Latest news with #HauoraMāori
Otago Daily Times
10-07-2025
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
Needle exchange ‘saved' life
A worried drug user says a Dunedin needle-exchange service in line for the axe has saved her life more than once. It comes after the Otago Daily Times revealed the Dunedin branch of the DISC Trust was among those which have lost the contract to administer the free needle-exchange programme for intravenous drug users. It had held the contract since 1988 when the government rolled out the programme. Staff and support workers at the Dunedin branch were either ex-users or had strong ties to the community, meaning they operated a fully "peer-based" approach to harm reduction and support. There are fears the new service will not fully replicate that approach. A client, who declined to be named, credited the organisation with saving her from "certain death", providing health advice and refuge from a toxic relationship. "Not all of us are junkies, I've always been able to hold down a job. I've got a business degree. "I have used the service for the past decade, but in the past five years, they've saved my life more than once. Without them, I would be dead." She felt "incredibly sad" for the staff at the Dunedin branch, who "really understood" her. "They're the ones that I turn to because they listen, and they don't interrupt you when you're talking to them. "They listen, and they offer self-advice, and they're just there for you whenever you need them. "I don't understand ... I mean, what's going to happen to us as a community?" She said the fact the service had an on-call GP was a literal lifesaver. "He could have just written a prescription for a month and then not even thought about me again. But he refused to do that. "I was waiting to get into rehab and they rang me every week to make sure I was all right and everything." Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora (HNZ) Starting Well programme director Deborah Woodley said HNZ conducted an open procurement process for the delivery of regional needle-exchange and harm-reduction services. "The request for proposal [RFP] for regional needle-exchange and harm-reduction services clearly outlined the requirements for service delivery including that people with lived and living experience have significant roles in the design, delivery and leadership of the programme," she said. "An evaluation panel, with representatives from Hauora Māori services, lived experience, policy, population health, mental health and addictions and national commissioning, evaluated proposals and made recommendations for preferred providers of regional services which were accepted by Health New Zealand." A worker at DISC's Dunedin branch, who asked not to be named, was "highly sceptical" about HNZ's response. "As far as we workers understand, the provision for lived and living experience in the RFP has been a box-ticking exercise. "The RFP asked for 'input' from those with lived and living experience: in our experience, asking for input is shorthand for asking for a non-actionable and dismissable statement from a group of people with real experience whose feedback they plan to ignore and certainly not take seriously." University of Otago (Christchurch) department of public health senior lecturer Dr Rose Crossin said it was important the right support models were in place. "The needle exchanges work because they're so trusted by their clients and that trust builds over a really long period of time. "It isn't just about providing sterile injecting equipment. "That's great, and it's absolutely important that clients of the needle exchange have access to sterile injecting equipment, but it is that holistic care. "It's about being able to go somewhere where you don't feel judged and you don't feel afraid." New Zealand Needle Exchange Programme executive director Philippa Jones said the DISC Trust discovered it had lost the contract on June 16. "The current contract is $1.4 million for the South Island. "The new contract funding was reduced to $1m. "We don't know anything about the new providers' service delivery model or locations. "We are not aware of the proposed staffing model and whether people with lived and living experience of injecting drug use will be employed to deliver the service. "Naturally, our clients are deeply concerned and worried. "After more than 35 years of delivering this specialist service, we were surprised by the decision." An HNZ spokeswoman said funding for the regional delivery of needle-exchange and harm-reduction services had been allocated based on population statistics.
