Nurses working at managed isolation facilities across the country have raised concerns about staff shortages and instability.
.. The ministry said the matters have been addressed – but many health care professionals working at border facilities disagree.
In a peculiarly bizarre way this is somewhat comforting.
When entropy reigns supreme, and it seems there is nothing and no one who can be trusted there's our systemically dysfunctional Ministry of Health reliably doing what we all know they do best.
Denying, minimising, dismissing and generally disrespecting those at the front line and at the coal face.
In a statement to RNZ, the ministry confirmed all matters identified in the audit had been followed up and addressed.
But that is rejected by two of the country's largest nursing unions, which have hundreds of members working in MIQ facilities.
oh well if only we had a caring and gentle government that has a clear majority to get stuff done.
The problem is not the 'Ministry' the problem is the government. And it seems that the Labour Government is even less inclined to work for their wages then the National Goverment.
I spoke with a nurse a few month back who laughingly stated that the new ventilators had arrived in the country – thanks god – now if we could just train and hire and pay the nurses to man and monitor these ventilators.
Surely any day now – any day now, our Labor overlords are gonna do something about something. I can see someone write an article about how all this time was squandered by people who yet don't suffer the consequences of their actions.
Except, this isn’t BAU and MoH is not the only Ministry involved in MIQ.
From your link:
Dr Sally Roberts is a clinical microbiologist at Auckland District Health Board and an advisor to the Covid-19 taskforce.
She said everyone was working hard to keep staff and returnees safe – and while facilities were steadily improving, it was important to remember they were newly established entities.
"Prior to 2020, we didn't have managed isolation quarantine facilities of this nature, and they involve multiple agencies working together who haven't had a working relationship in the past, and the facilities are not designed for managing individuals with infectious diseases, so it's been a big learning curve."
It is important to keep the pressure on and the nurses unions, epidemiologists, and other experts are doing a good job at that and in sticking up for their members at the same time. However, the RNZ article was more balanced and the situation appears to be less B & W than your comment suggested 🙂
I think it is important to keep in mind that nobody has the perfect answer/solution/approach and that the situation with Covid is always evolving and changing.
With respect, Incognito, I assume that folks who visit here are more than capable of reading a linked article in its entirety and form their own opinions.
Twenty years of having to deal with the Ministry of Health and its agents over disability issues has left me cynical and disillusioned. Health is about people…and unfortunately our Ministry of Health, as a bureaucracy, seems to forget this basic premise.
The Ministry has form. For years they denied, dismissed and minimised the abuse and neglect of disabled people in MOH funded residential care. Look up the 2013 articles by Kirsty Johnston.
At the same time the Ministry declared open warfare against those people with significant disabilities and the family members who they had chosen to provide the high level of care they need. Or they had no option (other than the potential horrors of residential care) than to have resident family provide the care…because the Ministry of Health refused to fund the advanced personal cares required.
Despite the issue of paying family carers having been heard many times in various legal settings over the past two decades (with our side winning with embarrassing monotony) it was only in April last year, and under 'special' Covid conditions, that my partner has been allowed to pay me as his carer. And we have been reminded by the Ministry this is temporary. Goddess forbid we should ever feel secure.
A quick search on the Natrad webpage and you'll find numerous articles (Many by Catherine Hutton) describing the deep despair of disabled people and their families. Nothing changes for the better because of the culture of the Ministry.
I spent a while over New Years speaking with a midwife. Again, the good folk at Natrad have also kept track over the years as the midwives have battled to gain some level of respect from the funders… the Miserly of Health.
And this midwife was using the same language and expressed the same deep despair that we in the MOH disability community have voiced.
And I'm hearing that same tone from these nurses.
But this time, with Te Virus scratching at our borders, the risks if the Ministry runs true to form will impact the whole community.
You’d be surprised how many people don’t read any further than a headline 😉
When people read your comment, they may or may not decide to read the linked article, based on your PoV. BTW, this is exactly why tend to insist on links and a brief accompanying commentary as to what to expect and as to why people should read it.
Your views of MoH are well documented here and you have your reasons.
I make no apologies for presenting my take on the same article to which you linked. This does not take away anything at all from your personal experiences of and with MoH. It is about presenting another perspective on the content of the article and a number of voices therein, including those of some nurses, not on MoH as such.
And yet despite the nurses union bringing this up (and I don’t doubt their concerns, after all who would want to be working at the border), we still have to date no community out break and the times we have it has been very swiftly contained. So time to admit moh doing a lot that is right.
it is worrying though about the new mutation. Only a matter of time before another outbreak. Trust our health people it manage it, but will likely mean another location
Prior to the more infectious strains the MoH was able to manage Covid – 19. Looking at overseas tends with the newer highly infectious strains I do not have the same level of confidence when it comes to containing a community outbreak.
Hypothetical exchange between Senior Management at a MIQ facility and a Senior Level Bureaucrat at the MOH.
MIQ…."We really need more staff at all levels…."
MOH…."But you're all doing so well! There's absolutely NO community transmission! It's obvious we've got this! Keep it up team!"
MIQ…"But we're all so tired. We've all been at this for months. We need to train up many more people so we can have a break. Some at the frontline are so scared of making a mistake because of exhaustion that stress levels are through the roof. Please approve more funding for more staff."
MOH…. "Look guys…we get this is all very new…but its clear we have hit just the right note here. We don't need to go overboard. All those little niggles that you guys had last October have been dealt to. Look at the paperwork …we have an Action Plan!"
Their job is working with samples that are presumed to be dangerously pathogenic at all times, not just when there's a pandemic going on. So they've got the mindset, skills and equipment to keep themselves safe.
(Being purposefully vague to protect the guilty) there was fairly recently a non-medical biohazard facility that was close to losing certification because it had a lot of students screwing up the lab's integrity. Things like opening windows when the air is supposed to be filtered before going back outside, or not wearing lab coats so they're taking stuff outside on their street clothes.
And storing radium in a draw in the laboratory. My cousin who worked at the DSIR Physical Engineering Laboratory in Gracefield tells of the time they were doing a clean-up in the late 50's when they opened a draw they seldom used and found at the back a large sample of radium (I've forgotten how many curies were written on it). He initially worked for Sir Ernest Marsden as a lab tech.
Bit off topic – a question in a recent quiz in ‘The Listener’ reminded me of the once common enough practice of using X-ray Shoe Fitter, Pedoscope and Foot-o-scope devices in shoe shops.
The first scientific evaluations of these machines in 1948 immediately sparked concern for radiation protection and electrical safety reasons, and found them ineffective at shoe fitting.
In 1999, Time placed Shoe-Store X Rays on a list of the 100 worst ideas of the 20th century.
A very bad idea, but oddly enough one that didn't trigger an epidemic of foot cancer either. If there was any radiation harm caused by them, it's buried in the statistical noise.
Besides that wiki article bases it's case on the now very shakey Linear No Threshold (LNT) thesis originally put up by Muller in 1927. While it may have been a useful idea in the early days of nuclear radiation, being the most conservative model possible and could have been justified as a 'precautionary principle', all the real world data since has strongly suggested that in fact all living creatures are constantly bathed in a background radiation that does us no harm at all.
Indeed there are a number of cases where people have lived with substantially higher background radiation levels over long periods, and surprisingly show reduced levels of cancer.
No-one has been able to prove a watertight case either way (nor given the nature of the RCT necessary are they ever likely to), but there are good grounds to think that the LNT thesis is far too conservative and generates perverse outcomes.
That is interesting; how on earth did you stumble on that?
You do ask a really worthwhile question; how to tell the difference between a useful result and 'covid bandwagon'. After all a decent RCT trial to put the matter beyond all doubt is simply not going to be available in most cases. Demanding this level of gold standard proof is not always reasonable.
A good comparison can be made with the case made against tobacco smoking and lung cancer, that never rested on anything more than historic observation studies and correlations as far as I’m aware. I doubt anyone ever did a full noise RCT on this (although I could always be wrong).
As time goes on we continue to learn more about COVID, and we find all manner of interesting aspects like the probable role that Vitamin D, Zinc, and Selenium may play. The jury remains noisily deadlocked on Ivermectin, and I'm sure there a few other plays out there I'm unaware of.
