Category: New Zealand Associations and Organisaitons

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

Headline: Tobacco company’s offer ‘part lobbying playbook’

Tobacco giant Philip Morris approached a district health board offering to give devices away at no cost for “community-based trials, data collection and monitoring”. The company claimed there would be a significant public health benefit in the plan – especially for Maori, Pasifika and low income groups. After inquiries from RNZ, the Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield emailed all DHBs warning them not to accept the Philip Morris offer. Richard Edwards of Otago University’s Department of Public Health says the lobbying fits with the company’s international playbook.

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

Headline: Workplace culture at SDHB under microscope

A range of recent official and anecdotal reports have highlighted workplace culture issues at various Southern District Health Board sites. Health reporter Mike Houlahan asks if one of the region’s largest employers is one of the worst places to work.

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

Headline: More evidence of public hospitals under pressure

“Reports of yet another full public hospital struggling to cope with the winter influx of patients is more evidence of a public health system under extreme pressure,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS).

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

Headline: Connecting medical specialists

Pilot project Experts in Healthcare Exchange or EHE is looking at how empowered and connected senior doctors are as a group. The aim is to maximise a sense of community among senior healthcare professionals globally and increase the chances for collaboration and community involvement.

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

Headline: Hepatitis Foundation calls on Govt to fix IT systems ‘stuck in 20th century’

The failure to design healthcare IT systems which work together is costing the country hundreds of millions of dollars and hampering efforts to eliminate diseases, says the Hepatitis Foundation of New Zealand, which is calling for the Government to take action.

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

Headline: UK medical cannabis expert wants Kiwi doctors upskilled

The UK neurologist who will advise NZ doctors on prescribing medicinal cannabis, professor Mike Barnes is calling on the profession here to get itself ready to prescribe the drug.  Endorsed by the Royal NZ College of GPs, he will give talks around the country later this month. He is recognised as the leading European expert on medicinal cannabis. In 2016 Professor Barnes was tasked with writing a report for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform on the evidence for medical cannabis.The Ministry of Health last week issued proposed regulations for the use of medicinal cannabis and these are out for public consultation.

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

Headline: Govt to pay DHBs’ capital charge to replace old infrastructure

The government is promising tens of millions of dollars in extra funding to cash-strapped public hospitals to help them replace old buildings. It’s planning to do this by paying a contentious capital charge that it acknowledges has prevented district health boards from building new projects. But close observers say instead of paying the charge, the Government should just scrap it altogether. Health Correspondent Karen Brown reports.

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

Headline: Major medicines & medical devices shake-up

A rewrite of the Medicines Act, is likely to result in a new regulatory body for medical devices, as well as medicines. At the same time, the government is extending the role of its drug buying agency Pharmac, to the purchase of medical devices such as orthopaedic joints, heart valves, and surgical mesh, and MRI machines. What will these changes mean for patient safety, and for access to new treatments and technology? The Health Minister David Clark and Faye Sumner from the Medical Technology Association of New Zealand, discuss the shake-up.

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

Headline: NZ National Bullying Prevention Conference

Dr Charlotte Chambers, Principal Analyst (Policy & Research) from ASMS will be sharing her ground-breaking research Bullying in the New Zealand senior medical workforce: prevalence, correlates and consequences at the upcoming NZ National Bullying Prevention Conference. The conference theme is Building healthy communities of tolerance, respect, empathy and kindness.

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

Headline: Seminar: Commercial detriments of health (can we respond and how?)

Commercial determinants arise from the economic frameworks, forces and values that underlie and permeate all aspects of society. They are of fundamental importance for health status, inequalities, trends, and outcomes. While relevant to both communicable and noncommunicable disease, commercial determinants are most sharply obvious in some of Martin’s key research interests: alcohol, tobacco and nutrition. They are of equal importance to the need for planetary health. This talk will explore the following questions: how did the importance of commercial determinants arise, how do they relate to political determinants, and what can the public health community do to respond?

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