Category: Health

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Members to get ballot for industrial action

Source: New Zealand Nurses Organisation

Headline: Members to get ballot for industrial action

 

Media Release

EMBARGO 9.30am                                                                            20 April 2018

Members now vote whether or not to strike

NZNO DHB members, who are party to the DHB Nurses and Midwifery MECA, receive their strike ballot paper by post and email from Monday 23 April to vote on proposed strike action. The action will occur if the MECA impasse is not resolved through the Independent Panel Process.

Industrial Services Manager Cee Payne says the NZNO National Delegates Committee this week recommended NZNO proceed with a secret strike ballot of all members covered by the DHB Nurses and Midwifery MECA for strike action.

“We announced this decision to members this morning with the information that the possible strike action will consist of two strikes for 24 hours each commencing at 7.00am. The committee have proposed a week in between the two strikes,” Cee Payne said.

“Members can vote online or by post. The ballot is open for 30 days in accordance with the NZNO constitution and closes no later than 5pm on Friday 25 May 2018. The postal ballot will need to be returned by Tuesday 22 May 2018.

“The commitment to secure safe patient care and a salary structure that incentivises nurses and midwives to remain in the profession has led the committee to this important decision. Strike action is a last resort if a settlement acceptable to our members cannot be achieved” said Cee Payne.

“NZNO must give 14 days’ notice to the DHBs should a vote to strike be the majority decision from all those that submit their ballot. This means the dates of a possible strike are early July.

NZNO chief executive Memo Musa explains that as soon as notice of strike action is given to the DHBs they must develop a contingency plan and take all reasonable and practicable steps to ensure continued provision of essential or life preserving service if strike action occurs.

“The statutory Code of Good Faith for the public health sector requires employers to provide for patient safety by ensuring that life preserving services are available to prevent a serious threat to life or permanent disability during any strike action,” Memo Musa said.

ENDS.

Media Enquiries to: Media Adviser, Karen Coltman: 027 431 2617.

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Respiratory research

Source: Waikato District Health Board – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Respiratory research

The Respiratory research unit offers a wide variety of research trials varying from local collaborative projects to global studies.

We participate in clinical trials ranging from phase I through to phase IV. 

All of our studies have received appropriate local regulatory and ethical approval and are conducted according to ICH-GCP standards.

Location:  Waikato Hospital, Level B01 Menzies Building.

Studies in progress 

We currently have a variety of studies in progress for a range of medical conditions including:

  • Asthma 
  • COPD
  • Pneumothorax
  • RSV
  • Bronchiectasis
  • Influenza A

The Respiratory Research team 

2 x consultants
2 x research fellows
2 x study co-ordinators/research nurses
1 x administration assistant

Contact

If you want to take part in research, or want to know more details about the individual studies available please contact one of the team:

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Population and Public Health

Source: Waikato District Health Board – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Population and Public Health

Population and Public Health

Waikato DHB’s Population Health service includes:

The service is part of Waikato DHB’s Community and Clinical Support directorate.

The service also produces health profiles and position statements which inform Waikato DHB activities. These can be found in the Key publications page of the website.

Key personnel

Deryl Penjueli
Manager, Public Health

Dr Richard Hoskins 
Clinical Director

Location

Level 5, Hugh Monckton Trust Building
Cnr Harwood and Rostrevor Streets, Hamilton

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Key publications and policies

Source: Waikato District Health Board – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Key publications and policies

Key publications are strategies, plans (including Waikato DHB annual plan), reports (including Waikato DHB annual report, annual quality account, serious adverse events and maternity annual report), our DHB position statements of a range of public health issues, Waikato DHB policies of public interest, health profiles of our communities, Maori and Pasifika populations, plus links to our news website and quarterly magazine.

 

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Influenza in the Waikato

Source: Waikato District Health Board – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Influenza in the Waikato

The Northern Hemisphere has been hit hard with influenza this year and experts are predicting that the same strain of influenza will come to New Zealand.

Our advice to people in the Waikato is to get vaccinated as soon as vaccines become available from mid-April until 31 December.

Influenza is

  • a potentially serious virus that spreads quickly from person to person. 
  • much more serious than a cold, and the symptoms are much more severe – influenza kills.

