Katarina Williams05:00, Jun 05 2021
Ross Giblin/Stuff
Meka Whaitiri, MP for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, wants to see more Māori enrolled at doctors’ surgeries.
Ikaroa-Rāwhiti MP Meka Whaitiri wants to see more Māori enrolled with Hutt Valley doctors surgeries to help ease the patient burden on Hutt Hospital s emergency department. In the wake of a significant investment in Māori health in last month s Budget, Whaitiri has raised concerns about the low Māori enrolment levels with health providers among a host of issues iwi face within the region that is included in her electorate. Eight-five percent of the Hutt Valley Māori population are enrolled with a doctor, but Whaitiri wants the remaining 15 per cent to sign up. In the Pasifika community, 94 pct are enrolled and in all other groups the 97 per cent are enrolled.
Wellington.Scoop
There’s been a low-key start to vaccinations in the Wellington region. Today the Capital and Coast District Health Board and the Hutt Valley District Health Board each thanked their staff for helping to deliver 50,000 doses of the covid vaccine in the region in the last three months.
Vaccinations began last week for Pacific people in Lower Hutt – with a “Pacific Festival Vaccination Day.”
RNZ reported that CCDHB had decided to lower the age from 65 to 55 for vaccinating Maori and Pacifika people and their households. More than 160 people were booked for vaccinations on the first day. There’ve been no progress reports since then, but a total figure of more than 5000 was mentioned.
RNZ
Northlanders are waiting on the phone for hours as they try to book appointments for their Covid-19 vaccine - while older people are being turned away as they attempt walk-in appointments.
More than a quarter of Air New Zealand’s frontline staff have not had a single Covid-19 dose and the Government doesn’t know how many other border workers are unvaccinated, months after the top priority group was first offered the vaccine. A new Health Order which mandates border workers must have had at least their first Covid-19 vaccine only covers border workers employed by the Government and not the “wider border workforce”. So it misses roles such as airline staff and port workers. All managed isolation and quarantine staff are covered by the order.
Report from RNZ
Wellington Hospital is short about 30 beds and urgently needs more operating theatres. That’s the message from the Capital and Coast District Health Board’s director of planning and performance, Rachel Haggerty.
She said the board has largely caught up on the backlog caused by last year’s lockdown but further problems loom with a shortage of beds and operating theatres, and operations may be delayed.
Haggerty said Capital and Coast has spent $6 million more than was budgeted on outsourcing operations to private hospitals.
A union for doctors and dentists is warning that all DHBs are at a tipping point, caused by entrenched short staffing and underfunding.
RNZ
The National Party says it s ongoing criticism of New Zealand s MIQ facilities is justified following the Covid-19 case in the community in Northland.
Thousands of New Zealand children are starting their schooling without a vital health check. Only 73.1 per cent of eligible four-year-olds had their B4 School Check (B4SC) in the year ended June because checks couldn’t go ahead during the Covid-19 lockdown. In the previous year, 91 per cent of eligible children were checked while the figure was 94 per cent in 2017. “It’s concerning to see so many children missing out, even during an uncertain time brought on by Covid-19,” Assistant Māori Commissioner for Children Glenis Philip-Barbara said.