fcassie@nzdoctor.co.nz

Nearly 120 practices have now alerted their PHOs over fears for their financial viability if the practice nurse pay equity claim is not fully funded by the Government

The country’s first mobile PET-CT scanner is expected to hit the road this year, driven by a private hospital conglomerate acquisition of a 51 per cent stake in surgical ‘bus’ operator Mobile Health Group

The launch this summer of the rural after-hours Ka Ora Telecare service was a welcome relief to Ashburton’s stretched practices, says Eastfield Health business manager Tony Dann

The Government should invest in stretched general practices to boost childhood immunisation rates before funding pharmacies to immunise infants, argues General Practice Owners Association chair Angus Chambers

Christchurch’s 24 Hour Surgery will be truly 24 hours again from 28 January, after filling the nursing vacancies that forced the urgent-care centre to cancel most graveyard shifts since September

Canterbury GPs say closing the pay gap with secondary peers and reducing the administration burden are some steps that may stop stressed doctors leaving general practice

Thousands of medical history items from sutures to speculums and the country’s first ECT machine could soon be homeless. Fiona Cassie visits Christchurch’s Cotter Medical History Museum

Anxiety over whether the Government will fully fund the practice nurse pay equity claim has prompted 56 stretched practices to notify their PHOs of financial viability concerns

Reporter Fiona Cassie talks to two nurse practitioners who say professional supervision can protect the health of clinicians and keep them in the workforce

Funders have told primary care leaders that national contracts will be rising by 5 per cent in the coming year. Reporter Fiona Cassie takes a closer look at the sums