Welcome
to the College of Nurses Aotearoa News Update.
No. 292 23 March 2016
From
NZ media this week
New Zealander Awarded Highest International Nursing
Honour
Red Cross nurse Graham Zinsli
has been awarded the highest international nursing distinction, the Florence
Nightingale Medal.
Read more here
Get flu jab or wear a mask policy finds backing
Some health workers who do not get flu jabs
will have to wear face masks, after the Ministry of Health voiced its support
for the contentious policy.
Read more here
Changes to Health Advisory Committees
Health Minister Jonathan
Coleman has announced changes to the current health advisory committees and
entities.
The National Health Board
and National Health Committee will be disestablished and their functions
streamlined into the Ministry of Health.
Read more here
Aged
care
Liam Butler interviews Andrew Bayly MP for Hunua
How is the Government committed to older New
Zealanders?
Andrew Bayly MP:
Older New Zealanders have worked hard and should be
able to enjoy their retirement with dignity.
A key aspect of our commitment is growing health
services through a record $15.9 billion budget commitment in health. This
includes our $76.1 million commitment to hospices and palliative care. We are
funding areas which make a huge difference to people's lives by ensuring
terminally ill people are as free from pain and suffering as possible. Hospices
provide valuable care and support for families and friends, and this investment
will ensure they can continue to do so.
Read more here
Cancer
Govt accused of rushing changes to cervical cancer
screening
The government is being accused of haste and an
attempt to cut costs over planned changes to screening for cervical cancer.
Read more here
Cultural
safety
Barriers to healthcare more common for lesbians,
gays, bisexuals
Reuters Health - People who are lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB)
are more likely to run into obstacles when trying to get healthcare than their
straight peers, according to a number of new studies.
Read more here
DHBs
and PHOs
Funding cuts to Oamaru
Hospital reduce bed numbers
Six beds
will be removed from Oamaru Public Hospital as it moves to meet predicted
funding cuts.
The
Southern District Health Board (SDHB) has come under fire for how it funds its
hospitals - and how its proposed allocation to Waitaki District Health
Services (WDHS) will affect Oamaru's
services.
Read
more here
Middlemore
Hospital overflowing with patients
Middlemore
Hospital is already bursting at the seams and it's not even winter.
Last week the
hospital was at 106 per cent capacity while today it was at 108 per
cent.
Read more here
Concerns
over increasing pressure after funding cuts at Oamaru Hospital
There are concerns that predicted funding cuts
at Oamaru Public Hospital could lead to patients being discharged earlier than
usual, putting pressure on community organisations to pick up the slack.
Read more here
Improving health care
for larger New Zealanders
A
Wairarapa academic is part of a nationwide project to help larger New
Zealanders access safe, compassionate and equitable health care.
Read more here
Mental
health
Government to fund
several mental health packages worth millions for Canterbury
A
5.7 earthquake in Christchurch last month triggered a review of Canterbury's
mental health services and has prompted an extra $20 million from the
Government.
Read more here
Obesity
Will a soft-drink tax
work in NZ?
New
Zealand public health advocates are celebrating the United Kingdom Government's
move to tax soft-drinks but others remain unconvinced, including Health
Minister Jonathan Coleman.
Read
more here
Health Minister says
no plans for NZ sugar tax
The
Government has been called upon to follow Britain's move and place a sugar levy
on soft drinks, but Health Minister Jonathan Coleman said there were no plans
for a similar measure here.
Read
more here
NZ could be next for tax on sugary drinks - FIZZ
spokesman
The New
Zealand Government may reconsider its position on a tax on sugary drinks as
part of a comprehensive strategy to tackle obesity, says FIZZ spokesman, Dr
Gerhard Sundborn.
"In
light of the UK sugary drink tax announcement, our government may reconsider
its position, says Dr Sundborn, a research fellow at the University of
Auckland.
Read more here
Pressure mounts in NZ
as Britain announces 'game-changer' sugar tax
Britain's
surprise decision to introduce a sugar tax on soft drinks has been hailed as a
game-changer by a veteran Kiwi anti-sugar lobbyist.
The
British government unexpectedly announced in Wednesday's Budget that it would
introduce the tax from 2018.