One point I need to clarify; it's perfectly possible to be both alarmed at the threat of this disease and at the same time alarmed and disappointed at some of the responses by various medical authorities and governments.
More than anything else we need to stop politicising this; it was a catastrophe for the climate change issue, and will play out no better on this.
For all practical purposes, yes, all asbestos is harmful. Your mat was probably made with chrysotile (white asbestos), which is the most common and least hazardous form of asbestos. But that "least hazardous" is kinda like saying ebola is less hazardous than rabies.
The really dangerous route for it to cause harm is when it get turns into dust and you breathe it in. So your mat for hot pots is lowish risk, unless you were in the habit of banging it against a post at about head level to get dust out of it, like a rug.
If it's not getting turned into dust, then it's low risk. That's why the advice is if your house has asbestos in the walls or ceiling or roof, don't worry about it unless you disturb it somehow. Like doing renovations, or cleaning an asbestos cement roof. Then you need the $$$$$ expert$$$$$ to come and deal with it.
Nasal/oral swabs don’t exhale, sneeze or cough on the lab workers. The actual sample is stuck in and onto the bud, which is how it has been designed to work. Unless the lab worker licks their gloved fingers, sucks the bud, or sticks the bud up their own nose by accident, the risks of getting infected are slim.
Do you know how the nasal oral swabs are destroyed?
Also the method to clean the lab equipment. Both could cause contamination. I am not sure how long samples used to test for Covid are stored for either.
Incinerator and autoclave respectively. In my memory of biological wastes and laboratory equipment. There would likely be a negative pressure gradient in any lab analyzing SARS-CoV2 too, at least you'd hope so!
Yup. Liquid waste is treated with special disinfectant. Surfaces are treated with disinfectant too and UV light. All disposable waste is treated as biohazardous medical waste. Much of what is used in the lab is disposable anyway and provided in kits, except the PCR machine 😉
“Covid 19 coronavirus: Lockdown expected if UK or South African variant found in community.”
Do we really have to wait until it is in the community to lock down. Economically and socially we would be much better off to lock down NOW. Lock all travellers from countries with high rates of Covid.
There is 1 in 30 infected with it in England.
50% of the elderly are dying from it.
Every 36 hours someone breaks the rules in NZ ‘s quarantine !
New Zealanders have had 9 MONTHS to get home.
Time now to take care of NZ especially the people working on our front lines.
It would be much less economically crushing to stop the travellers till things improve than leave it to a point where the NZ community has to go into Lock Downs again to stop a now very virulent disease.
Wakeup, time to stop being SO KIND, for Gods sake !
or else let people come back as they are rightfully entitled to and instead increase staff level, testing, and anyone caught breaking quarantine rules is having the book thrown at them, their name and face printed all over the news – yeah, shame these entitled assholes – and thus also prevent the coming in of a new threat and the spread there of.
Do we really have to wait until it is in the community to lock down?
MIQ transmission is going to happen with the highly infectious strains and when this happens how is it going to be managed for a person on day 12 not in quarantine just isolation?
The government needs to have the MIQ capacity for this senario. Unprepared will be seen as a failure and National will be all over this.
Think that the risk is not just due to the variant that leaks out, but who it leaks to. Greater Brisbane has just been locked down for 3 days because of a cleaner at a quarantine hotel was infected with the UK variant, but despite 50,000 tests, no-one else has been detected with it. Maybe that’s because the cleaner lived alone and wasn’t an outgoing, social person or someone with a large family who she spread it to. Compare the fast transmission that happened with the Auckland cluster and the Melbourne one. One of the new variants is probably going to leak more often from now on though as there is an increasing amount of it and not just in the UK or South Africa.
Stopping people coming in stops the planes coming and likewise restricts a lot of essential imports ( medicines and like,
) coming in and perishable exports going out via airfreight, This is further complicated with our sea ports been already congested. Simply moving to air freight charters is cost prohibitive and not feasible in a highly global and connected world The government needs to view all these factors and risks, not simply taking a myopic health view only
[You’re spouting so much crap here again because you’re full of shit and nothing else.
Our Government is doing what you accuse it of not doing and more and the irony is that you’re the one with the myopic view.
Outgoing flights are pretty much empty passenger wise and incoming aren't much better because of the MIQ limits. Repatriation charters and fishing / merchant crew changes a slight exception.
As for profit for the airline, I'd say they are loosing money or just cost recovery on the passengers they carry because of the increased per passenger crew costs with the light loadings.
Red: I assume you are not a health care worker. Have you thought about what would happen if our ICUs become full of the COVID sick? I'm making another assumption about you and I apologise if I'm incorrect but from your posts you sound quite young so I assume when you catch COVID you won't be in a high risk group for complications so won't need to go to hospital.
But, if you are unlucky enough to, say, be critically injured in a car accident or suffer a stroke then you'll be denied access to hospital as it will be full already.
"Myopic" this may be, but once our hospitals are full, plenty of those with non-COVID conditions will also die.
What do your stats mean? How do they compare to the other older variants, for example? Are you scaremongering?
Are you suggesting that all New Zealanders who’d want it should have come home by now and that the ones who didn’t have only themselves to blame? It reminds of the bene-bashing ‘reasoning’ by National and ACT. Nice!
Do you believe there are no social costs to locking down “NOW”?
What has “being SO KIND” got to do with it? It sounds like a cheap shot to me.
Have to confess that crossed my mind too. When it was still relatively easy to come back to NZ they didn't do so. Now that the pandemic outbreak has reached emergency levels in the UK they want to come home and expect the welcoming mat to be laid out for them.
Well, they can come back… when it is safe again and NZ is ready to resume normal services. There will always be exceptions granted for special cases.
When it was still relatively easy to come back to NZ they didn't do so.
I don’t follow Janet or you on this ‘nine month’ issue. MIQ was introduced on 9 April 2020, i.e. nine months ago. It was indeed “relatively easy” to return to NZ before then and many New Zealanders did during that short window. In fact, this was one of the reasons why MIQ was not introduced before 9 April.
I recall the warnings being issued back in February and March that this pandemic was going to be around for a long time and that it will get a lot worse before it gets better. A vaccine was thought to be at least two years away.
It shouldn't have taken much to conclude that it would be best to get back to NZ as soon as possible… if simply because of our geographical isolation. I was surprised more people didn't take advantage of the "window" while it was available.
I give my parents as an example. My father was in Germany in the mid 1930s and saw with his own eyes the proliferation of munitions factories and the mood of the nation in general. He returned to England and immediately made plans to take his young family out of Britain to somewhere safe. They went to Australia initially then moved on to NZ two years later. They arrived just before WW2 broke out.
At the time of their departure, they were laughed at by family and friends back in England but he was the one who had the last laugh.
Ok, I think I understand you now, thank you. However, that window of opportunity was a little more than one month or so, not nine months, which means that you and I were thinking of different periods.
Well, I was actually thinking for a longer period – including the start of the mandatory 14 day hotel isolation upon arrival. Over the winter months especially I wouldn't have thought that was too traumatic for most people to handle.
reasons other than self interest for not returning earlier:
lack of money
job contract
fixed term tenancy
needed to sell house
kids in school
poor job prospects in NZ
torn between family there and being here
That last one applies to two of my siblings. I know another family who the job contract applied to.
It doesn't take much imagination to see that NZers overseas have a range of restrictions on their lives that might prevent them just packing up and coming home.
This is horrible that a baby has died and someone is obstructing justice / police. Why do they protect these people? Good that the police have arrested the person for providing false information.
"arborists have inspected the site and made recommendations to undertake work to ensure the vegetation is healthy and safe.
Most of the work involved trimming shrubs back from footpaths, lights or clothes lines".
Lovely to walk footpaths overhung and bordered by trees, lights are unnecessary – if you're afraid of the dark carry a torch – it's called "taking responsibility as an individual for personal safety", clothes lines – it's not direct sunlight but the moisture content of the breeze that determines drying time and a bit of bird shit on the sheets is easily scraped off. Arborists are in business to make money so are looking for reasons to trim and remove, and the tidiness ideology that rules suburbia is enabling them. Tidiness is a huge earner in other ways too of course, supported by "health and safety." regulations.
