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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 3]
Road Ambulance Service Cuts Highlight Vulnerability Of Ownership Model
Monday, 11 March 2024, 7:08 pm | Ian Powell
The vulnerability of Aotearoa New Zealand’s road ambulance service was highlighted by the announcement last month than the largest ambulance (Hato Hone St John) was looking to pull ambulances off the road because of rising fiscal deficits. It raised ... More >>
Child Palliative Care: A Sad But Avoidable Plight
Monday, 4 March 2024, 5:54 pm | Ian Powell
On 21 February the NZ Herald published a compelling article by its Wellington-based journalist Vita Molyneux on the state of child palliative care in Aotearoa New Zealand: Health system failing terminally ill children . The ... More >>
Missing The Health Target
Tuesday, 27 February 2024, 8:17 pm | Ian Powell
Wilhelm Tell (more commonly known as William Tell in the English speaking world) was a 14th century folk hero in Switzerland then ruled by the Austrian Hapsburgs. Tell is widely considered to be the symbolic father of the Swiss Confederacy. Among ... More >>
Formal Democracy, Popular Will And Military Coups
Monday, 26 February 2024, 5:48 pm | Ian Powell
In its 2023 Index of the countries of the world Transparency International rated Aotearoa New Zealand the third best nation on transparency. However, as credible as this was, there was a drop in its score. The fall was in how common it was for ... More >>
Muddled Analysis: Left, Right, And Wrong!
Monday, 5 February 2024, 7:02 pm | Ian Powell
Sometimes when I contemplate whether to blog on a political subject or not, I struggle with the question of relevance. The fact that the subject interests me is not a guarantee of wider relevance. On this occasion, aided and abetted by personal bias I’ve opted ... More >>
US Lessons For New Zealand’s Health System: Profiteering, Hospital Adverse Events And Patient Outcomes
Monday, 15 January 2024, 4:48 pm | Ian Powell
Although not guaranteed it is likely that the ugly head of ‘Public Private Partnerships’ (PPPs) will be raised again in Aotearoa New Zealand’s public hospitals following last year’s election of a new National-led coalition government. Profit maximisation ... More >>
Message To Health Minister: Get The Foundations Right Beginning With Being ‘Relational’
Thursday, 21 December 2023, 7:54 pm | Ian Powell
When the Labour led coalition government came into power in October 2017 it inherited a health system in crisis, primarily due to the interlocked pressures of rising acute demand and severe workforce shortages compounded by underfunding. Unfortunately that ... More >>
Wealth Accumulation – ‘Big Sugar’ And Little Barbados: A Lesson In Struggle And Consciousness
Sunday, 17 December 2023, 5:41 pm | Ian Powell
If New Zealanders undertook four basic public health measures they would not only live longer, they would significantly reduce the pressure on their badly politically driven overstretched health system. Three of these measures involve doing moderate ... More >>
When Smoke Gets In Your Eyes The Outcome Is Perversity
Tuesday, 12 December 2023, 8:47 pm | Ian Powell
In 1959 The Platters , an early rock-and-roll era group, released the song Smoke gets in your eyes (first sung in a 1933 Broadway show: ‘Smoke gets in your eyes’ . The song is a sweetly romantic metaphoric song about falling in love and then breaking-up. ... More >>
Tone-deaf Health System Leadership: Business Consultants And A Symbolic Specialist Resignation
Tuesday, 28 November 2023, 5:55 pm | Ian Powell
The catalyst for the heading of this blog was a text I recently received from a former district health board (DHB) chair on the response of Health New Zealand (Te Whatu Ora) to a paywalled article by journalist Isaac Davison in the NZ Herald (24 ... More >>
Why Labour Lost The 2023 Election So Badly
Thursday, 23 November 2023, 1:57 am | Ian Powell
On 1 August 2017 Jacinda Ardern was elected leader of the opposition Labour Party in extraordinary circumstances. Opinion polls were showing Labour heading towards a massive fourth consecutive electoral defeat in September. National meanwhile was ... More >>
No Pressure Dr Reti But Starting On The Right Foot Is Critical
Tuesday, 7 November 2023, 7:32 pm | Ian Powell
With the final election count now confirmed it is clear that Aotearoa New Zealand will soon be governed by a National-ACT-NZ First coalition. Further, not that there was any prior doubt, Dr Shane Reti (a general practitioner) will be the next minister ... More >>
Food Sovereignty Versus Profit-maximisation
Tuesday, 24 October 2023, 7:55 pm | Ian Powell
In late January 2020 New Zealand’s trade minister David Parker got the “cold sweats”. This is according to The Economist (9 May 2020; paywalled): The world’s vulnerable food system . The context was China’s decision to ban ... More >>
The Importance Of Speaking Out (Voice) In Health Systems
Sunday, 22 October 2023, 6:03 am | Ian Powell
Voice is one of the most critical features of a robust health system. The experiences and concerns of patients and their families are often given voice. This is a good thing. Health systems learn from their voices. Equally important is the voice of ... More >>
Will Tennessee Threaten The Medical Workforce In New Zealand (with A Little Bit Of Help From Dolly Parton)
Thursday, 12 October 2023, 5:37 am | Ian Powell
Recently I came across an interesting article by Alicia Gallegos and published in the Medscape Journal of Medicine (26 June). I had not previously considered the possibility of a development in the American state of Tennessee potentially impacting negatively ... More >>
Protecting The Safety Of The Public; Or Not!
Tuesday, 3 October 2023, 9:41 pm | Ian Powell
In 2003 then Health Minister Annette King oversaw the successful passing of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act (HPCAA). It has proved to be landmark embedded legislation The Act brought together registration for all the recognised ... More >>
When Senior Doctors Snap
Saturday, 16 September 2023, 5:51 am | Ian Powell
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists is the union that represents salaried senior doctors (including dentists). It is one of the highest membership density unions in the country. Overwhelmingly its members are employed by Health New Zealand ... More >>
Health Leadership Control Culture Threatens Mental Health Services (and Beyond)
Tuesday, 12 September 2023, 6:28 am | Ian Powell
Thank goodness for investigative journalism. As Aotearoa New Zealand’s health system becomes less and less transparent, the work of investigative journalists becomes more and more important. This is especially so when it provides voice to those who ... More >>
Cuban Health System Lessons
Saturday, 2 September 2023, 5:52 am | Ian Powell
Previously I have published pieces on what Aotearoa New Zealand can learn from Cuba’s health system. This was largely about the over 11 million population nation’s remarkable progress in high tech vaccine production in response to the Covid-19 pandemic ... More >>
Evolution Of New Zealand’s Health System Up To Pae Ora Act 2022
Friday, 18 August 2023, 6:20 am | Ian Powell
Early this month I was invited by the New Zealand Branch of the Australian and New Zealand Oral & Maxillo-Facial Surgeons (ANZOMS) two give two addresses to their annual general meeting in Queenstown (4 and 5 August). It provided a great ... More >>