The Spinoff
15-06-2025
- Health
- The Spinoff
Huge rise in surgery outsourcing prompts alarm among doctors
The government's focus on elective surgery wait times has driven thousands of outsourced operations – and fresh warnings about the risks of draining public sector expertise, writes Catherine McGregor in today's extract from The Bulletin. Health targets to be enshrined in law The government has unveiled sweeping amendments to the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act, the 2022 law that dissolved district health boards in favour of a national system, RNZ reports. Health minister Simeon Brown says that 'after years of bureaucracy and confusion, the health system lost its focus', and the amendments will help anchor patient outcomes at the heart of decision-making. Under the changes, infrastructure delivery will become a core statutory function of Health New Zealand, and oversight of Hauora Māori structures will be clarified. Perhaps most importantly, the national health targets – which were scrapped by Labour in 2018 before being resurrected by the coalition – will be put into law. Outsourcing to meet surgical goals To help hit the target of 95% of elective surgeries delivered within four months by 2030, the government last week announced it had funded nearly 10,000 extra procedures since January – most of them through private hospitals. Health NZ's plan is to outsource up to 20,000 low-complexity cases such as hip replacements, cataracts and hernias. What may be good news for suffering patients is bad news for the public health system, many medical staff say. Last month RNZ reported on a Health NZ memo to the minister warning that the high level of outsourcing would hasten an exodus of medical professionals from the public system. Speaking to Morning Report, Auckland radiologist Colleen Bergin echoed that sentiment. 'This will send the workforce into private. The pay is better, the parking is better, the transport is better, everything is better.' Meanwhile anaesthetists warned that siphoning off low-complexity surgeries could dramatically slow the rate at which trainees accrue the requisite number of training hours, and there's currently no system in place to have them train in private hospitals. Who really benefits from outsourcing? While outsourcing may bring quick wins on the government's elective surgery scoreboard, critics argue it's worsening the core problems. Writing in Newsroom, Ian Powell, former head of the Association of Salaried Specialists, says the approach ignores the main pressure point – chronic workforce shortages – while pumping taxpayer funds into for-profit hospitals and incentivising top specialists to shift their hours into the private sector. In some cases, surgeons and anaesthetists are now being paid thousands per shift to take on extra weekend work through in-sourcing arrangements in their own public hospitals. 'It beggars belief how much cash is being thrown around,' one anaesthetist, told Powell, who found that some in the sector could earn up to $15,000 for a single day as a private contractor. Powell argues the result is a system in which public hospitals are left with the more difficult cases and less capacity to treat them. Primary care 'second among equals' While hospitals and wait times dominate headlines, the primary care sector remains underfunded and politically sidelined, GPs say. A recent study showed that despite years of political rhetoric about its importance, primary care has received a flat share of the health budget – just 5.4% on average over the past 15 years, far below the OECD average. Speaking to Mariné Lourens in The Press (paywalled), Christchurch GP Buzz Burrell said the visibility of hospital wins makes them more attractive to ministers. 'It looks good if they fund a raft of very expensive drugs. It looks good if they fund more surgeries.' In contrast, 'if primary care is doing its job brilliantly, it's invisible.' Asked to respond, the health minister said primary care was a 'key priority', pointing to recent announcements including new clinical placements for overseas-trained doctors to work in primary care, extra doctor training places at medical schools and a new 24-hour telehealth service.
RNZ News
14-06-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Cabinet approves 'suite of amendments' to Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act
Simeon Brown Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER Minister of Health Simeon Brown has announced the government will be introducing legislation to ensure the health system is focused on delivering better outcomes for patients. He said Cabinet had approved a suite of amendments to the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022. "These changes are about improving health outcomes by making sure the system is focused on delivery, not bogged down in doing the same thing twice. That means better care for patients through a more connected, transparent, and effective health system," Brown said. "We're putting health targets into law so every part of the system is focused on delivering faster care, shorter wait times, higher immunisation rates, and real results." Brown said that infrastructure delivery was "one of the most serious failings under the previous government". "Too many builds were delayed, blown out, or never even started. We're addressing this by establishing a dedicated infrastructure committee and embedding infrastructure as a core function of Health New Zealand. This means the board can focus on lifting system performance where it matters most: for patients." Brown said the legislation would also strengthen the Hauora Māori Advisory Committee (HMAC) and clarify the role of iwi-Māori Partnership Boards (IMPBs). "Local IMPBs will continue to engage with their communities but will now provide advice directly to HMAC. That advice will then support decisions made by the minister and the Health New Zealand board. "These changes are about one thing - putting patients back at the centre. We're rebuilding a health system that delivers real outcomes, not just organisational charts." The list of changes included: The amendment bill would be introduced to Parliament in the coming weeks. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
NZ Herald
15-05-2025
- Health
- NZ Herald
Health NZ confirms 377 roles cut, despite ongoing legal challenge