An untidy, unhealthy and unsafe environment nurtured our human evolution and I owe myself to it – unthinking and ungrateful as others seem to be.
That's why we don't have lightbulbs in the house and the kids have to buy batteries for their torches from their allowances, so they learn to take personal responsibility.
Stuff has been massaging the truth about slave fishermen. There is no struggle – the company applies few a few hundred visas without making any remotely credible attempt to train or retain locals, and Immigration just let it happen, never checking up, just as they have for the last forty years.
A better description would be "the industry is too lazy and inept to train and retain kiwi workers, and the corrupt government supports and colludes in their law-breaking."
Nothing to see here – certainly no NZ jobs lost to exploitive practices.
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This video produced in Seattle looks at the gender identity curriculum used in schools in the US. A thin veneer of pseudoscience is being used to indoctrinate children with an ideology based on scientific and medical inaccuracies. ...
For once, I have written my submission on a bill with enough time to spare to both enocurage any of you who wants to make a submission to do so as well, and to give you time to spot the typos in mine.Louisa Wall's Harmful Digital Communications (Unauthorised Posting of Intimate ...
A friend found a concerning FB post (see below – this is a public post & so I have not redacted the name) & – as you do – immediately queried it with Southern Cross Life & Health Insurance as well as sending the screenshot to me¹. We both read ...
Judith Collins’ National Party leadership is under more scrutiny, with increased talk in the media of her being replaced by brand new MP Christopher Luxon. For many commentators it’s just a question of “when” rather than “if” Collins is replaced. While others ponder whether Luxon really has what it takes ...
‘Tis the season for unearthing the rarest gems in Tolkien adaptation – which, considering that the fandom has been dominated by Peter Jackson for nigh on two decades, is a positively heart-warming development. It is why I have devoted so much blog space to the obscure and weirdly wonderful ...
Whatever the damage, especially to the British economy, Brexit has done us a service by illustrating the complexity of trade.Brexit is the only example we have of two closely integrated sophisticated economies severing trading ties. The European Union and Britain still do not have tariffs or import quotas between them ...
The Palmerston North City Council has voted for Māori wards: Palmerston North Māori will be guaranteed one or two seats on the city council from 2022, and this time, there is nothing opponents can do about it. The council decided by an 11-5 vote at its monthly meeting this ...
Kids are striking for the climate today, demanding a decent, liveable future. Meanwhile, the National Party, the reliable servant of the farm lobby and other polluting businesses, is calling for action to be delayed: National has written to Climate Change Minister James Shaw calling for him to extend the ...
Today tens of thousands of schoolkids have walked out of school to strike for a future free from climate change. And tens of thousands of older New Zealanders have joined them. Their demands are clear: eliminate fossil fuels, implement 100% renewable energy with a just transition, and support our Pacific ...
The Gods That Failed.We studied the dialecticRead the whole of ‘Capital’So we could follow youSo we could follow youHow we shoutedHow we scrawledPainted slogans on city wallsOn prison wallsProof we had followed youBut, we still didn’t find what we’re looking forAnd we still haven’t found what we’re looking forWhen they ...
Conventional Wisdom? The Republican Right is convinced that to “go woke” is to “go broke”. It simply does not believe sufficient Americans feel strongly enough about social justice to make any kind of boycott remotely effective. Clearly, the Boards of Directors of more and more American corporations disagree. RECENT MOVES by ...
On November 25, 2020 Skeptical Science Inc. became a registered nonprofit organization and on March 17, 2021 our application to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service for 501(c)(3) status was approved. In this blog post, we’ll explain why we went down this path and what will come next. Since its ...
Blowing Hot And Cold: Mike Hosking’s bosses should, perhaps, ask themselves what message Newstalk-ZB (and NZME) is sending to the people of New Zealand if Mike Hosking, their self-appointed “People’s Prosecutor”, is accorded bragging rights for “cancelling” the democratically-elected Prime Minister of New Zealand. Especially when said Prime Minister’s only ...
Ali Boyle, University of CambridgeIf you ask people to list the most intelligent animals, they’ll name a few usual suspects. Chimpanzees, dolphins and elephants are often mentioned, as are crows, dogs and occasionally pigs. Horses don’t usually get a look in. So it might come as a surprise that ...
Selwyn Manning and I dedicated this week’s video podcast to the potential emergence of rival blocs within the transitional process involved in the move from a unipolar to a multipolar international system currently underway. However one characterises the phenomenon–autocracies versus democracies, East versus West, colonial versus post-colonial–the global order is ...
With the rediscovery of the lost Soviet Lord of the Rings, the time has come for the important things in life. Specifically, compiling the Tom Bombadil scenes from the three known screen adaptations that feature him: This is a collection of scenes from:– Sagan om Ringen (1971: ...
Back in February the Climate Change Commission recommended a ban on new coal-fired boilers, and a phase out of existing ones by 2037. And today, the government has said they will implement that policy, and backed it up with funding to help transition some of our large pollution sources: ...
A ballot for three members bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Income Tax (Adjustment of Taxable Income Ranges) Amendment Bill (Simon Bridges) Regulatory Standards Bill (David Seymour) Human Rights (Disability Assist Dogs Non-Discrimination) Amendment Bill (Ricardo Menéndez March) The first two ...
The Greens welcome $6.6 million from the Government’s $455 million programme to increase access to mental health and addiction services for our Pasifika communities in Auckland and Wellington. ...
The Green Party is putting a Member’s Bill into the ballot today which will be a significant step towards overhauling the Social Security Act by embedding a tikanga Māori framework into the welfare system. ...
The Green Party have reaffirmed their strong commitment to the union movement in Aotearoa New Zealand by renewing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with E Tū. ...
Soon, more kids in Aotearoa will have access to the in-school mental health support that has boosted the resilience of tamariki and whānau in Canterbury. ...
The Green Party supports the open letter released today by a cross-sector coalition calling for the Government to treat all drug use as a health issue, to repeal and replace the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975. ...
Small businesses are not only the heart of our economy – they’re also the heart of our communities. They provide important goods and services, as well as great employment opportunities. They know and love their locals. And after a tough year, they need our support! ...
Green Party spokesperson for Pacific Peoples Teanau Tuiono MP, supports the demand from Pasifika communities fighting for climate action as their homelands are more at risk in the Pacific region. ...
The Green Party supports the six demands for climate action put forward by School Strike for Climate NZ, who are striking across the country today. ...
The Ministry of Justice Māori victimisation report, released today, reinforces what we already know about the impact of systemic racism in Aotearoa and that urgent action is needed. ...
Ricardo Menéndez March’s Members Bill to ensure that disabled New Zealanders do not face discrimination for having a disability assist dog was today pulled from the biscuit tin to be debated in Parliament. ...
More than one million people will be better off from today, thanks to our Government’s changes to the minimum wage, main benefits and superannuation. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to do more for New Zealanders who continue to miss out, as main benefits are set to rise by less than $8 a week tomorrow, Thursday 1 April (at the start of the financial year). ...
New Zealand is providing further support to Timor-Leste following severe flooding and the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. “Our thoughts are with the people of Timor-Leste who have been impacted by the severe flooding and landslides at a time when the country is ...
A ceremony has been held today in Gisborne where the unclaimed medals of 28 (Māori) Battalion C Company soldiers were presented to their families. After the Second World War, returning service personnel needed to apply for their medals and then they would be posted out to them. While most medals ...
New Zealand has today added its voice to the international condemnation of the malicious compromise and exploitation of the SolarWinds Orion platform. The Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau, Andrew Little, says that New Zealand's international partners have analysed the compromise of the SolarWinds Orion platform and attributed ...
An expert consenting panel has approved the Queenstown Arterials Project, which will significantly improve transport links and reduce congestion for locals and visitors in the tourism hotspot. Environment Minister David Parker welcomed the approval for the project that will construct, operate and maintain a new urban road around Queenstown’s town ...
Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash says a landmark deal has been agreed with Amazon for The Lord of the Rings TV series, currently being filmed in New Zealand. Mr Nash says the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) secures multi-year economic and tourism benefits to New Zealand, outside the screen ...
