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Ian Powell
Otaihanga Second Opinion is a regular health systems blog in New Zealand.
Ian Powell is the editor of the health systems blog 'Otaihanga Second Opinion.' He is also a columnist for New Zealand Doctor, occasional columnist for the Sunday Star Times, and contributor to the Victoria University hosted Democracy Project. For over 30 years , until December 2019, he was the Executive Director of Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, the union representing senior doctors and dentists in New Zealand.
Ian Powell - Latest News [Page 1]
Public Hospitals Were Already Overflowing Before Winter Flu Outbreak
Sunday, 13 September 2026, 3:09 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell observes that the overflowing of New Zealand’s public hospitals was already occurring well before the current severe winter flu outbreak and discusses why this was so. More >>
Privatising First Specialist Assessments
Wednesday, 9 September 2026, 7:14 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses the Government’s move to extend its ideological obsession for privatisation to first specialist assessments in New Zealand’s public hospitals. More >>
Removing The ‘Veil Of Good Intentions’: A Lesson For New Zealand Foreign Policy
Sunday, 6 September 2026, 7:10 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses an insightful article from a White House insider on the veil of good intentions in US foreign policy and the removal of this veil by Donald Trump along with a lesson for New Zealand. More >>
Health New Zealand And Its Workforce Are Not ‘On The Same Page’
Thursday, 3 September 2026, 8:35 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses the serious riskes when the leadership of Health New Zealand (especially political) and its workforce are on different pages. More >>
Don’t Blame Jews For Israel’s Genocidal Ethnic Cleansing (Or For Zionism)
Saturday, 29 August 2026, 3:09 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses why Jews should not be blamed for genocidal ethnic cleansing and who should be blamed. More >>
Health Minister Drops Medical Council In A Right Political Pickle
Saturday, 22 August 2026, 12:02 pm | Ian Powell
New Zealand’s health Minister Simeon Brown has dropped the Medical Council in a right political pickle over his appointment of a doctor who promotes and sells his own supplements. More >>
It’s ‘A Song And A Prayer’: Hidden Cost Of 1,300 Unfilled Nursing Jobs
Sunday, 9 August 2026, 3:27 am | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses the exposed hidden cost of unfilled nursing jobs in New Zealand’s public hospitals forcing nurses to have to rely on a song and a prayer. More >>
Sinister ‘Free Speech Union’ Attacks Investigative Journalist For Being Investigative
Tuesday, 4 August 2026, 7:17 am | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses the wider implications and intrigue of the attack by the so-called Free Speech Union on an investigative journalist for being investigative. More >>
A Microscopic View That Highlights Worsening Crisis In Public Hospitals
Saturday, 1 August 2026, 5:43 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses the experience of the rundown of an orthopaedic department that highlights the worsening crisis in New Zealand’s acute public hospitals. More >>
Public Hospitals Increasingly Dependent On ‘Place-Holder Senior Doctors
Monday, 27 July 2026, 6:38 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses the blow-out of locum doctor costs in public hospitals, what sits behind it, and what approach should be taken. More >>
For Whom The Opportunity Bell Tolls
Tuesday, 21 July 2026, 3:18 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses the possibility of the Opportunity Party unending the forthcoming general election in New Zealand. Is the Party ‘for who the bell tolls”? More >>
Hospital Laboratory Privatisation Unsustainable; Leaving With A “Heavy Heart”
Sunday, 12 July 2026, 7:12 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses the unsustainability of privatised laboratories in New Zealand’s public hospitals. More >>
Destroying The Essence Of Palestinian
Wednesday, 8 July 2026, 3:04 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses the devastating United Nations commissioned report on Israel’s use of targeting children in occupied Palestine in order to destroy the essence of their childhood and the New Zealand government’s response. More >>
Health Minister ‘Purges’ Regulatory Health Practitioner Authorities For Carrying Out Their Statutory Function
Thursday, 2 July 2026, 12:40 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses the attempt to purge our health system’s workforce regulatory authorities by Government and in doing so undermining their public safety prime responsibility. More >>
Health Target Politics Versus Clinical Prioritisation
Tuesday, 23 June 2026, 3:08 pm | Ian Powell
The problem with the targets is not so much the targets themselves. Instead, it was the hyped-up incorrect assertion that they were a measure of productivity improvement. More >>
When Opportunity Knocks For The Opportunity Party?
Saturday, 20 June 2026, 2:51 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses whether the coming general election is a ‘when the opportunity knocks’ moment for the revamped Opportunity Party in light of recent polls and media coverage. More >>
Two Different Tales Of Avoidable Hospital Bed-blocking
Tuesday, 16 June 2026, 1:42 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses, using two different cases, avoidable bed-blocking in New Zealand’s public health system and where social determinates of health fit in. More >>
Hypocrisy Of Free Speech Union Opposing Free Speech In Practice
Saturday, 6 June 2026, 9:06 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses the hypocrisy of complaint against Otago University Vice Chancellor Grant Robertson by the Free Speech Union in an email to university students on wellbeing. More >>
The Wider Implications Of Eyecare Privatisation
Wednesday, 3 June 2026, 3:37 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses the wider implications and risks of the decision to tender for proposals to privatise eyecare services currently provided in New Zealand’s public health system. More >>
Gleichschaltung And The Far Right Momentum: Lessons For New Zealand
Monday, 1 June 2026, 1:59 pm | Ian Powell
Ian Powell discusses the German historical word Gleichschaltung, the far right political momentum internationally and its lessons for politics in New Zealand. More >>
