28 February 2018

A row has broken out between two Bay of Plenty PHOs, with accusations of practice poach­ing involving one of the coun­try’s biggest corporate primary healthcare companies

Regarding: “When proton-pump inhibitors fail, what is the best approach?” New Zealand Doctor, 14 February

Andy von Biel was a GP at Te Awamutu Medical Centre for 30 years before moving to Waihi Beach in 2016. He now works as a long-term locum at Waihi Family Doctors and does some locum work at Waihi Beach Medical Centre, where he can go home for lunch

Tension between government and health professionals is a permanent backdrop to health policy and healthcare delivery, writes University of Auckland health policy researcher Tim Tenbensel

Declining patient satisfaction with GPs is leading RNZCGP president Tim Malloy to suggest the college may need to do more to grow GPs’ communication skills

Waimate GP Steve Fish needs his bike; it’s crucial to fundrais­ing plans that will see him cy­cling the empty streets of Paris with Tour de France racers hot on his tail

More than 5000 patients have been advised they may have been exposed to the risk of infection when they had open-heart surgery in the past five years, across four DHBs

An independent reviewer will report to health minister Da­vid Clark by June on IT, DHB capacity, operational manage­ment and clinical matters within the National Bowel Screening Programme

The Rural General Practice Team of the Year competition has gar­nered nominations from a wider range of practices this year

A legal glitch granting nurse practitioners the power to sign off on death certificates, but not cremation certificates, should be fixed by the end of April, the Ministry of Health says