The Government welcomes the findings from a rapid review into the health system response to lead contamination in Waikouaiti’s drinking water supply. Sample results from the town’s drinking-water supply showed intermittent spikes in lead levels above the maximum acceptable value. The source of the contamination is still under investigation by ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood today marked the start of construction on the New Zealand Upgrade Programme’s Papakura to Drury South project on Auckland’s Southern Motorway, which will create hundreds of jobs and support Auckland’s economic recovery. The SH1 Papakura to Drury South project will give more transport choices by providing ...
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karanga maha o te wa, tēnā koutou, tēna koutou, tēna tātou katoa. Ki ngā mana whenua, ko Ngāi Tahu, ko Waitaha, ko Kāti Māmoe anō nei aku mihi ki a koutou. Nōku te hōnore kia haere mai ki te ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood today marked the completion of upgrades to State Highway 20B which will give Aucklanders quick electric bus trips to and from the airport. The State Highway 20B Early Improvements project has added new lanes in each direction between Pukaki Creek Bridge and SH20 for buses and ...
The Government is putting in place a review of the work being done on animal welfare and safety in the greyhound racing industry, Grant Robertson announced today. “While Greyhound Racing NZ has reported some progress in implementing the recommendations of the Hansen Report, recent incidents show the industry still has ...
The infringement fee for using a mobile phone while driving will increase from $80 to $150 from 30 April 2021 to encourage safer driving, Transport Minister Michael Wood announced today. Michael Wood said too many people are still picking up the phone while driving. “Police issued over 40,000 infringement notices ...
Pacific people in New Zealand will be better supported with new mental health and addiction services rolling out across the Auckland and Wellington regions, says Aupito William Sio. “One size does not fit all when it comes to supporting the mental wellbeing of our Pacific peoples. We need a by ...
New measures are being proposed to accelerate progress towards becoming a smokefree nation by 2025, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced. “Smoking or exposure to second-hand smoke kills around 12 people a day in New Zealand. Recent data tells us New Zealand’s smoking rates continue to decrease, but ...
More children will be able to access mental wellbeing support with the Government expansion of Mana Ake services to five new District Health Board areas, Health Minister Andrew Little says. The Health Minister made the announcement while visiting Homai School in Counties Manukau alongside Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate ...
The Government’s COVID-19 response has meant a record number of people moved off a Benefit and into employment in the March Quarter, with 32,880 moving into work in the first three months of 2021. “More people moved into work last quarter than any time since the Ministry of Social Development ...
A stocktake undertaken by France and New Zealand shows significant global progress under the Christchurch Call towards its goal to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. The findings of the report released today reinforce the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach, with countries, companies and civil society working together to ...
Racing Minister Grant Robertson has announced he is appointing Elizabeth Dawson (Liz) as the Chair of the interim TAB NZ Board. Liz Dawson is an existing Board Director of the interim TAB NZ Board and Chair of the TAB NZ Board Selection Panel and will continue in her role as ...
The Government has announced that the export of livestock by sea will cease following a transition period of up to two years, said Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. “At the heart of our decision is upholding New Zealand’s reputation for high standards of animal welfare. We must stay ahead of the ...
WORKSHOP ON LETHAL AUTONOMOUS WEAPONS SYSTEMS Wednesday 14 April 2021 MINISTER FOR DISARMAMENT AND ARMS CONTROL OPENING REMARKS Good morning, I am so pleased to be able to join you for part of this workshop, which I’m confident will help us along the path to developing New Zealand’s national policy on ...
For the first time, all 18 prisons in New Zealand will be invited to participate in an inter-prison kapa haka competition, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. The 2021 Hōkai Rangi Whakataetae Kapa Haka will see groups prepare and perform kapa haka for experienced judges who visit each prison and ...
The Government has introduced the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Bill, designed to boost New Zealand's ability to respond to a wider range of terrorist activities. The Bill strengthens New Zealand’s counter-terrorism legislation and ensures that the right legislative tools are available to intervene early and prevent harm. “This is the Government’s first ...
Coal boiler replacements at a further ten schools, saving an estimated 7,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over the next ten years Fossil fuel boiler replacements at Southern Institute of Technology and Taranaki DHB, saving nearly 14,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over the next ten years Projects to achieve a total ...
Attorney-General David Parker today announced the appointment of Cassie Nicholson as Chief Parliamentary Counsel for a term of five years. The Chief Parliamentary Counsel is the principal advisor and Chief Executive of the Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO). She is responsible for ensuring PCO, which drafts most of New Zealand’s legislation, provides ...
Every part of Government will need to take urgent action to bring down emissions, the Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw said today in response to the recent rise in New Zealand’s greenhouse emissions. The latest annual inventory of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions shows that both gross and net ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister David Clark says Aotearoa New Zealand has become the first country in the world to introduce a law that requires the financial sector to disclose the impacts of climate change on their business and explain how they will manage climate-related risks and opportunities. The Financial ...
Exceptional employment practices in the primary industries have been celebrated at the Good Employer Awards, held this evening at Parliament. “Tonight’s awards provided the opportunity to celebrate and thank those employers in the food and fibres sector who have gone beyond business-as-usual in creating productive, safe, supportive, and healthy work ...
Applications are now invited from all councils for a slice of government funding aimed at improving tourism infrastructure, especially in areas under pressure given the size of their rating bases. Tourism Minister Stuart Nash has already signalled that five South Island regions will be given priority to reflect that jobs ...
Tēnā koutou e ngā maata waka Tenā koutou te hau kāinga ngā iwi o Te Whanganui ā TaraTēnā koutou i runga i te kaupapa o te Rā. No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tatou katoa. It is a pleasure to be here tonight. Thank you Graeme (Peters, ENA Chief ...
The Construction Skills Action Plan has delivered early on its overall target of supporting an additional 4,000 people into construction-related education and employment, says Minister for Building and Construction Poto Williams. Since the Plan was launched in 2018, more than 9,300 people have taken up education or employment opportunities in ...
An innovative new Youth Justice residence designed in partnership with Māori will provide prevention, healing, and rehabilitation services for both young people and their whānau, Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Whakatakapokai is located in South Auckland and will provide care and support for up to 15 rangatahi remanded or ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today expressed New Zealand’s sorrow at the death of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. “Our thoughts are with Her Majesty The Queen at this profoundly sad time. On behalf of the New Zealand people and the Government, I would like to express ...
We, the Home Affairs, Interior, Security and Immigration Ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America (the ‘Five Countries’) met via video conference on 7/8 April 2021, just over a year after the outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Guided by our shared ...
Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni has today announced the opening of the first round of Ngā Puninga Toi ā-Ahurea me ngā Kaupapa Cultural Installations and Events. “Creating jobs and helping the arts sector rebuild and recover continues to be a key part of the Government’s COVID-19 response,” Carmel ...
Interim legislation that is already proving to keep people safer from drugs will be made permanent, Health Minister Andrew Little says. Research by Victoria University, on behalf of the Ministry of Health, shows that the Government’s decision in December to make it legal for drug-checking services to operate at festivals ...
Public consultation launched on ways to improve behaviour and reduce damage Tighter rules proposed for either camping vehicles or camping locations Increased penalties proposed, such as $1,000 fines or vehicle confiscation Rental companies may be required to collect fines from campers who hire vehicles Public feedback is sought on proposals ...
The Government is continuing to support Air New Zealand while aviation markets stabilise and the world moves towards more normal border operations. The Crown loan facility made available to Air New Zealand in March 2020 has been extended to a debt facility of up to $1.5 billion (an additional $600 ...
Christchurch’s Richmond suburb will soon have a new community hub, following the gifting of a red-zoned property by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) to the Richmond Community Gardens Trust. The Minister for Land Information, Damien O’Connor said that LINZ, on behalf of the Crown, will gift a Vogel Street house ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the reopening of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples’ (MPP) Languages Funding in 2021 will make sure there is a future for Pacific languages. “Language is the key to the wellbeing for Pacific people. It affirms our identity as Pasifika and ...
