Latest news with #LowerHutt
RNZ News
4 hours ago
- General
- RNZ News
Sharp jump in Covid-19, respiratory infections
Photo: 123rf Environmental Science and Research (ESR) data shows flu and Covid infections are on the rise, with a sharp jump in hospitalisations for severe respiratory infections across Auckland in the past week. Meanwhile, GPs warn they are already under pressure. After phoning her GP clinic several times last week trying to get an urgent appointment, one desperate Lower Hutt resident decided to go to Lower Hutt After-Hours Medical Centre on Friday. "Google suggested it was busiest from when it opened 5.30pm to 7pm, so I went down at 7pm, and there was a sign up saying they weren't taking any more patients today." Her post on a community Facebook page attracted more than 100 comments, including from many patients who had had the same experience. She returned the next morning as soon as it opened at 8am, and finally got treatment. "The staff do the best they can, and it's not anything to do with the people doing their job. There are just not enough people to go around." Lower Hutt After-Hours Medical Centre was the only walk-in clinic for a population of more than 100,000 people. Manager Mark O'Connor said they treated about 45 patients a night on average, but there were times they had to turn people away. "Especially coming into this time of year with winter, we're just overloaded. We can have 20 or 30 people queuing up at the door at 5.30pm and we'll have three, even four, doctors on at times. But we just can't see everyone." ESR data showed hospitalisations for severe respiratory infections jumped more than 50 percent in the week to 1 June, although the rate remained about the same as last year. Calls to Healthline for influenza-like-illnesses increased, but were lower than at the same time last year. There were five reported outbreaks of respiratory illness: three in aged-care facilities in Nelson-Marlborough, Capital and Coast and Bay of Plenty, and two in early childhood centres, both in the Wellington region. O'Connor said seasonal pressure was compounded by the GP shortage. "Because of some patients not being able to get into their doctor during the day, we're seeing a lot more than just the usual winter type thing. We're seeing a lot more mental health and more other injuries." The clinic was moving to larger premises at the end of next month, and had funding to extend its hours from the end of the year. "The next step is to find the staff." Professor Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard. Photo: supplied Health NZ national chief medical officer Professor Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard said patients who could not get in to see their GPs - or could not enrol with a GP at all - often resorted to hospital emergency departments (EDs) . "We know there is a direct correlation between pressure on EDs and primary care services that are struggling. But EDs are not set up in the same way - it's not there to deal with respiratory illnesses, the more basic but high-volume illnesses that general practice is so well set up for, so that is a challenge." Health NZ was prepared for the inevitable winter surge - lining up extra staff, "optimising" beds and running vaccination campaigns, she said. More than 1 million New Zealanders have already had flu vaccinations this year, while only about quarter of a million are up-to-date with Covid-19 boosters. "That's similar to last year, we would really love it to be higher. The challenge is there are some people who don't have confidence in vaccination or find it difficult to access healthcare. And for those people we are really trying to do more in terms of outreach, working with community providers." percent20Region&log_or_linear=linear.=eighteenMonthsButton ESR wastewater testing showed Covid infections were on the rise again - up 75 percent in a week (between 18 and 25 May), well ahead of reported cases. South Auckland GP Allan Moffitt told First Up current variants were "not as virulent", but Covid was still dangerous for people with low immunity - and flu could also be deadly . "I've actually had several patients end up in hospital with influenza, so it's not a nice bug to have - it's not just the common cold." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
3 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
How New Zealand schools can respond better to lockdowns
School lockdowns in New Zealand feel like they're much more common these days. So, in events like these, or when there's a natural emergency - how can schools communicate quickly with parents and the wider school community? Sharlene Barnes created a free app called Skool Loop, which more than 1300 kiwi schools already use. She says what was once considered an extraordinary emergency is now a regular occurrence and hopes more schools will take advantage of what the free app offers. Children at Arakura School in Lower Hutt line up for free lunch, on 18 March, 2024. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
RNZ News
6 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
Māori tobacco control and advocacy spotlight of new documentary