Symptoms of influenza can include the following symptoms:

  • fever or chills
  • dry cough
  • sore throat
  • runny nose
  • headache
  • body aches and pains
  • lack of energy, fatigue, and generally feeling really sick for about 10 days.  

Influenza can be severe enough to require hospital treatment, particularly in the very young, elderly, and in people who already have health problems. It can be serious and life-threatening.

Immunisation is your best defence against influenza.
Anyone can get immunised (vaccinated) again influenza at their local GP or medical centre or pharmacy. Immunisation is FREE for some people.

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SmartHealth

Source: Waikato District Health Board – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: SmartHealth

Waikato DHB SmartHealth online doctor service, using the HealthTap app, finishes on 30 April following its two year trial.

Waikato DHB SmartHealth online doctor service, using the HealthTap app, finishes on 30 April following its two year trial.

If you are currently using the HealthTap app to have online consultations with your Waikato Hospital doctor, they will be in touch with you to discuss alternatives that work for both of you.

The free out of hours online doctor service delivered through HealthTap will stop on 30 April. For advice on out of hours care please visit  I’m not well, where should I go?

The patient data created by the doctor in HealthTap is owned by the DHB and has been sent to the DHB’s patient information system.

For more information or if you have concerns please email: smarthealth@waikatodhb.health.nz

If you are already signed up to SmartHealth, up until 30 April 2018, you have online access to doctors for free during the following hours:

  • Monday – Friday: 6pm to 11pm
  • Saturday – Sunday: 8am to 8pm
  • Public Holidays: 8am to 8pm

SmartHealth doctors, who are all New Zealand registered, will be ready to give you personal medical advice and treatment. In certain situations, they will be able to write prescriptions, which you can collect at your local pharmacy, and to inform you of the level of treatment you need next; whether that’s at-home care, or being seen face-to-face at a clinic or a hospital.

To talk with an online doctor during the evening, weekend and holiday hours above, in the SmartHealth HealthTap app or HealthTap website, you can access our out of hours doctors by clicking on the “Get help now” button, which can be accessed under your main menu.

Here’s a self-help guide to using this service

If you need technical assistance with using SmartHealth/HealthTap please contact:

SmartHealth Help Desk phone number: 0800 222 551
SmartHealth Help Desk email:  smarthealth@waikatodhb.health.nz

Frequently asked questions

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What People Can Buy with Disability Funding: Ministry of Health Purchasing Guidelines

Source: New Zealand Ministry of Health – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: What People Can Buy with Disability Funding: Ministry of Health Purchasing Guidelines

Published online: 
17 April 2018

This document describes what government disability support funding (funding) can be used to buy. It is for people using:

  • Enhanced Individualised Funding (EIF)
  • Choice in Community Living (CiCL)
  • Enabling Good Lives (EGL) hosted personal budgets
  • Flexible Respite Budgets
  • Flexible Disability Supports (FDS).

Disabled people who can make choices about how they use their funding are more likely to buy goods and services that make their lives easier and/or better. This purchasing policy aims to give disabled people as much flexibility as possible over what they can buy with government funding.

A disability support (support) is a good or a service that helps a person overcome barriers that come with having an impairment within a disabling society.

Criteria

There are four criteria that must be met to be able to use funding to help buy a disability support.

One: It helps people live their life or makes their life better

The support should help people live a good life.

Each person has a different idea about what a good life is. The person’s goals and aspirations for a good life should be written out in a personal plan. This can be done with help from their Needs Assessment and Service Coordination (NASC) organisation or Independent Facilitator. Personal plans should include goals such as:

  • having good relationships
  • maintaining or improving skills
  • being able to do everyday activities at home or in the community
  • the person’s family/whānau being supported to continue their caring roles
  • being able to live in a home of the person’s own choice.

Two: It is a disability support

The support:

  • is only needed because the person is disabled and/or
  • costs more than would be the case if the person weren’t disabled and/or
  • is in addition to, or complements, the goods and/or services the person would need if they didn’t experience disability.

Three: It is reasonable and cost- effective

Generally, the support should be ‘reasonable’. Here it means that the support should cost about the same as (or less than) the market price for comparable things.