It is a pleasure to be here tonight. Thank you Cameron for the introduction and thank you for ERANZ for also hosting this event. Last week in fact, we had one of the largest gatherings in our sector, Downstream 2021. I have heard from my officials that the discussion on ...
Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods has today announced the 16 projects that will together get $3.9 million through the 2021 round of Te Pūnaha Hihiko: Vision Mātauranga Capability Fund, further strengthening the Government’s commitment to Māori knowledge in science and innovation. “We received 78 proposals - the highest ...
Business & Investing: A new survey of manufacturing sees production and orders soaring, Plus two NZ energy shares close higher despite index linked sell-off ...
Passengers could share their first rides with strangers in Auckland this month, as part of the company’s global strategy to reduce cars on the road. ...
The two-year phaseout of the export of livestock by sea, announced by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor last week, could mean over 200,000 animals will be shipped overseas before the cruel trade is ended. TVNZ’s ‘Sunday’ programme last night ...
Encouraging Chinese consumers to buy products on easy credit was sensationally popular, until it wasn't. Benjamin Liu and Xin Chen of the University of Auckland explain the troubles facing Jack Ma's Ant Group. China has been leading the world in the exponential growth of e-commerce. Rising from this massive and highly competitive ...
You are more likely to be hit by lightning than suffer a blood clot after a Covid vaccine, but consequences can be dire for those who do. Vaccinologist Helen Petousis-Harris explains. COMMENT: Recently the vaccine safety watch dogs in Europe noted reports of unusual types of blood clots in people vaccinated ...
The one about a tough loner from Quebec who comes to New Zealand and writes a crime novel that screens tonight on TV2 Where I grew up, there were two ways to make big money: farming pigs for the corporate machine or running drugs over the border for the gangs. ...
Newly-crowned national mountain bike champion Sammie Maxwell only knew how to go fast. But slowing down and putting her health first has helped her back to top speed. Sammie Maxwell felt confused as she stood on top of the podium at this year's mountain bike national championships. She hadn't won because ...
'We're from the Government, we're here to help' might well be the message from the holders of Kris Faafoi's new $50m of taxpayer money as they start to dispense it to the nation's media. Stephen Parker examines the implications of the PIJF. Later this year, when reading daily news, you ...
We live in post-normal times: A time which means nothing will ever be normal again, writes Peter O'Connor of the University of Auckland. The world order has stumbled under the devastating global impact of Covid-19, resulting in the most serious assault to the economic, public health and social order of ...
From today, travelling between New Zealand and Australia becomes a little bit easier. Here’s everything you need to know about the new trans-Tasman bubble.To mark the opening of the trans-Tasman bubble, The Spinoff is casting an eye across the ditch all week – read our Australia Week content here. What’s this ...
The premature dismissal of compensation for a woman wrongly convicted and sentenced to a year of home detention is morally rotten and practically misguided, writes Andrew Geddis.In her magnificent reporting on things New Zealander’s usually don’t like to think about, Stuff’s Kirsty Johnston has told some pretty sad stories. Families ...
The Dawn Raids of the 1970s carry a shameful legacy to this day - and those who haven't forgotten want an apology Nearly 50 years after the police started a crackdown on Pasifika people in Auckland, people are opening up about their experiences of the Dawn Raids for the first time. ...
“The Government’s proposed Hate Speech Laws mean someone could spend longer in jail for having an unpopular opinion than assaulting a child, male assaults female, participating in a riot and common assault," says ACT Leader David Seymour. ...
New Zealand's demi-official poet laureate Victor Billot composes an ode to a public figure every Sunday. Today: Prince PhilipThe artist formerly known as Prince He is fallen, just short of one hundred. An antique connection sundered with an old and vanished world over which the Union ...
Analysis by Bryce Edwards Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. The Labour Government received plaudits this week for its historic announcement that it will ban the live export of animals by sea. It’s said to be a world first. The decision comes after years of pressure, which increased after last year’s ...
The House: Calls to force witnesses to child abuse to speak, reforming adoption law for same-sex couples, and better protections for religious freedoms have been made by petitions to Parliament. ...
Creamerie is a new dystopian comedy about three New Zealand women and the last man on earth. Its co-creator and co-star, Perlina Lau, explains how they made a show about the aftermath of a deadly pandemic, during a pandemic.In 2018, when we sat around a dining table spitballing ideas about ...
James Borrowdale bids farewell to a summer of cricket with his oblivious baby daughter.Made possible thanks to the support of Creative New ZealandOriginal illustrations by Sophie Watson If cricket, at least in its longer forms, can lay claim to something approaching artistic meaning – that is, for its actions to ...
Why are ice core samples and marine algae important for understanding our climate in the future? Dr Holly Winton, a geochemist with the Antarctic Research Centre at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, explains in this short video.Winton is working on a Rutherford Foundation-funded project analysing ...
Sebastian Contreras Rodriguez was an architect in Chile, but after moving to New Zealand he started working as a housekeeper. Federico Magrin speaks to him about architecture being a service for the poor, and the differences between Chile and New Zealand. Sebastian joins me after a tiresome and proving day at ...
University of Otago researchers examine 2000-3000-year-old skulls to uncover why Pacific communities of that era intentionally pulled their teeth Ritual tooth ablation, the intentional removal of teeth, is a highly visible form of body modification that can signal group identity and mark certain life events, such as marriage. In our ...
New Zealand’s favourite autumnal fruit meets a fancy-sounding but super-simple French dessert. The result? Delicious. There is only so much you can do with the fruit that drops (non-stop) from 17 feijoa trees. We’ve had ripe fruit peppering our lawn now for over two weeks. So far I’ve used them to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Hancock, School visitor, Australian National University Andrew Sharp Peacock, for so long “the coming man” of Australian politics, has died in the United States aged 82. Born in 1939, he was educated at Scotch College, Melbourne, acquired a law degree at ...
“ A Ministry of Health graph drawn by a graphic designer with no data to inform it is the perfect metaphor for this Government, all spin and no substance,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “Like most things with this government, they present ...
OWell, well, well. New Zealand its expressing its indignation about something the Russians may or may not have been doing. But this expression of the nation’s indignation comes not from Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta but from Andrew Little, our Minister of … No, not Health on this occasion. Nor ...
"He pulled down the straps of her tank top with his teeth and bit her neck..Afterwards, she pretended it didn’t happen": a short story by Auckland writer Leanne RadojkovichA teenager riding an e-scooter shot across the intersection towards Patsy, she stepped aside, the front wheel took the ...
Critic's Chair: Guy Somerset watches and listens to two wonderful series on YouTube and Spotify featuring great raconteurs and wits broadcast from their homes during the long UK lockdown This week, the UK started off along the second stage of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s “cautious but irreversible” roadmap to the ...
What happens when the world’s rarest gull sets up camp in earthquake-damaged buildings in central Christchurch? Frank Film investigates. Christchurch’s population of endangered tarāpuka/black-billed gulls may have a new home. The Christchurch City Council is hoping to fashion a new site for the gulls in what was once part of ...
WATCH: In the heart-wrenching final episode of the Pure As video series, Silver Ferns shooter Maia Wilson reveals the on-court highs and off-court lows she's been through. Maia Wilson's young life has already been an emotional rollercoaster. While her netball career soars to new heights every time she takes the court, away ...
LISTEN: Is 2021 the year the Tactix finally get to lift netball's ANZ Premiership trophy? with the ANZ Premiership starting this weekend, how will the absence of Silver Fern captain Amerliaranne Ekenasio affect the two-time champions Central Pulse? What impact will Australian international Caitlin Bassett have for the Waikato Bay of ...
After a marathon year of droughts and water restrictions, Auckland finally has a goal to reduce its water consumption Water, water everywhere, and most certainly in the news. After a massive public information campaign last year, Aucklanders managed to knock 100 million litres a day off the city’s water consumption. ...
A new initiative is taking on food insecurity and food wastage by encouraging diners to take uneaten food home. And, as chefs taking part of the scheme explain, what you do with those leftovers needn’t be limited to a quick blat in the microwave. It’s hard to know just how much ...
