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Jul 14, 2024 | 
1news.co.nz | Healthrnz.co.nzBy Rowan Quinn |Rowan Quinn
Medical jobs are going unfilled as part of a crackdown on hospital recruitment, despite Te Whatu Ora/Health NZ saying otherwise. RNZ has heard from multiple hospital workers around the country who say clinical jobs in their departments are being left vacant — and a senior hospital leader has written to staff about the "overly complex and bureaucratic" recruitment process.
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Jun 23, 2024 | 
1news.co.nz | Healthrnz.co.nzBy Rowan Quinn |Rowan Quinn
Some Waikato emergency patients are being sent to other hospitals because of a shortage of a specialist type of radiologist in the region. Interventional radiologists use images like CT scans and X-rays to diagnose or treat certain conditions - for example, guiding equipment internally to stop bleeding. However, they are so short-staffed at Waikato Hospital that none are able to be on-call on weeknights for emergencies or urgent cases.
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Jun 18, 2024 | 
1news.co.nz | Healthrnz.co.nzBy Rowan Quinn |Rowan Quinn
The brand new 150-bed North Shore Hospital building — which has been empty for months — is set to partially open but, effectively, no extra patients will get surgery as a result. That is because theatres in other parts of the hospital have to close so it can be staffed. The Tōtara Haumaru building is a similar size to Southland Hospital, and has capacity to do 15,000 procedures a year.
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Jun 6, 2024 | 
1news.co.nz | Healthrnz.co.nzBy Rowan Quinn |Rowan Quinn
At least 85,000 New Zealanders a year are being turned away from seeing a specialist — some of them dying as a result — a University of Otago study has found. The researchers have described the findings as a national scandal. One general practitioner (GP) told the study they had managed a heart patient "into the grave" because she could not get the care she needed.
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May 13, 2024 | 
1news.co.nz | Healthrnz.co.nzBy Rowan Quinn |Rowan Quinn
A junior doctor was the only one on duty for "more than 50" patients in Gisborne Hospital the night an elderly man died, in a case criticised by the Health and Disability Commission. In a report released today, the Aged Care Commissioner Carolyn Cooper found short staffing contributed to substandard care of the man by Te Whatu Ora (now Health NZ).
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Apr 30, 2024 | 
1news.co.nz | Healthrnz.co.nzBy Rowan Quinn |Rowan Quinn
Hospitals around the country are not allowed to make a single hiring decision without the approval of Te Whatu Ora's head office — including for cleaners and administration staff. It means if somewhere like Southland Hospital wants to replace a nurse, that decision has to go a long way up the chain — and the country — for approval. It is the same for every hospital and clinic in the huge organisation.
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Apr 8, 2024 | 
1news.co.nz | Healthrnz.co.nzBy Rowan Quinn |Rowan Quinn
The huge surgical centre sitting unused at Auckland's North Shore Hospital could be treating more than 15,000 patients a year. The brand new, 150-bed facility, Tōtara Haumaru, was built and kitted-out but did not have enough staff — or a budget — to get up and running. Doctors there told RNZ they had been kept in the dark. One, who did not want to be named, said it was madness to have the centre's eight operating theatres sitting unused in the face of huge surgical waiting lists.
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Apr 7, 2024 | 
1news.co.nz | Healthrnz.co.nzBy Rowan Quinn |Rowan Quinn
A brand new surgical building the size of a provincial hospital is sitting empty on the grounds of North Shore Hospital, its opening delayed and no new date set. There are lights on and hospital beds in place in the four storey, 150-bed Tōtara Haumaru building, but it could be months before there are patients. It did not have the staff it needed, and the amount of money allocated to run it for the next financial year had not been decided.
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Mar 14, 2024 | 
1news.co.nz | Healthrnz.co.nzBy Rowan Quinn |Rowan Quinn
More than half of all lung cancers are not diagnosed until after an emergency department visit - when it is often too late, a new report by the Cancer Control Agency shows. And it found around half of many other cancers are not picked up until after an ED admission, with New Zealand having the highest rate of comparable countries. When cancer is diagnosed only after an ED visit, the chances of dying or having serious health problems as a result were much higher.
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Mar 12, 2024 | 
1news.co.nz | Healthrnz.co.nzBy Rowan Quinn |Rowan Quinn
Pharmacists will be able to vaccinate babies and preschoolers from the start of next month. Approval has been granted by Pharmac after Te Whatu Ora/Health NZ sought the change to try to boost lagging immunisation rates. The pharmacists will have to undergo training first, but will then be able to vaccinate babies from six weeks of age for all the free childhood immunisations on the New Zealand vaccination schedule. Until now they had been able to vaccinate older children.
