Briefs September 2011
NZNO solidarity with Fiji nurses
Nursing unions in New Zealand and Australia are concerned for Fiji nurses in the wake of recent action by Fiji’s military government. Nano Tunnicliff, president of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) said in a statement they were extremely concerned about an August decree that “devastated employment rights” in Fiji. “The situation for our nursing colleagues is very bad,” Tunnliciff said. “Student nurses are being required to work even though they are not qualified. Hospitals in Fiji are not safe for staff or patients. The military government has made the country unsafe at every level.” She said the NZNO had called on the New Zealand government to make it clear to the military government that human and trade union rights abuses will not be tolerated. The Australian Nursing Federation has also condemned the action of the military regime including the axing of payroll deduction arrangements for public sector unions like the Fiji Nursing Association (FNA). “As the professional and industrial representative of nurses in Fiji, FNA relies almost exclusively on payroll deductions to fund the range of services it provides to nursing groups across the country,” said ANF federal secretary
Lee Thomas. She said FNA was heavily involved in providing education and professional development activities for nurses in Fiji and without sufficient funds these services would cease. Meanwhile the Cabinet of the Fiji military government in early September approved a new nursing degree that requires foreign and local nurses to have an annual licence to work and is to replace former governing boards with a new Fiji Nursing Council.
Fizzy drink sugar resistant to brushing
New research shows even teens with good toothbrushing habits are at high risk of holes if they drink fizzy drinks, the recent Public Health Association conference was told. Deepa Krishnan of the Dental Association has been studying the link between consumption of junk food and dental damage in 13 to 17-year-olds. “Undoubtedly the mother of all evils is fizzy drink, because it combines huge amounts of sugar with acid – both deadly to the health of teeth,” Krishnan said. “The study suggests the effects of junk food extend beyond poor nutrition, obesity and its associated risks, to poor oral health, which remains the most common chronic disease in New Zealand.” She said New Zealanders had increased sugar intake by almost 20 per cent in the last 30 years. The government spent $38 million last year treating the teeth of 185,000 adolescents and if the sugar consumption trend was not reversed, the bill would keep rising to repair the damage done during adolescence.
Nurses amongst public health award winners
A Christchurch MÄori health trust and a former nurse turned public health manager were honoured with awards at the recent Public Health Association conference. Christchurch’s Te Puawaitanga ki Otautahi Trust took out the association’s award for outstanding achievement in MÄori public health for its post-quake work. The trust, whose services include Tamariki Ora/Well Child services and a disease state management nursing service, spent time relocating and supporting clients needing additional support following the quakes. They also worked with the MÄori Women’s Welfare League to develop and distribute an emergency survival kit to vulnerable old people and whÄnau. Former nurse
Dallas Honey took out the Public Health Champion award for 2011 for her “flaxroots” work to improve the health of people in her region. Honey, the public health portfolio manager at Waikato District Health Board, moved from nursing into health promotion and then into public health, with roles including emergency management and the Healthy Eating Healthy Action (HEHA) programme.
Cultural safety clarification
Last month’s College of Nurses’ opinion article ‘What is cultural safety and why does it matter in 2011?’ mispelled the MÄori term for cultural safety. The correct spelling is kawa whakaruruhau. The author and Nursing Review apologise for the error.
More addiction treatment in primary care
The ability of primary care to provide addiction treatment should be “significantly increased”, says National Addiction Centre Professor Doug Sellman. Sellman told an addiction symposium late last month that addiction treatment was not only seriously underfunded but also hampered because it was separated from the rest of the health service, particularly general practice. He said two essential changes were required: the first being for addicts and their families to have a “health home” at their primary healthcare centre rather than a specialist addiction service. The capability of primary care to provide addiction treatment also needed to be significantly increased. “It’s really important that primary healthcare staff play a major role in early intervention as well as in continuing care for people after they’ve had more intensive treatment. “While specialist addiction treatment services need to increase in size to cope with unmet needs, they must also move much closer to (and even begin to overlap with) primary care.” He said such changes were not without risks as specialist services were already fragile, with high staff turnover and “worrying demoralisation” in many places. “But the outcome will be improvements in quality of care and a reduction in the stigma attached to addictions. Job satisfaction amongst all healthcare workers involved in treating people with addictions will improve as well.”
Call for minister of cancer
A call for a minister of cancer to be appointed to stop the number one killer, cancer, has been made in an election manifesto by a group of cancer organisations.
CANGO, a consortium of eight major cancer NGOs, said cancer was a big election issue as it affected close to 30 per cent of New Zealanders. Dalton Kelly, CANGO spokesman, said New Zealand fell short on early cancer diagnosis, access to care and that cancer outcomes for MÄori and Pacific islanders are extremely poor. The manifesto also calls for for fast-tracking of the bowel cancer screening programme, equal access to cancer prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment across the country, and improvements to the cancer registry. It also calls for support for a national cancer research strategy and improvements to how cancer services share information electronically to ensure all systems around the country are linked.
Southern Cross buying GP practices
A new arm of Southern Cross has announced the purchase of a second general practice towards an intended national network. Southern Cross Primary Care purchased a 20 per cent stake in Queenstown Medical Centre, which has three locations in Queenstown and Arrowtown. The Queenstown practice joins north Auckland’s Silverdale Medical in the network which says it aims to identify new business and clinical models to offer “long term, sustainable value” for New Zealanders.
