitter row over proposed changes to their employment contract. DHBs say inaccurate union statements are fueling the dispute, and it’s calling for urgent intervention from the Employment Relations Authority. RNZ health correspondent, Karen Brown.

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Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Junior doctors strike as dispute continues

Junior doctors are on strike again this morning for two days as tension mounts in public hospitals from strikes. The strike from 8am Tuesday until early Thursday is the third such strike by the doctors since mid January. The doctors are also planning a fourth two-day strike in two weeks’ time. Health correspondent Karen Brown talks through the details with Guyon Espiner.

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Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: How we can overcome cancer inequality in New Zealand

Māori are 20% more likely than non-Māori to get cancer, and nearly twice as likely to die from it, and addressing disparities in incidence and care will be a key focus of cancer strategy into the future. Public health physician Dr Nina Scott, chair of Hei Āhuru Mōwai, the national Māori cancer leadership group, says inequities exist at almost every step of the cancer-care pathway. Overall, Māori are diagnosed late, referred late, seen late and offered and receive treatment late and receive lower-quality treatment. She says Hei Āhuru Mōwai is working with leaders in the cancer sector to eliminate these differences.

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Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Health Minister fast-tracking cancer plan amid criticism

Health Minister David Clark is fast tracking a national action plan for cancer. It comes as a conference on cancer highlights major flaws in the public health system. The conference, held by Otago University and the Cancer Society, is discussing the way New Zealand delivers for cancer patients, and how a national approach could serve the public better. The Health Minister David Clark speaks to Susie Ferguson.

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Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Waitemata DHB survey highlights severe hospital specialist shortages and stress

“A survey of senior doctors at the Waitemata District Health Board highlights the stress felt by heads of department as they try to make do with too few staff”, says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists.

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