With the council in disarray, former Wellington mayor Justin Lester sat down with The Spinoff to share his thoughts on what’s gone wrong, and what needs to happen from here. Justin Lester is running again. When we meet at the Civic Square cafe Nikau, the former Wellington mayor is breaking in a ...
After months of lockdown, pubs in England were allowed to reopen this week, with outdoor seating only. New Zealander George Fenwick headed out to see how Londoners were welcoming the return of a cornerstone of British social life.Trying to explain what life has been like in the UK for the ...
The government's priorities are being questioned after announcing it will be giving Amazon a more than $100 million boost to film the Lord of the Rings television series here. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Keane, Professor of Chinese Digital Media and Culture, Queensland University of Technology China’s state-run anti-monopoly bureau has tightened its regulations on big tech players, as shown by its recent move against the country’s largest e-commerce company, Alibaba Group. Alibaba was hit ...
Campaign & Petition Launch “Racial INJustice Matters” calling for an immediate independent inquiry into Institutional Racism and Racial Profiling by the Waikato Police. Where we live, work, play should be safe for everyone, no matter ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra University of Canberra Professorial Fellow Michelle Grattan and Director of the Institute for Governance & Policy Analysis Dr Lain Dare discuss the week in politics. This week the pair discuss the evidence given by Christine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bronwyn Carlson, Professor, Indigenous Studies, Macquarie University Recently, we have witnessed an uprising of thousands marching in the streets fuelled by outrage against the violence and sexual assault experienced by women. Indigenous women and gender diverse people also marched and shared this ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. India only at Magnitude 4 for reported cases. Chart by Keith Rankin. New Zealand has, for the rest of this month, banned all people who have been in India this month from entry into New Zealand. The decision is based not on the incidence of Covid19 ...
The screen industry – or some of its more well-heeled operators – today learned the government is keen to improve its wellbeing. This followed several blasts of Beehive trumpeting about initiatives to improve the wellbeing and wellness of we Kiwis. The announcements yesterday included the heartening news that the Government’s ...
The new Ministry for Ethnic Communities comes into being on 1 July. It’s important that the views and needs of Aotearoa New Zealand’s many and diverse ethnic communities help set the priorities for the new organisation from day one. We are running a series ...
The National Party need to take a good hard look at themselves, following their Economic Development spokesperson’s endorsement of Kiwi taxpayers stumping up for welfare for the American multi billion dollar corporation, Amazon. Responding to ...
New Zealand is not rejigging its Covid-19 immunisation programme despite predictions people will need a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine within 12 months. ...
Predator Free 2050 Limited has announced new investments in predator free projects around the country. Existing projects in Taranaki, Waiheke and Dunedin, a new project in Te Urewera, and a feasibility study on Aotea Great Barrier Island will benefit ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Mitchell, Professor of Nursing, University of Newcastle The Australian public’s infection control literacy continues to expand. We know what PPE is, what “flattening the curve” means, and we are growing increasingly familiar with the term “deep clean”. But what does a ...
The High Court in Auckland this week ordered overseas investors to pay penalties totalling $1.38 million and legal costs for breaching the Overseas Investment Act. The significant penalty follows a family purchasing five forestry blocks totalling ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1The Mirror Book by Charlotte Grimshaw (Vintage, $38)It’s the book everyone’s talking about – and writing about. ...
A little understanding – and a few simple, easy-to-follow rules – can make a huge difference to our lives, Autistic advocate Rory McCarthy writes.Autistic people have difficult lives: a lot of things that seem trivial or a sign of over-sensitivity to allistic (non-Autistic people) actually affect us quite significantly. There ...
Analysis - A startling revelation shows up cracks in the testing regime just as the vaccine rollout comes under scrutiny, and National faces another bout of leadership speculation, writes Peter Wilson. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is urging ACC to ignore diktats from the Minister of Finance . “ACC should be left to independently manage the hard-earned funds it receives from levy-payers,” says Union spokesman Jordan Williams. “It’s ...
The New Zealand Veterinary Association (NZVA) is not surprised by the government’s decision to ban live exports by sea and believes the two- year transition period is pragmatic for businesses in the sector. We are not surprised by the decision and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cristina Pozo-Gonzalo, Senior Research Fellow, Deakin University Rare-earth metals are critical to the high-tech society we live in as an essential component of mobile phones, computers and many other everyday devices. But increasing demand and limited global supply means we must urgently ...
Looking to buy a unit or apartment? You might need to think twice or even three times, if this Prime documentary is anything to go by, writes Jacqueline Paul.If you are hoping to buy a home built between the late 1980s and the mid-2000s, there is a significant risk that ...
Amid some in-House knitting drama this week, there was more speculation the knives are out for National Party leader Judith Collins. But doesn't National always have its knives out? James Elliott has the news of the week. It was an exciting week for those holding tickets in the “Seymour Sweepstake”, ...
A poem from Mohamed Hassan’s Ockham-shortlisted collection National Anthem.And before that we were starsCan you please look at this poem and tell me if it’s good?it’s for my fiancé she’s really far away I want to say how I feel but my English is limited, can you read it?she works ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. Click here to subscribe to Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup and New Zealand Politics Daily. Today’s contentNational Party leadership Matthew Hooton (Herald): My message to National – and how to avoid ...
A new full-time role recording, editing and mixing content for The Spinoff podcast network, based in our Morningside office. We’re looking for an experienced sound engineer. The successful applicant will be responsible for recording, editing and mixing content for The Spinoff podcast network and managing the podcast studio. In addition to ...
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BAU @ the MOH.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/434321/covid-19-miq-nurses-concerned-about-staffing-instability-at-border-facilities
Nurses working at managed isolation facilities across the country have raised concerns about staff shortages and instability.
.. The ministry said the matters have been addressed – but many health care professionals working at border facilities disagree.
In a peculiarly bizarre way this is somewhat comforting.
When entropy reigns supreme, and it seems there is nothing and no one who can be trusted there's our systemically dysfunctional Ministry of Health reliably doing what we all know they do best.
Denying, minimising, dismissing and generally disrespecting those at the front line and at the coal face.
In a statement to RNZ, the ministry confirmed all matters identified in the audit had been followed up and addressed.
But that is rejected by two of the country's largest nursing unions, which have hundreds of members working in MIQ facilities.
oh well if only we had a caring and gentle government that has a clear majority to get stuff done.
The problem is not the 'Ministry' the problem is the government. And it seems that the Labour Government is even less inclined to work for their wages then the National Goverment.
I spoke with a nurse a few month back who laughingly stated that the new ventilators had arrived in the country – thanks god – now if we could just train and hire and pay the nurses to man and monitor these ventilators.
Surely any day now – any day now, our Labor overlords are gonna do something about something. I can see someone write an article about how all this time was squandered by people who yet don't suffer the consequences of their actions.
It will only take one slip up for the highly infectious strains to enter the community.
I would go to a 21 day isolation until vaccination is at a high enough level.
I would trust the judgement of the medical staff working in isolation over the MoH.
My main concern is having the testing capability to detect a new strain and to know the period of being infectious.
Now is not the time to ration resources in MIQ. There is only one line of defence and once it is broken the clean up will be immense on many levels.
Except, this isn’t BAU and MoH is not the only Ministry involved in MIQ.
From your link:
It is important to keep the pressure on and the nurses unions, epidemiologists, and other experts are doing a good job at that and in sticking up for their members at the same time. However, the RNZ article was more balanced and the situation appears to be less B & W than your comment suggested 🙂
I think it is important to keep in mind that nobody has the perfect answer/solution/approach and that the situation with Covid is always evolving and changing.
With respect, Incognito, I assume that folks who visit here are more than capable of reading a linked article in its entirety and form their own opinions.
Twenty years of having to deal with the Ministry of Health and its agents over disability issues has left me cynical and disillusioned. Health is about people…and unfortunately our Ministry of Health, as a bureaucracy, seems to forget this basic premise.
The Ministry has form. For years they denied, dismissed and minimised the abuse and neglect of disabled people in MOH funded residential care. Look up the 2013 articles by Kirsty Johnston.
At the same time the Ministry declared open warfare against those people with significant disabilities and the family members who they had chosen to provide the high level of care they need. Or they had no option (other than the potential horrors of residential care) than to have resident family provide the care…because the Ministry of Health refused to fund the advanced personal cares required.
