Spam Journalism: The spurious use of sensational headlines to add spice to an otherwise pointless article. Why is it that, every time  Tony Ryall says anything about health funding, the effect of the change is either minimised, if positive, or greatly exaggerated, if negative? Health cuts loom as Govt refocuses spending District health board chiefs [...]

The sad story of the death of diabetic Mrs. Maureen Pineki is the subject of an even sadder report released by the Auckland DHB today. The reason it is sad is because it comes to almost the entirely wrong conclusions about this poor lady’s death. The report urges: RECOMMENDATIONS LABTESTS: Review systems to ensure timely [...]

Spam Journalism: The spurious use of sensational headlines to add spice to an otherwise pointless article. Well, half the headline is ok… DHBs, union clash over plan to axe 20 doctors Plans to cut 20 resident doctor positions at Auckland hospitals will increase the pressure on remaining staff and threatens standards of patient care, a [...]

With Labtest’s change over now going ahead, Kristine Bailey, a Canadian laboratory management and start-up expert, reiterates her misgivings about the changeover that she provided to the court of appeal. I think she is right to call it a unique experiment – an experiment on the people of Auckland. A changeover of this size has never [...]

Waitemata, Auckland and Counties Manukau District Health Boards are complaining that they can’t recruit sufficient numbers of junior doctors to fill all available positions. Their solution is unique – they want to reduce the jobs by up to 20 per cent and rely on senior doctors and senior nurses to fill the gaps. It’s a miracle [...]

I am somewhat disturbed by the news that the Auckland DHB is considering backing out of its multi-million dollar contract to treat patients from Tahiti. It’s not the backing out bit that concerns me as much as the what-the-hell-were-they-doing-treating-patients-from-Tahiti bit. Although I have no philosophical objection to Auckland DHB raising a bit of extra cash [...]

Brian Rudman writes today of the unadvertised (i.e. secretive) proposal of Auckland DHB to charge private patients for blood tests. This means that if you see a specialist privately, your blood tests will no longer be paid for by the DHB; you will have to pay for them yourself. Apparently Auckland DHB tried this in [...]

I can’t help feeling that, should the Nats win the election, Tony Ryall will not make a good Health Minister. His latest gaff is to send a letter of warning to the Auckland DHB, saying he had received reports the board intended to promote Government achievements before the election. What he thought this would look [...]

I read today that Auckland’s largest after-hours clinic, White Cross Ascot A&M, wishes to get out of it’s arrangement with Auckland DHB that freezes the amount of co-payment they can charge for after-hours visits. The fact that the agreement was signed in November last year and has only 4 months to run, illustrates the frightening [...]