Category: Waikato District Health Board

Population and Public Health

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Waikato DHB’s Population Health service includes:

• Health Protection
• Health Improvement

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

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.

 

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.

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

Medical officers of health and health protection officers are responsible for receiving, investigating and responding to notifiable diseases and outbreaks in the community.

Our aim is to reduce future occurrences of infectious disease.

Notifiable diseases include:

• enteric (intestinal or gut) diseases such as salmonella or campylobacter
• vaccine preventable diseases such as measles or mumps
• less common diseases such as meningitis, tuberculosis or legionellosis.

We receive notification from laboratories, health practitioners, or members of the public.

In response to a notification we may:

• offer disease and infection control advice
• arrange isolation from work, early childhood education, school etc.
• organise clearance sampling for cases (people with the disease) or their close contacts.

We also investigate and respond to large local or national outbreaks or public health emergencies, for example pandemic influenza.

Monthly surveillance reports show current year-to-date rates for each notifiable disease in the Waikato, and month comparisons with the same month of the previous year. These are published in our monthly Public Health Bulletin .

Waikato DHB participates in national, regional and local programmes to prevent and respond to communicable and infectious diseases.

In our health district, rheumatic fever, pertussis (whooping cough), measles, mumps and rubella are priorities for prevention and early detection. 

For health professions

• Video scenarios for immunisers on how to have a conversation with someone who is needle-phobic or unsure about immunisation/vaccination.

In conjunction with Wintec, Waikato DHB is hosting an open day to provide information, support and advice on completing a return to Nursing Programme at Wintec.

When: Friday 6 April 2018
Time: 9am to 2pm
Venue: Bryant Education Centre, Waikato Hospital

We’d like to support you in your completion of a Return to Nursing Programme and help you secure a registered nurse position at Waikato Hospital.

You can see what a successful return to nursing candidate will receive on our jobs section.

The open day will provide you with the opportunity to:

• talk to clinical nurses about career opportunities
• talk to WINTEC representatives about course options
• get an understanding of what it is like to work at Waikato Hospital
• what additional support Waikato DHB can provide so you can complete the programme and come and work here.

We have many new and exciting jobs coming soon to keep up with Hamilton’s growing population, including a new acute clinical area at Waikato Hospital.

Most of all, providing extra support to our current nursing team is really important to us – so you will be helping us to help them by significantly increasing our numbers of nurses on the floor.

If you are interested but can’t attend on the day, please contact us anyway. We look forward to hearing from you, and hopefully seeing you in person at open day.

For more information contact

Megan.Abraham@waikatodhb.health.nz

OR

Lin.Marriott@waikatodhb.health.nz

For more information visit WINTEC’s Certificate in Nursing (Competency Assessment Programme).

 Strategy and Funding

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Derek Wright
Interim Chief Executive

Neville Hablous
Chief of Staff

Dr Grant Howard
Acting Chief Operating Officer Waikato Hospital 

Mark Spittal
Executive Director Community and Clinical Support

Vicky Aitken
Acting Executive Director Mental Health and Addictions

Loraine Elliott
Executive Director Māori Health

Darrin Hackett
Executive Director Virtual Care and Innovation

Ian Wolstencroft
Executive Director Strategic Projects

Tanya Maloney Julie Wilson
Interim Executive Director Strategy and Funding

Prof Ross Lawrenson
Clinical Director Strategy and Funding

Maureen Chrystall
Executive Director Corporate Services

Chris Cardwell
Executive Director Facilities and Business

Lydia Aydon
Executive Director Public and Organisational Affairs

Marc Ter Beek
Executive Director Operations and Performance

Professional advisory members

Dr Rees Tapsell
Acting Chief Medical Officer

Sue Hayward
Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer

Dr Damian Tomic
Clinical Director Primary and Integrated Care

Mo Neville
Director Quality and Patient Safety

Child Hearing Vision

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Hearing and vision technicians provide pre-school, schools and community-based testing services. 

These tests are important to identify hearing problems and vision problems. They are part of the National Vision Hearing Screening Programme which schedules tests for all children at specific ages between 3 and 11.

Test include

• audiometry (hearing)
• tympanometry (middle ear function test)
• vision (distance visual acuity)
• colour vision.

The service refers children with identified needs to appropriate follow up services.

Children’s Ear Clinic locations and times for term 2 of 2018

Key personnel

Ruth Batters
Manager

Location

Ear nurse clinics are provided across the Waikato DHB area and are both mobile and at established clinics.

• Children’s ear clinic , 51 Gallagher Drive, Hamilton