Despite the issue of paying family carers having been heard many times in various legal settings over the past two decades (with our side winning with embarrassing monotony) it was only in April last year, and under 'special' Covid conditions, that my partner has been allowed to pay me as his carer. And we have been reminded by the Ministry this is temporary. Goddess forbid we should ever feel secure.
A quick search on the Natrad webpage and you'll find numerous articles (Many by Catherine Hutton) describing the deep despair of disabled people and their families. Nothing changes for the better because of the culture of the Ministry.
I spent a while over New Years speaking with a midwife. Again, the good folk at Natrad have also kept track over the years as the midwives have battled to gain some level of respect from the funders… the Miserly of Health.
And this midwife was using the same language and expressed the same deep despair that we in the MOH disability community have voiced.
And I'm hearing that same tone from these nurses.
But this time, with Te Virus scratching at our borders, the risks if the Ministry runs true to form will impact the whole community.
Not just the disabled. Not just women and babies.
I make no apologies.
You’d be surprised how many people don’t read any further than a headline 😉
When people read your comment, they may or may not decide to read the linked article, based on your PoV. BTW, this is exactly why tend to insist on links and a brief accompanying commentary as to what to expect and as to why people should read it.
Your views of MoH are well documented here and you have your reasons.
I make no apologies for presenting my take on the same article to which you linked. This does not take away anything at all from your personal experiences of and with MoH. It is about presenting another perspective on the content of the article and a number of voices therein, including those of some nurses, not on MoH as such.
HTH
it is worrying though about the new mutation. Only a matter of time before another outbreak. Trust our health people it manage it, but will likely mean another location
Prior to the more infectious strains the MoH was able to manage Covid – 19. Looking at overseas tends with the newer highly infectious strains I do not have the same level of confidence when it comes to containing a community outbreak.
trends
Hypothetical exchange between Senior Management at a MIQ facility and a Senior Level Bureaucrat at the MOH.
MIQ…."We really need more staff at all levels…."
MOH…."But you're all doing so well! There's absolutely NO community transmission! It's obvious we've got this! Keep it up team!"
MIQ…"But we're all so tired. We've all been at this for months. We need to train up many more people so we can have a break. Some at the frontline are so scared of making a mistake because of exhaustion that stress levels are through the roof. Please approve more funding for more staff."
MOH…. "Look guys…we get this is all very new…but its clear we have hit just the right note here. We don't need to go overboard. All those little niggles that you guys had last October have been dealt to. Look at the paperwork …we have an Action Plan!"
MIQ…"Please. Please…."
I really really hope that when an MIQ worker makes a claim for PTSD or other mental injury that ACC do not piss them about.
MIQ would be like a war zone for some health workers constantly having to be vigilant would be exhausting.
I have not given it much thought as to how safe lab workers are when it comes to processing Covid – 19 samples or contagion in a lab.
They're at fairly low risk.
Their job is working with samples that are presumed to be dangerously pathogenic at all times, not just when there's a pandemic going on. So they've got the mindset, skills and equipment to keep themselves safe.
That is reassuring for lab workers. Skills and equipment make the difference.
A lot of it would be mindset, like security.
(Being purposefully vague to protect the guilty) there was fairly recently a non-medical biohazard facility that was close to losing certification because it had a lot of students screwing up the lab's integrity. Things like opening windows when the air is supposed to be filtered before going back outside, or not wearing lab coats so they're taking stuff outside on their street clothes.
Mind you, seventy years ago people were using potassium cyanide in their spare room or manipulating plutonium cores with screwdrivers instead of the mandated shims, so the mindset has come a long way.
And storing radium in a draw in the laboratory. My cousin who worked at the DSIR Physical Engineering Laboratory in Gracefield tells of the time they were doing a clean-up in the late 50's when they opened a draw they seldom used and found at the back a large sample of radium (I've forgotten how many curies were written on it). He initially worked for Sir Ernest Marsden as a lab tech.
Bit off topic – a question in a recent quiz in ‘The Listener’ reminded me of the once common enough practice of using X-ray Shoe Fitter, Pedoscope and Foot-o-scope devices in shoe shops.
Ancestor of the current shoe store quackery machines.
In kinda related vein, the DDT pump in the pantry, for cockroaches and other pests.
A very bad idea, but oddly enough one that didn't trigger an epidemic of foot cancer either. If there was any radiation harm caused by them, it's buried in the statistical noise.
Besides that wiki article bases it's case on the now very shakey Linear No Threshold (LNT) thesis originally put up by Muller in 1927. While it may have been a useful idea in the early days of nuclear radiation, being the most conservative model possible and could have been justified as a 'precautionary principle', all the real world data since has strongly suggested that in fact all living creatures are constantly bathed in a background radiation that does us no harm at all.
Indeed there are a number of cases where people have lived with substantially higher background radiation levels over long periods, and surprisingly show reduced levels of cancer.
No-one has been able to prove a watertight case either way (nor given the nature of the RCT necessary are they ever likely to), but there are good grounds to think that the LNT thesis is far too conservative and generates perverse outcomes.
Agree 100%, "A very bad idea", exploitative even – kinda why I mentioned it.
An interesting ‘constellation’ or another ‘Covid-bandwagon’?
Low-Dose Radiation to COVID-19 Patients to Ease the Disease Course and Reduce the Need of Intensive Care
https://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/61/12/1724
That is interesting; how on earth did you stumble on that?
You do ask a really worthwhile question; how to tell the difference between a useful result and 'covid bandwagon'. After all a decent RCT trial to put the matter beyond all doubt is simply not going to be available in most cases. Demanding this level of gold standard proof is not always reasonable.
A good comparison can be made with the case made against tobacco smoking and lung cancer, that never rested on anything more than historic observation studies and correlations as far as I’m aware. I doubt anyone ever did a full noise RCT on this (although I could always be wrong).
As time goes on we continue to learn more about COVID, and we find all manner of interesting aspects like the probable role that Vitamin D, Zinc, and Selenium may play. The jury remains noisily deadlocked on Ivermectin, and I'm sure there a few other plays out there I'm unaware of.
One point I need to clarify; it's perfectly possible to be both alarmed at the threat of this disease and at the same time alarmed and disappointed at some of the responses by various medical authorities and governments.
More than anything else we need to stop politicising this; it was a catastrophe for the climate change issue, and will play out no better on this.
About 40 years ago I got given an asbestos circular mat to put hot pots on. I kept it for about a year.
Not sure if all asbestos is harmful.
For all practical purposes, yes, all asbestos is harmful. Your mat was probably made with chrysotile (white asbestos), which is the most common and least hazardous form of asbestos. But that "least hazardous" is kinda like saying ebola is less hazardous than rabies.
The really dangerous route for it to cause harm is when it get turns into dust and you breathe it in. So your mat for hot pots is lowish risk, unless you were in the habit of banging it against a post at about head level to get dust out of it, like a rug.
If it's not getting turned into dust, then it's low risk. That's why the advice is if your house has asbestos in the walls or ceiling or roof, don't worry about it unless you disturb it somehow. Like doing renovations, or cleaning an asbestos cement roof. Then you need the $$$$$ expert$$$$$ to come and deal with it.
Nasal/oral swabs don’t exhale, sneeze or cough on the lab workers. The actual sample is stuck in and onto the bud, which is how it has been designed to work. Unless the lab worker licks their gloved fingers, sucks the bud, or sticks the bud up their own nose by accident, the risks of getting infected are slim.
Do you know how the nasal oral swabs are destroyed?
Also the method to clean the lab equipment. Both could cause contamination. I am not sure how long samples used to test for Covid are stored for either.
Treetop
Incinerator and autoclave respectively. In my memory of biological wastes and laboratory equipment. There would likely be a negative pressure gradient in any lab analyzing SARS-CoV2 too, at least you'd hope so!
Thanks for that. Lab workers are doing a stellar job and would be putting in long hours.
