Latest news with #afterhours
ABC News
26-07-2025
- General
- ABC News
After-hours Open Library Access program winning users over for flexibility and convenience
It has just gone dark in Tasmania's north-west and library lovers are starting to enter their local library. "It is like a secret library club," Sam McFarlane said. Mr McFarlane is using his library card to access the library after-hours. The library, in Penguin, is unstaffed, and he is one of only a few people inside now the doors have officially closed and are locked to the general public. "It's very thrilling," Mr McFarlane said. Mr McFarlane is one of 130 Tasmanians who have signed up to be Libraries Tasmania Open Library Access members. The Open Library Access program is being trialled at the Penguin and Devonport libraries, with members able to let themselves in after-hours to check out books and use the library's facilities when staff aren't around. "Once you're in the library, you can access all of the same services you do during normal hours," Libraries Tasmania service and program delivery coordinator Kerrie Grgurevic said "You could be using the computer or printing, you can borrow books. You can access the free wi-fi, or just sit and read the paper." The trial started at Penguin early in the year and expanded to Devonport in May. Ms Grgurevic said the self-service initiative was already happening elsewhere around the world. "We know how important libraries are to our communities, but the reality is that normal business hours don't suit everybody because life is busy," she said. "In our annual client surveys, there's certainly been lots of comments that clients want extra access, particularly on weekends. "We've looked to what other libraries nationally and internationally have been doing to address that challenge and there are examples of successful self-access libraries already, so we thought it made sense for us to investigate it for us." To become an Open Library Access member, Tasmanians need to be aged 18 and over and complete a 50-minute induction at their chosen library. Ms Grgurevic said during the induction, library staff take prospective members through their conditions of use, safety and emergency information, how to self-check out a book and a walk-through of the building. Members then sign contractual agreements. Once inducted, members are able to access the library they have been inducted at seven days a week, any time between 7am and 9pm. For author Jodi Wilson, the open access trial allows her to escape the chaos of writing and editing her books at home with four children. "Writing four books in the corner of my family home has been pretty chaotic, so open libraries is essentially a publicly-funded writing space for me," Wilson said. "It offers me that separation between work and home, and studies show that really is meaningful for a sustainable creative life." Rebecca Hodgkinson usually visits the Penguin Library with her four-year-old son Xavier and baby daughter Maisie. "With kids, things don't always go to plan, especially timeframes and opening hours and nap times, so for us it was about convenience and flexibility," Ms Hodgkinson said. Libraries Tasmania hopes to one day roll out the open access program at other libraries across the state and make it part of its "normal service". But the Community and Public Sector Union, which represents library workers, is concerned that unmanned library hours will result in eroded services in smaller communities and reduced work hours for staff. "The Liberal government will say there is support for this trial, but really the support is for libraries to be open longer, not for unstaffed libraries," the union's general secretary Thirza White said. "We're really worried that this is the thin edge of the wedge, and that what we'll see is that library workers will lose shifts on weekends and public holidays and we will see services eroded in some of our smallest communities. "Just last year the Liberal government tried to cut regional libraries' opening hours and only backtracked after community pressure." Ms White said the union would prefer to see more investment in libraries. "What we'd like to see is that library staff have more resources to run more programs and services, to increase participation in libraries," she said. "We want to make sure that when someone comes to the library, there's a friendly face there. Libraries aren't just about the buildings and the books, they're about librarians. "We know that many people are struggling with loneliness and libraries are an important solution to that, but not if they don't have staff." The union said questions asked about security and safety also had not been answered. The state government said security systems at the trial libraries had been upgraded to include more CCTV, security alarms, duress alarms and sensor lights. Mr McFarlane said even though staff were not present in the library outside of normal operating hours, he felt safe. "The way the program has been put together, and the process of the inductions and the way the staff familiarise you with the building and make you aware of the facilities and how to use them and to be safe in the library, is really comprehensive and reassuring," he said He said he would love to see more libraries open longer. You can find more information on the Open Library Access program on the Libraries Tasmania website
RNZ News
19-05-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Northland Emergency doctor on govt urgent heathcare boost
Concern tonight that tens of millions of dollars being injected into after hours urgent care services won't make treatment any cheaper for patients who will still be paying to go to private after hours clinic. The government has announced 164 million dollar over four years in Budget 2025 to expand urgent and after-hours healthcare services across the country. Northland Emergency doctor Gary Payinder spoke to Lisa Owen. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