Of those, Thursday's announcement relates to 377 roles. Health NZ acting head of human resources Fiona McCarthy said the changes were part of its 'ongoing effort toward a sustainable future for New Zealand healthcare'. While implementation of the final decisions for Hauora Māori services, audit, assurance and risk and Pacific health would begin immediately, the changes for planning, funding and outcomes and procurement and supply chain services were paused for now, because of the legal challenge. 'Notwithstanding this legal action, we decided to release these decisions out of concern for the length of time our staff have been waiting for these change processes to conclude,' she said. 'Some staff have been waiting since last year and, with consultations finished in February, we felt it was fairer to all staff to release the decisions now to give people greater clarity over what our thinking is and what it might mean for them. We will continue to work with the PSA to try and resolve the legal proceedings during the coming weeks.' Thursday's announcements regard: Hauora Māori services Pacific health Procurement, supply chain and health technology management Planning, funding and outcomes (the former service improvement and innovation teams) Audit, assurance and risk For all five services, senior leaders met with their teams and affected individuals to talk through the decisions and any next steps, McCarthy said. 'We appreciate these are difficult times for those concerned and a range of support is available.' Union vows to fight on The total number of jobs being cut was not yet clear, said the union. A spokesperson said there would be no change in some areas, until the legal challenge was resolved. PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said the union 'strongly opposes' Health NZ's final decisions. 'These decisions include the possible loss of specialists procurement, auditing and health innovation and improvement,' she said. 'The possible loss of these roles has been forced on Health NZ by the Government imposing cuts to our health system that will affect patients. 'We call on Government to stop these endless cuts to our health system. 'This is why we are still fighting this in the Employment Relations Authority, which is why this will not be implemented until the authority has heard and determined the matter, or the PSA and Health New Zealand have settled it by agreement.' Advertise with NZME. In February, the union filed legal proceedings in the Employment Relations Authority over several proposed restructures on the grounds they breached the Code of Good Faith for the public health sector, the Employment Relations Act 2000, collective agreements and Te Mauri o Rongo - NZ Health Charter. 'We'll be making it clear to all our members that legal action is still going ahead and we strongly oppose these Health NZ changes.' Last month, the PSA agreed a settlement with Health NZ to stop the restructuring of the National Public Health Service and two directorates in the planning, funding and outcomes business unit - data and analytics, community mental health funding and investment, and data and digital services. Earlier on Thursday, the PSA also announced further litigation against Health NZ to stop cuts to their audit, assurance and risk, people and culture, finance stage 1, and communications and engagement teams.
Otago Daily Times
15-05-2025
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
Health NZ confirms 377 roles cut
Health NZ has confirmed job cuts at five of its departments, including Hauora Māori services, Pacific health, procurement, planning and funding, and auditing. However, ongoing legal action by the Public Service Association (PSA) mean some changes were still on hold. Last month, it was reported more than 2400 jobs were on the line at Health NZ, with about half of them currently vacant. Of those, Thursday's announcement relates to 377 roles. Health NZ acting head of human resources Fiona McCarthy said the changes were part of its "ongoing effort toward a sustainable future for New Zealand healthcare". While implementation of the final decisions for Hauora Māori services, audit, assurance & risk and Pacific health would begin immediately, the changes for planning, funding and outcomes and procurement and supply chain services were paused for now, due to the legal challenge. "Notwithstanding this legal action, we decided to release these decisions out of concern for the length of time our staff have been waiting for these change processes to conclude," she said. "Some staff have been waiting since last year and, with consultations finished in February, we felt it was fairer to all staff to release the decisions now to give people greater clarity over what our thinking is and what it might mean for them. We will continue to work with the PSA to try and resolve the legal proceedings during the coming weeks." Thursday's announcements regard: Hauora Māori services Pacific health Procurement, supply chain and health technology management Planning, funding and outcomes (the former service improvement & innovation teams) Audit, assurance & risk For all five services, senior leaders met with their teams and affected individuals to talk through the decisions and any next steps, McCarthy said. "We appreciate these are difficult times for those concerned and a range of support is available." Union vows to fight on The total number of jobs being cut was not yet clear, said the union. A spokesperson said there would be no change in some areas, until the legal challenge was resolved. PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said the union "strongly opposes" Health NZ's final decisions. "These decisions include the possible loss of specialists procurement, auditing and health innovation and improvement," she said. "The possible loss of these roles has been forced on Health NZ by the Government imposing cuts to our health system that will affect patients. "We call on Government to stop these endless cuts to our health system. "This is why we are still fighting this in the Employment Relations Authority, which is why this will not be implemented until the authority has heard and determined the matter, or the PSA and Health New Zealand have settled it by agreement." In February, the union filed legal proceedings in the Employment Relations Authority over several proposed restructures on the grounds they breached the Code of Good Faith for the public health sector, the Employment Relations Act 2000, collective agreements and Te Mauri o Rongo - NZ Health Charter. "We'll be making it clear to all our members that legal action is still going ahead and we strongly oppose these Health NZ changes." Last month, the PSA agreed a settlement with Health NZ to stop the restructuring of the National Public Health Service and two directorates in the planning, funding and outcomes business unit - data and analytics, community mental health funding and investment, and data and digital Services. Earlier Thursday, the PSA also announced further litigation against Health NZ to stop cuts to their audit, assurance and risk, people and culture, finance stage 1, and communications and engagement teams.