The launch of 'Tupeka Kore: The Whakapapa of Māori Tobacco Control' at Wainuomata Marae in Lower Hutt. Photo: RNZ / Pokere Paewai A new documentary has been launched tracing the history of Māori tobacco control, beginning with Captain Cook's arrival all the way up to the repeal of Aotearoa's world-leading smokefree laws. Tupeka Kore: The Whakapapa of Māori Tobacco Control in Aotearoa NZ was launched at Wainuiomata Marae, Lower Hutt on Friday by Te Roopu Tupeka Kore, the Māori Tobacco Control network as part of World Smokefree Day on Saturday. Advocates said while 2025 marked the target for a smokefree Aotearoa, Māori continued to face higher rates of nicotine addiction than non-Māori. Co-director Catherine Manning (Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Ngāti Tukorehe) called the documentary "accidental", because it started out as an educational resource for new people working in tobacco control. Documentary co-director Catherine Manning. Photo: RNZ / Pokere Paewai On the recommendation of Manning's co-director Paul Dodge, the team decided to make it into a fully fledged documentary. "When we put together this documentary together the intention was to authentically make sure our truth was there. There are many people along the way that have told our story that aren't us, this is our story told by us," she said. Manning said the tobacco industry had been very influential in the political arena in New Zealand while Māori voices often went unheard. "Everybody else had a say, meaning the general public, successive governments had a say as to what was good for us and why it is that we are so afflicted by this product that is designed to kill. When you have an industry who has millions of dollars, an unlimited amount of resources, then we are powerless, in some parts, to stop the influence they [had] on those past generations and future generations." Manning paid tribute to many of the Māori leaders who led tobacco control efforts who have now passed, particularly Dame Tariana Turia, Dame June Mariu and Dame Ngāneko Minhinnick. Longtime tobacco control campaigner Shane Bradbrook (Ngāi Tamanuhiri, Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Kahungunu) was one of the people interviewed for the doco. He said it was the culmination of 20 years of his work in the sector. Tobacco control campaigner Shane Bradbrook. Photo: RNZ / Pokere Paewai "Tobacco was impacting on our whakapapa, killing our people far too early. And it evolved into that position of recognising that it wasn't just an individual issue and addiction that actually the kamupene (companies) that were running it, the tobacco companies were there and impinging on our whakapapa as well. "Don't blame our people, blame the industry. The tobacco industry is to blame. And the same thing with vaping, blame them, they're the ones hooking our people." Bradbrook said tobacco was imposing on Māori sovereignty and had no place in Māori communities. Te Aute College student Pōtatau Clark (Rongomaiwahine) was one of the rangatahi (young people) involved with the documentary. He said it was overwhelming to see his face up on the big screen for the first time. Rangatahi Pōtatau Clark. Photo: RNZ / Pokere Paewai He never thought he would be involved in anything like this, but decided to speak out after going through his own experiences with vaping in intermediate school. "I felt the guilt ... thinking to myself, 'I just did something that my Nan fights against.' So I thought I'd take a step forwards, let people know why I think it's harmful and why us Māori and rangatahi shouldn't do it." Clark said right now young Māori were facing a "vaping tsunami". "Walking through the school bathrooms and seeing vape clouds, it's just not a good sight to see as a rangatahi who is trying to prevent those things from happening," he said. Green MP Hūhana Lyndon attended Friday's launch as a longtime kaimahi (worker) in tobacco control prior to entering Parliament. "[The documentary] was very heartfelt. It reflected on all of the things that we needed to remember as a country and as being world leaders in smokefree. And Tupeka Kore is our Māori solution." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
25-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Local councils and the battle for money
Lower Hutt Mayor Campbell Barry speaking at the opening of Te Ngaengae Pool + Fitness. Barry became a councillor at 19, and New Zealand's then-youngest mayor at 28. Now, at 34, he's leaving politics for something different. Photo: Supplied / Hutt City Council / Elias Rodriguez When you vote in this year's local body elections - and you should vote - be wary of the candidate who promises zero rates increases. "Zero rates increases are of course possible," says Lower Hutt Mayor Campbell Barry, "but they do have serious consequences on local services and infrastructure delivery. The low rates approach - and our council suffered from it for a couple of decades - is the reason we're in the infrastructure deficit we have now. "Across the country, I think it's about $52 billion in backlog of infrastructure deferrals that have happened, and those candidates who come out and say they're just going to slash the rates... they need to be upfront and tell people, 'well, that also means our pipes aren't going to be renewed, we're going to look at closing libraries, we're going to obviously get rid of staff and the services they provide in local communities.' So they can't have their cake and eat it too, they need to be challenged and explain actually how they plan to do it." Barry can speak frankly because he is not standing again. Having become a councillor at 19, and New Zealand's then-youngest mayor at 28, serving two terms at the top, the 34-year-old is off to