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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 4]
Health Minister Must End Privatised Hospital Laboratory “Cash Cow”
Wednesday, 9 August 2023, 7:02 am | Ian Powell
Medical scientist Elaine Booker has recently resigned her job at Southland Hospital’s laboratory. With the approval of then Labour Minister of Health Pete Hodgson, both the Dunedin and Southland hospital laboratories were privatised in 2007. Privatising ... More >>
Te Whatu Ora – What We Now Have, What Are Its Risks And What Should It Be Done To Make It Better For Patient-care
Monday, 7 August 2023, 11:21 am | Ian Powell
Alternative heading: How can we get out of this crap? Ian Powell Health system commentator and blogger Former Executive Director, Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Presentation to New Zealand Branch Annual General Meeting Australian and New Zealand ... More >>
The Real Philanthropists
Sunday, 23 July 2023, 7:46 pm | Ian Powell
On 12 July many New Zealanders were stunned by Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ unexpected announcement (called a ‘Captain’s Call’) that there would not be a capital gains or wealth tax on his watch: Prime Minister Hipkins rules out wealth and capital ... More >>
Conflict Of Interest And Aotearoa New Zealand’s Health System
Thursday, 13 July 2023, 7:07 pm | Ian Powell
While thinking about conflict of interest in Aotearoa New Zealand’s health system I accidentally came across these words by American folk singer Woody Guthrie in his Pretty Boy Floyd song recorded in 1940: Some will rob you with a six-gun, And some ... More >>
Privatised Hospital Laboratory Fiasco (and Profit Driven Fleecing) Continues
Thursday, 6 July 2023, 8:48 pm | Ian Powell
The ongoing fiasco that is Aotearoa New Zealand’s laboratory system which effects around 70% of clinical decisions not only continues unabated; it goes from worse to worser. The nub of the issue is the privatisation of the health system’s public ... More >>
Let’s Call Transphobia By Its Real Name – Sickening Bigotry
Sunday, 2 July 2023, 5:58 am | Ian Powell
If someone had said that I should write on transgender rights when I began my Political Bytes blog in January 2021, I would have said nonsense. Partly this was because I didn’t appreciate the level of intense bigotry and hatred of those opposed to their ... More >>
More Medical Student Places Good But There’s A Mammoth In The Room!
Tuesday, 27 June 2023, 10:50 pm | Ian Powell
The announcement by Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall of the Government’s decision to increase the number of medical student places in our two university based medical schools (Auckland and Otago) was overdue (the last increase was in 2015) but welcome. ... More >>
On The Māori Health Authority
Friday, 23 June 2023, 7:50 am | Ian Powell
Rob Campbell on Māori Health Authority Rob Campbell appears to be on an adrenaline driven burst of writing since his dismissal as Chair of Health New Zealand (Te Whatu Ora) which shows no sign of diminishing. This is a good thing. I have a vested interest. ... More >>
Affectional Empathy And The Living Wage
Wednesday, 31 May 2023, 7:59 pm | Ian Powell
One of the things I get a buzz out of is trying to place a practical issue within a theoretical construct. I was prompted to give this a go after reading an article in the New York Review of Books published on 8 December 2022. The practical ... More >>
Showdown Time Over Hospital Laboratory Privatisations
Monday, 15 May 2023, 4:06 pm | Ian Powell
Developments are coming to a head over those of Aotearoa New Zealand’s public hospital laboratories which were privatised under both Labour and National led governments. This was foreshadowed in my recent column published by BusinessDesk: How to fix the ... More >>
What Does Being Left-wing Really Mean?
Monday, 1 May 2023, 6:23 am | Ian Powell
Wellington based academic political commentator Bryce Edwards is an asset for good political discourse in Aotearoa New Zealand. This is largely through his Democracy Project hosted by Victoria University. His NZ Politics Today providing links to published ... More >>
Put Patient-centred Care At The Core Of Health System
Friday, 21 April 2023, 7:01 pm | Ian Powell
In January this year my political opposite Heather Roy and I jointly published a paper under the title Te Whatu Ora: Achieving Patient Centred Care and Wellbeing : Achieving Patient-Centred Care and Wellbeing . What is patient-centred ... More >>
Health New Zealand Restructuring Threatens Health Localities
Wednesday, 12 April 2023, 8:43 pm | Ian Powell
Following his sacking as the Chair of Health New Zealand (HNZ – Te Whatu Ora), Rob Campbell threw a hand grenade into his former organisation by revealing that it was planning a full restructuring of “overhead roles” which would lead to ... More >>
Reducing Health Inequity
Sunday, 19 March 2023, 7:00 pm | Ian Powell
My final article published by BusinessDesk in 2022 (20 December) discussed the challenge of Aotearoa New Zealand’s health system reducing health disparities in order to reduce inequity as now expressly required by legislation: New health system can’t ... More >>
How Te Whatu Ora Can Succeed: Overcome A Structural Weakness
Wednesday, 18 January 2023, 10:04 am | Ian Powell
An omission from the Pae Ora Act is a major deficit, write political opposites Ian Powell and Heather Roy, in the second part of their series on Te Whatu Ora The New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2001 marked a return to cooperation from ... More >>
Barbados, Climate Injustice, And The Pursuit Of Wealth Accumulation
Wednesday, 11 January 2023, 8:04 pm | Ian Powell
On the eve of the 2017 general election in Aotearoa New Zealand, dramatic circumstances led Jacinda Ardern to assume the leadership of the Labour Party. In an outstanding media briefing she confidently asserted that a government led by her would be transformational ... More >>
Should The Prime Minister Go To Cop27? ‘Blood, Blood, Blood’
Thursday, 3 November 2022, 6:28 am | Ian Powell
Aside from trashing the British economy and a shorter lifespan than a lettuce, the prime ministership of Liz Truss will be remembered for dissuading the new King Charles from attending the Cop27 United Nations climate summit in Egypt’s resort city Sharm ... More >>
Uber, The ‘Lure’ And Carve-outs
Thursday, 27 October 2022, 7:26 pm | Ian Powell
Employment Court judge Christina Inglis in a landmark decision ruled that four Uber drivers were employees and not self-employed contractors has opened the gate for many other drivers to seek the protections of employment law. This follows a successful ... More >>
Professor Baker Is Right; New Zealand Needs Pandemic Political Leadership
Thursday, 20 October 2022, 6:25 am | Ian Powell
I’m not a Twitter fan. Instead I’m a reluctant user. However, I can only admire the precision of NZ Herald investigative journalist Matt Nippert who, on 12 October, tweeted the following: The lockdowns were the first to go; then the scanning; ... More >>
New Zealand’s ‘National Disgrace’: ‘One Of The Worst Places To Bring Up A Child’
Thursday, 6 October 2022, 6:47 pm | Ian Powell
David McCormack is a cardiothoracic surgeon employed at Waikato Hospital by Te Whatu Ora (Health New Zealand). He is also an Associate Chief Medical Officer and an Honorary Associate Professor of Surgery. Surgical precision He knows his clinical stuff. But ... More >>