Yup. Liquid waste is treated with special disinfectant. Surfaces are treated with disinfectant too and UV light. All disposable waste is treated as biohazardous medical waste. Much of what is used in the lab is disposable anyway and provided in kits, except the PCR machine 😉
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-lockdown-expected-if-uk-or-south-african-variant-found-in-community-expert/ZDZKWHQTJOPBPFGDRKUZW4SRNA/
“Covid 19 coronavirus: Lockdown expected if UK or South African variant found in community.”
Do we really have to wait until it is in the community to lock down. Economically and socially we would be much better off to lock down NOW. Lock all travellers from countries with high rates of Covid.
There is 1 in 30 infected with it in England.
50% of the elderly are dying from it.
Every 36 hours someone breaks the rules in NZ ‘s quarantine !
New Zealanders have had 9 MONTHS to get home.
Time now to take care of NZ especially the people working on our front lines.
It would be much less economically crushing to stop the travellers till things improve than leave it to a point where the NZ community has to go into Lock Downs again to stop a now very virulent disease.
Wakeup, time to stop being SO KIND, for Gods sake !
or else let people come back as they are rightfully entitled to and instead increase staff level, testing, and anyone caught breaking quarantine rules is having the book thrown at them, their name and face printed all over the news – yeah, shame these entitled assholes – and thus also prevent the coming in of a new threat and the spread there of.
Do we really have to wait until it is in the community to lock down?
MIQ transmission is going to happen with the highly infectious strains and when this happens how is it going to be managed for a person on day 12 not in quarantine just isolation?
The government needs to have the MIQ capacity for this senario. Unprepared will be seen as a failure and National will be all over this.
Think that the risk is not just due to the variant that leaks out, but who it leaks to. Greater Brisbane has just been locked down for 3 days because of a cleaner at a quarantine hotel was infected with the UK variant, but despite 50,000 tests, no-one else has been detected with it. Maybe that’s because the cleaner lived alone and wasn’t an outgoing, social person or someone with a large family who she spread it to. Compare the fast transmission that happened with the Auckland cluster and the Melbourne one. One of the new variants is probably going to leak more often from now on though as there is an increasing amount of it and not just in the UK or South Africa.
Yes who it leaks to. As well the cleaner was at the tail end of infection so viral load is an issue.
Stopping people coming in stops the planes coming and likewise restricts a lot of essential imports ( medicines and like,
) coming in and perishable exports going out via airfreight, This is further complicated with our sea ports been already congested. Simply moving to air freight charters is cost prohibitive and not feasible in a highly global and connected world The government needs to view all these factors and risks, not simply taking a myopic health view only
[You’re spouting so much crap here again because you’re full of shit and nothing else.
Our Government is doing what you accuse it of not doing and more and the irony is that you’re the one with the myopic view.
Keep it up and you’ll be flying – Incognito]
Outgoing flights are pretty much empty passenger wise and incoming aren't much better because of the MIQ limits. Repatriation charters and fishing / merchant crew changes a slight exception.
As for profit for the airline, I'd say they are loosing money or just cost recovery on the passengers they carry because of the increased per passenger crew costs with the light loadings.
See my Moderation note @ 4:08 PM.
Sorry I'm usually a lurker here but have to bite.
Red: I assume you are not a health care worker. Have you thought about what would happen if our ICUs become full of the COVID sick? I'm making another assumption about you and I apologise if I'm incorrect but from your posts you sound quite young so I assume when you catch COVID you won't be in a high risk group for complications so won't need to go to hospital.
But, if you are unlucky enough to, say, be critically injured in a car accident or suffer a stroke then you'll be denied access to hospital as it will be full already.
"Myopic" this may be, but once our hospitals are full, plenty of those with non-COVID conditions will also die.
Nice comment Stan, & quite correct.
Given that the new strain is expected to become dominant globally very quickly, how long do you propose we should lock down “NOW”?
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/new-highly-infectious-covid-19-variant-become-dominant-all-over-world-michael-baker
What do your stats mean? How do they compare to the other older variants, for example? Are you scaremongering?
Are you suggesting that all New Zealanders who’d want it should have come home by now and that the ones who didn’t have only themselves to blame? It reminds of the bene-bashing ‘reasoning’ by National and ACT. Nice!
Do you believe there are no social costs to locking down “NOW”?
What has “being SO KIND” got to do with it? It sounds like a cheap shot to me.
Absolutely.
"New Zealanders have had 9 MONTHS to get home."
Have to confess that crossed my mind too. When it was still relatively easy to come back to NZ they didn't do so. Now that the pandemic outbreak has reached emergency levels in the UK they want to come home and expect the welcoming mat to be laid out for them.
Well, they can come back… when it is safe again and NZ is ready to resume normal services. There will always be exceptions granted for special cases.
I don’t follow Janet or you on this ‘nine month’ issue. MIQ was introduced on 9 April 2020, i.e. nine months ago. It was indeed “relatively easy” to return to NZ before then and many New Zealanders did during that short window. In fact, this was one of the reasons why MIQ was not introduced before 9 April.
This where I am coming from Incognito:
I recall the warnings being issued back in February and March that this pandemic was going to be around for a long time and that it will get a lot worse before it gets better. A vaccine was thought to be at least two years away.
It shouldn't have taken much to conclude that it would be best to get back to NZ as soon as possible… if simply because of our geographical isolation. I was surprised more people didn't take advantage of the "window" while it was available.
I give my parents as an example. My father was in Germany in the mid 1930s and saw with his own eyes the proliferation of munitions factories and the mood of the nation in general. He returned to England and immediately made plans to take his young family out of Britain to somewhere safe. They went to Australia initially then moved on to NZ two years later. They arrived just before WW2 broke out.
At the time of their departure, they were laughed at by family and friends back in England but he was the one who had the last laugh.
I see a similarity between the two situations.
Ok, I think I understand you now, thank you. However, that window of opportunity was a little more than one month or so, not nine months, which means that you and I were thinking of different periods.
Well, I was actually thinking for a longer period – including the start of the mandatory 14 day hotel isolation upon arrival. Over the winter months especially I wouldn't have thought that was too traumatic for most people to handle.
reasons other than self interest for not returning earlier:
That last one applies to two of my siblings. I know another family who the job contract applied to.
It doesn't take much imagination to see that NZers overseas have a range of restrictions on their lives that might prevent them just packing up and coming home.
The precautions are so that we DON'T have to lock down.
Exactly …… you got it ! and only while the Pandemic is RAGING as it is in Britain and USA right now !
This is horrible that a baby has died and someone is obstructing justice / police. Why do they protect these people? Good that the police have arrested the person for providing false information.
Auckland baby homicide: Woman charged with attempting to obstruct justice | Stuff.co.nz
"arborists have inspected the site and made recommendations to undertake work to ensure the vegetation is healthy and safe.
Most of the work involved trimming shrubs back from footpaths, lights or clothes lines".
Lovely to walk footpaths overhung and bordered by trees, lights are unnecessary – if you're afraid of the dark carry a torch – it's called "taking responsibility as an individual for personal safety", clothes lines – it's not direct sunlight but the moisture content of the breeze that determines drying time and a bit of bird shit on the sheets is easily scraped off. Arborists are in business to make money so are looking for reasons to trim and remove, and the tidiness ideology that rules suburbia is enabling them. Tidiness is a huge earner in other ways too of course, supported by "health and safety." regulations.
An untidy, unhealthy and unsafe environment nurtured our human evolution and I owe myself to it – unthinking and ungrateful as others seem to be.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/123913689/terminallyill-social-housing-resident-fears-council-will-destroy-her-ecorefuge
That's why we don't have lightbulbs in the house and the kids have to buy batteries for their torches from their allowances, so they learn to take personal responsibility.
the deep-sea fishing industry has struggled to recruit Kiwi workers
Stuff has been massaging the truth about slave fishermen. There is no struggle – the company applies few a few hundred visas without making any remotely credible attempt to train or retain locals, and Immigration just let it happen, never checking up, just as they have for the last forty years.
A better description would be "the industry is too lazy and inept to train and retain kiwi workers, and the corrupt government supports and colludes in their law-breaking."
Nothing to see here – certainly no NZ jobs lost to exploitive practices.
I know you snakes are up to something let roll in the Court system and see what happens Muppets.
Ka kite Ano.