do something different. Today on The Detail he talks about local body revenue-raising options, the balance between rates rises and paying for infrastructure, and the level of central government interference in councils that is seeing the bills mount up on political whims ... while politicians rage about how much councils charge households to pay for it all. But one of the biggest problems is voter turnout. While about 80 percent of eligible voters turn out in central elections, the figure for local elections is half that. "It's such an important part of people's everyday lives, but there doesn't seem to be that level of interest," Barry says. "Voter turnout has been poor for some time. That's why we need to talk about it... people do need to take an interest and know who's representing them and making decisions of their behalf." Barry points out that ultimately New Zealand is a very centralised country - most of the decision-making does come from central government and that's where the focus is. Councils would like some of that decision-making, involving government mandates that councils end up funding, to be backed off. A classic example is traffic calming safety measures introduced by Labour, only to have National promise in the lead up to the election it would have speed bumps ripped up. "Local government is asked to deliver on such a wide breadth of issues across their local area. The unfunded mandates that we get from government are significant, they are continuously asking us to do more, and to do more while also receiving less revenue." In Lower Hutt it cost about $400,000 to implement speed calming measures - a few short years later it cost another $400,000 to take them away. The National Policy Statement on Urban Development, allowing for more intensive housing development, cost the council $700,000. "There are continuous policy changes from government which have that type of impact. And often councils look to try and just suck that cost up without putting additional burden on rates, but there is always a cost, because it means that your council officials are often having to re-prioritise and not do other things as well. "So that is a constant battle." Barry also talks on the podcast about the blunt tool that is rates, and the need to remove the restrictions on revenue-raising that would spread the burden. "All of the levers when it comes to revenue or tax relief or support, sit with government. But they refuse to have that conversation with us around how do we look to do things differently... how can local government have that tool box approach to different ways of raising revenue, more flexibility, more user-charge options. "While we had some good conversations with the previous government, nothing really happened there, and not much is happening at the moment with the current government. "That's something that needs to change otherwise we are going to have this spiral which I think is already causing major problems with trying to fund these things purely through rates." A possible change could be handing back councils the GST on rates - a tax on a tax. But "there is a $1.5 billion dollar reason the government won't do it," says Barry. "Councils across the country collect around $10b in rates each year. If they were to take that tax-on-a-tax off, it would be around about a $450 to $650 decrease in the average residential ratepayer's bill, instantly. So it would make a really big difference for councils across the country and I think it's something the government absolutely should consider." The government also does not pay rates on property it owns, such as schools and hospitals, and Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown is one of the civic leaders who've asked for that to change - for Auckland Council alone, it would put an estimated $40 million back in the coffers. In Lower Hutt the number would be $20-$30m a year. "That would make a significant difference," says Barry. Local election voting opens at the start of September and we will have new councils around the country by 11 October. Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
RNZ News
18-05-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Heavy rain, thunderstorms lash North Island, Hutt river floods
Several roads were closed in Lower Hutt overnight due to flooding from the Hutt River. File picture. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King The upper North Island was hit with heavy rain and thunderstorms overnight, but a severe thunderstorm watch for Auckland has now been lifted. A front moved east across the region, bringing downpours and thunder also in Northland, Great Barrier Island and the Coromandel Peninsula. And in the Lower North Island, in Lower Hutt , several roads were closed overnight due to flooding from the Hutt River, after the Wellington region was hammered by heavy rain. Hutt City Council said the rain had eased and its crews were out on Sunday night with all roads expected to be open by 6am today. Meanwhile, a teenager was rescued after trying to cross the Ngatiawa River in Tararua Forest Park when returning from an overnight hike. The boy was swept off his feet after rising floodwaters but managed to get to safety where he activated a locator beacon and was then able to be located and rescued. In the South Island, road snowfall warnings were in place overnight until 7am on Monday for Arthur's Pass and Porters Pass. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
