There’s a bit of a rumpus going on at the moment in the world of Midwifery. It seems that some brave doctors, paediatrician Dr Mary Fewtrell, of University College London and her colleagues, have published a paper challenging the WHO dogma of six months of breast feeding. The Midwives are all frothing at the mouth [...]

Phil the Thrill has just announced that the 33% gap between National and Labour in the TV3 poll is because of the “honeymoon”.  Amazing. Nearly a year down the line and Phil is waiting for the “gloss to wear off”. If anything explains why Labour is doomed (unless somebody pulls out a (metaphorical) axe and [...]

Kapiti Coroner, Ian Smith, says the lack of after hours GP services is partly to blame for the death of a rest home patient. I don’t think you will find anyone that disagrees with him, including the GP on the Kapiti coast. But the simple fact is that there are not enough of them to [...]

The following letter has been taken from the letters to the editor in this weeks New Zealand Doctor.  Over the past year there has been a debate raging in the UK about getting rid of mixed sex wards. The Government is considering a financial penalty for hospitals that continue with mixed sex wards. It is [...]

After placing absurdly onerous language requirements and a blanket ban on nursing courses that are less than four years (regardless of quality), the Nursing Council has now unveiled it’s true concern about Philippino nurses – the sudden profusion of nurses in “nursing education”. Apparently nursing courses have increased from 30,000 in training in 2004 to 450,000 this [...]

The Herald carries a continuation of the nursing registration saga. Both the New Zealand Nurses organisation and the Migrant Action Trust are calling on Tony Ryall to intervene. Nursing Council, of course, don’t see a problem. They chirp on happily about how nursing numbers have increased from 43,916 registered nurses in 2007, to 44,571 last year. Those extra six hundred [...]

Take a nursing council completely divorced from reality,  Add a little abject stupidity. Stir until it is completely thick Spread it liberally over all nursing recruitment, making it a complete mess. Congratulations, you have now shot yourself in the foot. The Nursing Council have just tightened up the language and study requirements for foreign nurses. [...]