18-05-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Budget 2025: New funding for after-hours care 'not going to go very far' - GP and urgent care doctor
New health funding has been welcomed, but there are still concerns over the lack of a trained workforce. File photo. Photo: Photo /123RF General practice doctors are grateful for the government's new funding for after-hours urgent health care , but there are major concerns about how it will be staffed. The GPs say the funding acknowledges urgent care has been under pressure, but the funding is "reasonably light" for what the government is trying to achieve. The government has committed to greater accessibility to urgent and after-hours healthcare in the regions, with several new 24-hour services planned around the country. New funding of $164 million has been allocated over the next four years, with 24-hour urgent care clinics "identified" for Counties Manukau, Whangārei, Palmerston North, Tauranga and Dunedin. The funding boost also covers "new and extended" daytime services for other centres, including Lower Hutt, Invercargill and Timaru. In a pre-Budget announcement on Sunday, Health Minister Simeon Brown said the funding boost would mean 98 percent of New Zealanders would have access to in-person urgent care within an hour's drive. "Strengthening urgent and after-hours care is an important part of our government's plan to ensure all New Zealanders have access to timely, quality healthcare," Brown said. There are currently 48 urgent care clinics across New Zealand, most of which are jointly funded by Health New Zealand and ACC. On top of that are many other after-hours services that provide similar levels of care, but are not considered to be urgent care clinics. Dr Angus Chambers is the chair of GenPro - an organisation that represents the people who own general practices and urgent care centres. He said it was "definitely positive" to have some investment in the after hour urgent care space. "It's clearly a critical area for patient care and and it's under quite a lot of stress, so it's definitely good to see some thoughts into trying to support it." His two main concerns were around the amount of funding and the lack of a trained workforce available to staff the clinics. "The funding seems reasonably light for what they're trying to achieve." He said when the allocated funding is divided between the hundreds of services across the country, the "money's not going to go very far". Chambers also compared it to funding for telehealth services, saying the "complexity of providing an in person after hours service is so much greater". After-hours involved doctors, nurses, a receptionist and facilities, he said. "It's just a little bit hard to see how they've come up with a figure." The other issue he said was going to be "staffing the services" because "the general practice workforce has never been weaker than it is at the moment". He said some of the money will need to be used to make these roles more attractive and keep people working in New Zealand. Chambers said there were a lot of GPs working around the country at "far lower than market rates" to keep those services going, "because they're part of a community". "They see the need for some meaningful work, but we shouldn't have to expect GPs to work with altruism." Overall, Chambers said the "fix" for decreasing demand on hospitals, emergency departments and the after-hours problem was "high functioning general practice care" so that people can get appointments in a timely manner. "If we could manage chronic disease so it doesn't deteriorate, that is what will lead to far less demand." Chambers said involving people who provide these services in decision-making would result in better outcomes. "I think would get greater efficiency and greater effectiveness by trusting the people who actually deliver this work, rather than bureaucrats who are very well meaning, but have really very little idea how to deliver these kind of health services which are very complex and require a lot of experience to get right." Brown told Morning Report the government's investments in primary care will ensure new urgent care clinics are adequately staffed with doctors. "That's why we've announced another range of investments into primary care earlier this year." Funding had been allocated to train 50 more GPs a year, 100 overseas doctors already in NZ, and for 120 nurse practitioners per year, he said. "[The government] is putting a lot of effort not just into extending services or supporting services but also that workforce piece which we know is critically important." He confirmed existing providers would be central to the new services. "Generally they'll be working with current providers and looking to extend hours rather than building new clinics. For instance in Counties Manukau, where it's been identified the need for a new 24/7 provider, there's already a number of providers who provide after-hours care, Health NZ will go through a procurement process to identify a partner there to provide the overnight service in Counties Manukau," he said. Dr Luke Bradford is the medical director at the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. The college looks after the education and standards, advocacy and policy work for the country's general practitioners, and has about 6500 members. Bradford cautiously welcomed the announcement, saying it acknowledged urgent care had been under pressure and an unsustainable model. "It's a vital part in the delivery of the healthcare system, so to acknowledge that it needs increased support was really important." Bradford said the core issues for urgent care come from the financial viability of the model. He wants to make sure the funding supports the model. Bradford said he understood the actual cost to see a patient was about $170 per person. Chambers added the cost to attend an after-hours clinic can range from $0-$260, which was highest