Read
more here
Rod Jackson: Could a
sugar tax do more harm than good?
When
our Minister of Health and Prime Minister say they're waiting for definitive
evidence on the health benefits of a sugary drinks tax before deciding whether
to follow the United Kingdom's lead, they know they are on safe ground.
That's
because 'definitive evidence' on the health benefits of national taxes is
unobtainable.
Read more here
Ministry of Health
Encourages Schools to Adopt Water Only Policies
The
Ministry of Health is encouraging schools to consider adopting healthy drink
policies following information being provided to all schools by the Ministry of
Education.
The
Ministry of Health supports a simple schools drinks policy of water and plain reduced
fat milk.
Read more here
Public
health
Call for Government to fund HPV vaccine for boys
• HPV - human papilloma
virus is sexually transmitted
• Most people catch it
and their body clears it eventually
• In some cases it
persists and is linked to several types of cancer, such as of the cervix, penis,
anus and throat
• A vaccine, Gardasil,
can protect against four HPV strains, two of which are linked to cancers and
two to warts
• The vaccine is state
funded in NZ for girls
• Parents who want
their boys vaccinated have to pay about $450
Read more here
MidCentral smear rates
lacking
Asian
women in the MidCentral District Health Board area have been identified as
having the lowest cervical screening rates out of the three priority groups.
Read
more here
From International media this week
Assisted dying:
B.C. nurses won't get guidelines yet
College of
Registered Nurses of B.C. says it is simply following the law.
B.C.'s College of Registered Nurses will
continue to encourage its members to seek legal advice before participating in
physician-assisted dying procedures, despite a call from at least one doctor to
allow nurses to help.
Read more here
RCN suggests new nurse education model for Wales
Nurses would find it easier
to train in more than one field of nursing, under proposals for the future of
nurse education set out by the Royal College of Nursing in Wales.
The strategy
covers pre- and post-registration education, advanced practice and education
for healthcare support workers.
Read more here
In a fight between nurses and doctors, the nurses
are slowly winning
More states
are allowing nurses to provide all the kinds of care they learned about in
school.
Read more here
Articles
of interest
The
intersection of policy and informatics
Today's nurse manager must be on top of direct
patient care, the needs of families, and the requirements of agency
administration. In addition, we must understand federal and state laws and
regulations that have application to our role. When it comes to policies
regarding electronic health records (EHRs) and telehealth, we must also have a
working knowledge of informatics, including an understanding of the interface
among computers, technology, finance, and patient data. Knowing how to analyze
information and data enables us to provide evidence of the fiscal impact of
nursing care.
Read more here
Professional
development
National workshop on reducing harm from healthcare
associated infection
Event date:
9th - 9th Aug 2016
Location: Rydges Hotel, Wellington
Infection
Prevention & Control
The Health
Quality & Safety Commission is holding a national workshop on reducing harm
from healthcare associated infections on 9 August 2016.
The workshop
will be held from 9am–4pm at the Rydges Hotel, Wellington and will focus on:
multidisciplinary
approaches to infection prevention and control (IPC)
the value of
national surveillance and quality improvement programmes to reduce harm from
healthcare associated infections
use of IPC
software to improve sector capability.
The workshop
is aimed at infection prevention and control nurse specialists, clinical
microbiologists, infectious diseases physicians, scientists, pharmacists and
others with an interest in infection prevention.
Speakers
include:
Dr John
Ferguson, infectious diseases physician and clinical microbiologist, director
of the infection prevention service, Hunter New England Health
Associate
Professor Rhonda Stuart, infectious diseases physician and medical director of
infection control, Monash Health
Ms Kris
Farrar, clinical nurse specialist, infection prevention service, Hunter New
England Health.
Registrations
open on 2 May and early bird registration ($75) is available until 14 June
2016. Further information on the programme and registration will be made available
soon.
The above information has been collated for the
College of Nurses Aotearoa (NZ) Inc by Linda Stopforth, SNIPS and is provided
on a weekly basis. It is current as at Tuesday
22 March 2016.
If you have any feedback about content - what parts
are most useful or what you would like added - please email admin@nurse.org.nz
For more up
to date news and information follow SNIPS at:
Facebook: Snips Info
twitter: @SnipsInfo
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