‘Cost-effective’ here means the best available outcome for the money spent.
 
It might cost more than another type of support but will help the person more, it will last longer or mean that less is spent on some other support now or in the future.

Four: It is not subject to a limit or exclusion

A person should explore other funding options to help get a support. Examples of other options include:

  • the Disability Allowance (from Work and Income)
  • grants, charitable donations
  • equipment funding (either by the Ministry of Education or the Ministry of Health)
  • specialist services, (eg, the Ministry of Health’s Behaviour Support Services and Child Development Services)
  • district health board funded therapies
  • transport allowances (eg, the Total Mobility transport scheme).

In some cases, people can buy a support when funding for that support has been turned down by (or on behalf of) the responsible government agency or if waiting times are too long and the proposed support is expected to:

  • achieve a person’s life goal that would not otherwise be achievable and/or
  • reduce disability support costs over time and/or
  • reduce the risk that disability support costs will increase in the future.

The funding cannot be used for:

  • paying family carers who are either a family member living with the disabled person or a parent or a spouse
  • illegal activities, gambling or alcohol
  • things that are not disability supports, such as health services provided by a hospital or income support.

Further help

For more help in understanding this policy, people can talk to their NASC organisation or their provider to work out if a support they want to buy meets the criteria.

See Ministry of Health Purchasing Guidelines Processes (docx, 221 KB) and Ministry of Health Purchasing Guidelines Notes (docx, 186 KB) for more information.

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Mortality 2015 data tables

Source: New Zealand Ministry of Health – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Mortality 2015 data tables

Published online: 
16 April 2018

These tables contain information on the underlying causes of all deaths registered in New Zealand in 2015. A ‘Quick facts’ section also includes information on rates of death by ethnicity and selected causes of mortality.

Most information is broken down by age, sex, ethnicity, district health board and statistical classification chapters, subgroups and three character codes.

These tables form part of the Mortality and Demographic Data annual series.

This data is sourced from the Mortality Collection.

Quick facts

  • There were 31,796 deaths registered in 2015, equating to an age-standardised rate of 380.1 deaths per 100,000 population.
  • Males accounted for 15,929 deaths in 2015, slightly higher than for females (15,867).
  • Māori accounted for 3,413 deaths in 2015, 10.7% of all deaths registered.
  • The leading causes of death were cancer, ischaemic heart diseases and cerebrovascular diseases. Cancer deaths made up 30.2% of all deaths, ischaemic heart diseases 15.8% and cerebrovascular diseases 7.8% in 2015.
  • For Māori, the leading causes of death in 2015 were cancer, ischaemic heart diseases and chronic lower respiratory diseases.
  • Similar to previous years, mortality rates were generally higher for males than for females. For example, males had higher mortality rates for melanoma and ischaemic heart diseases compared with females in 2015.
  • As seen in previous years, mortality rates for Māori were generally higher than for non-Māori. For example, Māori had higher mortality rates for diabetes mellitus and chronic lower respiratory diseases compared with non-Māori in 2015.
Total number of deaths and mortality rates, 2015
  Number of deaths Percentage of deaths by sex Mortality rate
Total Male Female Male Female Total Male Female
Māori 3,413 1,801 1,612 52.8 47.2 648.9 746.5 567.8
Non-Māori 28,383 14,128 14,255 49.8 50.2 354.1 411.3 303.4
Total 31,796 15,929 15,867 50.1 49.9 380.1 441.0 326.1

Note: rates per 100,000 population, age standardised to WHO World Standard Population.

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Mortality: Historical summary 1948–2015

Source: New Zealand Ministry of Health – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Mortality: Historical summary 1948–2015

Published online: 
16 April 2018

Summary

These tables present mortality data (numbers and age-standardised rates) by sex for certain causes of death for each year from 1948 to 2015. Māori and non-Māori mortality data is presented from 1996 to 2015.

The causes of death included are:

  • All cancer
  • Ischaemic heart disease
  • Cerebrovascular disease
  • Chronic lower respiratory diseases
  • Other forms of heart disease
  • Influenza and Pneumonia
  • Diabetes mellitus
  • Motor vehicle accidents
  • Intentional self-harm
  • Assault
  • All deaths.

