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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 8]
Bad Politics Are A Virus’s Best Friend
Tuesday, 7 September 2021, 8:17 pm | Ian Powell
One thing the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted is the importance of political decision-making. The adoption of successful elimination strategies to combat community transmission has occurred where governments, such as New Zealand’s, have accepted the advice ... More >>
If Patient Co-payments Were Removed From General Practices
Tuesday, 31 August 2021, 6:29 pm | Ian Powell
It is only a matter of time before a government, whether Labour or National-led, accepts that patient co-payments for general practice visits are a major barrier for access to primary care. Steps in this direction began in the late 1990s under ... More >>
The Third Coming of Lester Levy – a process glued together by hypocrisy: Part Two
Tuesday, 24 August 2021, 9:31 am | Ian Powell
Originally published at https://otaihangasecondopinion.wordpress.com/2021/08/24/the-third-coming-of-lester-levy-a-process-glued-together-by-hypocrisy-part-two/ The first and second comings of Dr Lester Levy were discussed in Part One of this two-part blog series: https://otaihangasecondopinion.wordpress.com/2021/08/20/the-luck-and-comings-of-lester-levy-part-one/ ... More >>
The Luck And Comings Of Lester Levy: Part One
Friday, 20 August 2021, 3:22 pm | Ian Powell
Newsroom’s David Williams has developed a well-earned reputation as a quality investigative journalist, including on health system issues such as the political hatchet job by government on the senior management team of Canterbury District Health ... More >>
Government’s Response To New Zealand’s Delta Threat Is The Right Response
Wednesday, 18 August 2021, 7:39 pm | Ian Powell
The Government is right in its response to New Zealand’s (Aotearoa) community transmission case of the highly contagious Delta Covid-19 variant. Yesterday, within a few hours of the discovery, It moved fast to an initial hard seven lockdown in ... More >>
The Meaning Of Elimination Of Covid-19
Monday, 9 August 2021, 6:35 pm | Ian Powell
Critical to the success of New Zealand’s elimination strategy of Covid-19 community transmission has been the quality of expert advice of the country’s epidemiologists. They haven’t been the only medical specialists or other scientists to provide this ... More >>
Health Minister Behaves Badly Towards Nurses
Sunday, 1 August 2021, 2:09 pm | Ian Powell
Arguably Minister of Health Andrew Little is the MP in the New Zealand Parliament with the greatest experience and knowledge of collective bargaining between employers and unions. For several years he was an effective leader of the Engineering, Printing ... More >>
Doctors Call For Vaccine Development In New Zealand
Thursday, 22 July 2021, 4:25 pm | Ian Powell
Originally published at https://otaihangasecondopinion.wordpress.com/2021/07/22/doctors-call-for-vaccine-development-in-new-zealand/ On 10 June the Democracy Project published online an article by me on why New Zealand should seriously consider developing its own vaccine manufacturing and supply, particularly ... More >>
Boris The Barbaric Threatens More Than The UK
Sunday, 18 July 2021, 7:25 pm | Ian Powell
Last Tuesday my oldest daughter Lana returned from London where she teaches for six weeks during the northern summer. That same day I was one of two panellists on Radio New Zealand’s The Panel which runs Monday to Friday from 3.45pm to 5pm. Much ... More >>
Has The Government Mishandled New Zealand’s Vaccine Rollout?
Saturday, 10 July 2021, 8:02 pm | Ian Powell
If one were to accept the statements of National Party leader Judith Collins and her Covid-19 spokesperson Chris Bishop, along with other critics, the Labour government has badly mishandled the Covid-19 vaccine (Pfizer) rollout in New Zealand. To assess ... More >>
Funding General Practice In New Zealand
Thursday, 1 July 2021, 3:32 pm | Ian Powell
Universal public healthcare in New Zealand was enabled by new ground-breaking social security legislation in 1938 under the first Labour government. It has been the foundation for our health system ever since aside from a failed ideological market experiment ... More >>
Canterbury And Cardiff & Vale: What Some Don’t What To Know About
Saturday, 19 June 2021, 4:52 pm | Ian Powell
The King's Fund is an independent thinktank focussing on the health system in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1897 it is a non-government organisation and charity that actively publishes research and analyses as well as organising conferences and other ... More >>
Slogans And Sound-bytes Don’t Make A Collective Bargaining Strategy; Ask New Zealand’s Nurses
Monday, 14 June 2021, 2:08 pm | Ian Powell
Originally published at https://otaihangasecondopinion.wordpress.com/2021/06/14/slogans-and-sound-bytes-dont-make-a-collective-bargaining-strategy-ask-new-zealands-nurses/ The Labour government’s ‘strategy’ for collective bargaining between district health boards (DHBs) and the various health unions can best be described as a slogan. ... More >>
Ian Powell: Lessons For NZ From Cuba, The Covid-19 Vaccine Powerhouse?
Friday, 11 June 2021, 9:39 am | Ian Powell
What can New Zealand learn from Cuba about fighting Covid-19? Plenty, especially in terms of producing vaccines, according to Health commentator Ian Powell . As the Medical Director for the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners Dr Bryan ... More >>
A Fleeting Health System Consensus
Sunday, 23 May 2021, 4:02 pm | Ian Powell
Last week I published in the Victorian University hosted Democracy Project the second part of a two-article series of the escalating clash between the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) in the context of the recovery ... More >>
Early Health System Initiatives: Elk City, Saskatchewan And Kurow
Friday, 21 May 2021, 5:15 am | Ian Powell
Last year I read a fascinating article published by the monthly Le Monde Diplomatique on early health system initiatives in the United States’ Elk City and Canada’s Saskatchewan province https://mondediplo.com/2020/08/02populism-expertise . This ... More >>
Improving Income Support Critical For Improving Health System
Sunday, 16 May 2021, 5:42 pm | Ian Powell
Minister of Health Andrew Little claimed that his recently announced health restructuring was bold. But it was only bold in the sense that whiteboard warriors are bold. Sitting behind this embellished claim is the unacknowledged view that structural change drives ... More >>
Pay Freezes, Health Systems And Medical Specialists
Monday, 10 May 2021, 10:50 am | Ian Powell
What has a pay freeze got to do with a universal public health system? Actually quite a lot. Health systems, especially public hospitals which handle the more complex and urgent cases that the rest of the system can’t fix, are by their very nature ... More >>
Pharmac's Welcome Transparency Highlights Need For Real Bold Government Action
Sunday, 2 May 2021, 4:56 pm | Ian Powell
The Pharmaceutical Management Agency (known as Pharmac) is a crown entity that decides, on behalf of New Zealand’s district health boards (DHBs), which medicines and pharmaceutical products are subsidised for use in the community and public hospitals (I use the ... More >>
It’s Just Not Cricket (nor Olympian For That Matter)
Thursday, 29 April 2021, 1:01 pm | Ian Powell
Originally Published at https://otaihangasecondopinion.wordpress.com/2021/04/29/its-just-not-cricket-nor-olympian-for-that-matter/ I’m what’s known as a cricket nut (or cricket tragic as some cruelly say). I played cricket for well over 40 years at school and in Wellington, Christchurch and ... More >>
