15 July 2020

Living in a retirement village may decrease older people’s social isolation, but doesn’t necessarily make them less lonely, says University of Auckland academic Michal Boyd

Universal public health systems have an unavoidable tension between the extent of centralisation and decentralisation of decision-making

Period poverty advocate and researcher Sarah Donovan’s application to fund sanitary products was in part a lever to get the issue of period poverty in New Zealand noticed

West Lynn GP Phyllida Cotton-Barker, sole owner of Richmond Road Medical Centre in Auckland, describes the centre’s team as epic, generous and kind 

Auckland designer Irene Lavender has been a keen consumer of the COVID-19 briefings of director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield

First it was “test, test, test”, then it was test only the high-risk people, and now it’s a compromise built on clinical judgement and the promise of payment 

We are aware of some views recently expressed regarding discretionary indemnity and insurance-based cover (“Alarm bells sound as prospect of greater activity in medical competence arena raises indemnity shortcomings”, New Zealand Doctor, 17 June)

An Auckland GP’s video titled, “Home medical management plan for mild coronavirus”, has itself gone viral 

I hate chopping vegetables. I’m slow, clumsy and I quickly get bored. I know practice would probably help – à la Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia – but I really don’t like
cooking enough to put in the effort 

Dr Doctor was surprised by the speed at which the Labour Party updated its website when prime minister Jacinda Ardern demoted David Clark and added health to Chris Hipkins’ bulging portfolio.