he had heard. It varied based on age, ACC status and whether someone had a Community Services Card. "Without funding going in, it's user pays," Bradford said, "there's no way the fees being charged were covering that." Bradford said the other big issue was staff. Clinics are usually staffed - in large part - by GPs working "after hours and on top of their normal work," he said. Rural "on-call hours" and those in the smaller centres often were not paid so you were getting "tired GPs, GPs being underpaid to do it, and therefore you were struggling to staff them." He hoped that would level out due to this funding. As to whether what the government has proposed was possible, Bradford said the "devil's in the detail". He explained the 24/7 clinics were unlikely to be staffed by doctors overnight because there was not enough doctors. "I suspect that it'll be a combination of nurses and paramedics with telehealth support." But he did believe if conditions improved for clinicians working in urgent care, and if the clinics themselves were financially viable, "then a good service can be set up." The majority of the funding would have to go toward staffing, because "you have to pay a premium to the staff who are going to be working overnight". Staff safety was also a priority so people were not alone in buildings through the night, he said. He was also unsure how extra nurses would be attracted to the roles, given the current pay disparity between primary care nurses and their hospital counterparts. The New Zealand Nurses Organisation was also worried about staffing. Primary Health Care Nurses College chair Tracey Morgan said: "Our biggest concern is where will the staff come from. "We welcome the focus on primary and community care but it ignores the main issue. "The pressure on urgent care can't be fixed without solving the chronic under-staffing issues the sector faces." She said until the government gave primary and community health care nurses pay parity with their Te Whatu Ora counterparts, "the sector will continue to lose nurses and health care workers to better paid jobs in hospitals and to better paid jobs overseas". Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
18-05-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
New funding for after-hours care 'not going to go very far' - GP and urgent care doctor
New health funding has been welcomed, but there are still concerns over the lack of a trained workforce. File photo. Photo: Photo /123RF General practice doctors are grateful for the government's new funding for after-hours urgent health care , but there are major concerns about how it will be staffed. The GPs say the funding acknowledges urgent care has been under pressure, but the funding is "reasonably light" for what the government is trying to achieve. The government has committed to greater accessibility to urgent and after-hours healthcare in the regions, with several new 24-hour services planned around the country. New funding of $164 million has been allocated over the next four years, with 24-hour urgent care clinics "identified" for Counties Manukau, Whangārei, Palmerston North, Tauranga and Dunedin. The funding boost also covers "new and extended" daytime services for other centres, including Lower Hutt, Invercargill and Timaru. In a pre-Budget announcement on Sunday, Health Minister Simeon Brown said the funding boost would mean 98 percent of New Zealanders would have access to in-person urgent care within an hour's drive. "Strengthening urgent and after-hours care is an important part of our government's plan to ensure all New Zealanders have access to timely, quality healthcare," Brown said. There are currently 48 urgent care clinics across New Zealand, most of which are jointly funded by Health New Zealand and ACC. On top of that are many other after-hours services that provide similar levels of care, but are not considered to be urgent care clinics. Dr Angus Chambers is the chair of GenPro - an organisation that represents the people who own general practices and urgent care centres. He said it was "definitely positive" to have some investment in the after hour urgent care space. "It's clearly a critical area for patient care and and it's under quite a lot of stress, so it's definitely good to see some thoughts into trying to support it." His two main concerns were around the amount of funding and the lack of a trained workforce available to staff the clinics. "The funding seems reasonably light for what they're trying to achieve." He said when the allocated funding is divided between the hundreds of services across the country, the "money's not going to go very far". Chambers also compared it to funding for telehealth services, saying the "complexity of providing an in person after hours service is so much greater". After-hours involved doctors, nurses, a receptionist and facilities, he said. "It's just a little bit hard to see how they've come up with a figure." The other issue he said was going to be "staffing the services" because "the general practice workforce has never been weaker than it is at the moment". He said some of the money will need to be used to make these roles more attractive and keep people working in New Zealand. Chambers said there were a lot of GPs working around the country at "far lower than market rates" to keep those services going, "because they're part of a community". "They see the need for some meaningful work, but we shouldn't have to expect GPs to work with altruism." Overall, Chambers said the "fix" for decreasing demand on hospitals, emergency departments and the after-hours problem was "high functioning general practice care" so that people can get appointments in a timely manner. "If we could manage chronic disease so it doesn't deteriorate, that is what will lead to far less demand." Chambers said involving people who provide these services in decision-making would result in better outcomes. "I think would get greater efficiency