Numbers and rates are available as:

About the data used in this edition

Data from 1948 to 1995 presented in these tables was sourced from publications in the Ministry of Health Mortality data and stats series.

Data from 1996 to 2015 was extracted from the New Zealand Mortality Collection electronic records on 13 February 2018. Rates have been re-calculated for data on deaths registered between 1996 and 2015, to reflect ongoing updates to data in the New Zealand Mortality Collection (eg, following the release of coroners’ findings) and the revision of population estimates. This has resulted in small changes to some numbers and rates from those reported in previous publications.

At the time of data extraction, there were 575,058 deaths registered from 1996 to 2015. Included in this data were 669 deaths provisionally coded (awaiting coroners’ findings) and 32 deaths awaiting coroners’ findings with no known cause.

Ethnic breakdowns of mortality data are only shown from 1996 onwards because there was a significant change in the way ethnicity was defined, and in the way ethnicity data was collected in 1995. For more information please refer to the Ministry of Health report, Mortality and Demographic Data 1996.

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MECA Panel members confirmed

Source: New Zealand Nurses Organisation

Headline: MECA Panel members confirmed

All District Health Boards

  

 

 

Media Release                                                         13 April 2018

 

 

Announcement of independent DHB MECA panel members

Following yesterday’s announcement that an independent panel is being engaged to assist in resolving the impasse in the DHB NZNO Multi Employer Collective Agreement bargaining, both parties can now confirm the appointments to the Independent Panel.

The panel is comprised of three independent members: An independent chair appointed by the government, one member proposed by the DHBs and one member proposed by NZNO. 

Both parties welcome the appointment of the chair, Professor Margaret Wilson.

“Professor Margaret Wilson represents balance for the parties as we negotiate terms and conditions for 27,000 members of the health workforce,” says Memo Musa, Chief Executive of NZNO and Dr Ashley Bloomfield, Chair of the DHBs’ Employment Relations Strategy Group.

 

The panel member nominated by the DHBs is Julie Patterson who has a strong background in DHB leadership. The panel member nominated by NZNO is Geoff Annals, a former NZNO chief executive.   

The panel will meet next week. After its first meeting and during the next four weeks the Panel will receive submissions from each party on various matters requiring further negotiation in order to reach an agreement on an updated offer that NZNO can present to its members.

The independent panel process involves:

  • Both NZNO and the DHBs (the Parties) making individual submissions to the Panel. The submissions will be written and oral – to support the respective claims, offers and settlements put forward in the bargaining process and other issues raised.
  • The panel will then deliberate and come back to the Parties with draft recommendations.
  • The parties can then submit further submissions to the Panel.
  • The final recommendations from the panel will be provided to each party and the Government by mid-May.
  • The DHBs will then make an updated offer to NZNO.

 

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACTS

DHB Contact

Mick Prior, General Manager – Strategic Workforce Services

M: 027 691 4999             mick.prior@tas.health.nz

 

NZNO Contact

Media Adviser Karen Coltman: 027 431 2617.

BACKGROUND – PANEL MEMBERS

Professor Margaret Wilson – Professor Wilson has worked in both private legal practice and has had an extensive career in public service, including as a Director of the Reserve Bank, Speaker of the House and as a Minister of the Crown. She has also served as the founding Dean of Waikato Law School and as New Zealand Law Commissioner.

Geoff Annals – Geoff is currently the chief executive of Accuro Health Insurance. Formerly the chief executive of the NZNO, Geoff was involved in the nursing fair pay resolution in 2004, and in the establishment of the Safe Staffing Healthy Workplace Unit.  Geoff has worked as a registered nurse, and has a good understanding of the wider health system.

Julie Patterson – Julie is the former Chief Executive Officer of Whanganui DHB. She is a qualified nurse (RGON) and has extensive experience in clinical leadership and senior management roles in the health sector.  Julie has taken a lead role in the Safe Staffing Healthy Workplace governance group, and the Health Sector Relationship Agreement, and has worked closely with the NZNO in both of these initiatives.