and greater effectiveness by trusting the people who actually deliver this work, rather than bureaucrats who are very well meaning, but have really very little idea how to deliver these kind of health services which are very complex and require a lot of experience to get right." Dr Luke Bradford is the medical director at the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. The college looks after the education and standards, advocacy and policy work for the country's general practitioners, and has about 6500 members. Bradford cautiously welcomed the announcement, saying it acknowledged urgent care had been under pressure and an unsustainable model. "It's a vital part in the delivery of the healthcare system, so to acknowledge that it needs increased support was really important." Bradford said the core issues for urgent care come from the financial viability of the model. He wants to make sure the funding supports the model. Bradford said he understood the actual cost to see a patient was about $170 per person. Chambers added the cost to attend an after-hours clinic can range from $0-$260, which was highest he had heard. It varied based on age, ACC status and whether someone had a Community Services Card. "Without funding going in, it's user pays," Bradford said, "there's no way the fees being charged were covering that." Bradford said the other big issue was staff. Clinics are usually staffed - in large part - by GPs working "after hours and on top of their normal work," he said. Rural "on-call hours" and those in the smaller centres often were not paid so you were getting "tired GPs, GPs being underpaid to do it, and therefore you were struggling to staff them." He hoped that would level out due to this funding. As to whether what the government has proposed was possible, Bradford said the "devil's in the detail". He explained the 24/7 clinics were unlikely to be staffed by doctors overnight because there was not enough doctors. "I suspect that it'll be a combination of nurses and paramedics with telehealth support." But he did believe if conditions improved for clinicians working in urgent care, and if the clinics themselves were financially viable, "then a good service can be set up." The majority of the funding would have to go toward staffing, because "you have to pay a premium to the staff who are going to be working overnight". Staff safety was also a priority so people were not alone in buildings through the night, he said. He was also unsure how extra nurses would be attracted to the roles, given the current pay disparity between primary care nurses and their hospital counterparts. The New Zealand Nurses Organisation was also worried about staffing. Primary Health Care Nurses College chair Tracey Morgan said: "Our biggest concern is where will the staff come from. "We welcome the focus on primary and community care but it ignores the main issue. "The pressure on urgent care can't be fixed without solving the chronic under-staffing issues the sector faces." She said until the government gave primary and community health care nurses pay parity with their Te Whatu Ora counterparts, "the sector will continue to lose nurses and health care workers to better paid jobs in hospitals and to better paid jobs overseas". Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
18-05-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Budget 2025: Government commits $164m over four years towards after-hours health care
The government has committed to greater accessibility to urgent and after-hours healthcare in the regions, with several new 24-hour services planned around the country. New funding of $164 million has been allocated over the next four years, with 24-hour urgent care clinics "identified" for Counties Manukau, Whangārei, Palmerston North, Tauranga and Dunedin. The funding boost also covers "new and extended" daytime services for other centres, including Lower Hutt, Invercargill and Timaru. In a pre- Budget announcement on Sunday, Health Minister Simeon Brown said the funding boost would mean 98 percent of New Zealanders would have access to in-person urgent care within an hour's drive. "Strengthening urgent and after-hours care is an important part of our government's plan to ensure all New Zealanders have access to timely, quality healthcare," Brown said. "Budget 2025 is investing $164 million over four years to expand urgent and after-hours healthcare services across the country. This means 98 percent of New Zealanders will be able to receive in-person urgent care within one hour's drive of their homes." Funding will also cover maintaining all existing urgent and after-hours healthcare services across the country and improved after-hour services in remote and rural areas with round-the-clock on-call support. "Around 5000 New Zealanders visit urgent care clinics every day, but the availability of after-hours services has declined in recent years, and access remains variable across the country," Brown said. "Making it easier to see a doctor or nurse is a key priority for this government. We're taking action to ensure Kiwis can access the care they need, when and where they need it." The investment would also support more timely care, easing pressure on emergency departments, and improving outcomes for patients, Brown said. "Urgent care supports patients with non-life-threatening injuries or medical problems not severe enough to require emergency department care, but who can't wait until the following day for medical attention," he said. "Expanding community-based urgent care will help ease pressure on hospitals and keep emergency departments wait times down for those with the most serious conditions. "It also gives people more choice, particularly in rural and remote areas where options have been limited." The announcement was made in Auckland's Pakuranga with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. More to come. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
