Health NZ said there was the potential for identity overlay.RNZ / Peter de Graaf
A patient advocate is warning that the consequences of people receiving incorrect medical treatment due to mistaken identity can be catastrophic.
Health New Zealand has acknowledged people may have received incorrect medical treatment due to two people being mistakenly linked to one active National Health Index Number.
An NHI number is an alphanumeric identifier assigned to people who use health and disability services.
Health New Zealand told RNZ that although NHI numbers were unique, there was the potential for identity overlay, where two people were mistakenly linked to one active number.
”This can occur where two people’s personal information is nearly identical, and the health provider selects the wrong person. These cases are identified and corrected quickly by Health NZ’s NHI Data Quality team through daily reporting on potential duplicates and overlays,” it said.
”Health NZ acknowledges it is possible that people have received incorrect treatment when a health provider has selected the wrong person.
“However, Health NZ does not hold any centralised information on such cases, and any information, if it exists, would be held only in individual clinical records at district or provider level.”
Patient Voice Aotearoa chairperson Malcolm Mulholland said that’s not good enough.
”It’s not good and it’s something that shouldn’t be happening and Health New Zealand should be able to articulate the size of the problem.”
“The mere fact that they are unable to do so indicates to me that there are some problems and, without having them resolved, the consequences can be quite dire for patients,” he said.
“One of my areas of concern would be around medication. So a lot of certain medications are listed to be given to a patient and the medication is given to the wrong patient due to this problem. That to me would be ringing alarm bells and could lead to some catastrophic health outcomes.”
Health New Zealand was approached for additional comment.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
A driver has died in a crash at the Beachlands Speedway racetrack in Dunedin.RNZ / Kim Baker Wilson
A driver has died in a two-vehicle crash at the Beachlands Speedway racetrack in Dunedin.
Police were called to the scene in Waldronville at 7:10pm on Saturday night.
General Manager of Speedway New Zealand Zoe Irons told the New Zealand Herald a Speedway driver had died on the track.
“At this time, our thoughts are with the family affected and everyone within our speedway community,” Irons said, according to the Herald.
A Serious Crash Unit have conducted a scene examination and WorkSafe will be advised.
Anyone who witnessed the crash or have footage are being asked to contact police.
A car crashed over the four metre-high safety fence into the spectator area at Beachlands Speedway during a streetstock race on Friday 5 April, 2024.Supplied/ Mikaela Cruden
In 2024, a car flew over a safety fence in a streetstocks race at Beachlands Speedway.
A video posted to Facebook showed a streetstock turning a corner before suddenly hitting another car and launching over the fences around the track, flipping just metres from the crowd.
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It’s the first of two spacecraft of a satellite navigation demonstration mission in low Earth orbit.RNZ/ Nate McKinnon
Rocket Lab has successfully carried out its first dedicated launch on behalf of the European Space Agency.
The New Zealand-US space company’s 85th launch was carried out from its rocket pad in Hawke’s Bay on Saturday night.
It’s the first of two spacecraft of a satellite navigation demonstration mission in low Earth orbit.
An eventual new array of satellites some 500 kilometres above the earth will test next-generation technologies for uses like autonomous vehicles, maritime navigation, wireless networks, emergency services, and critical infrastructure projects.
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Ford has written to owners of Escape PHEVs regarding a battery issue.STR
An owner of a Ford hybrid vehicle that has had a problem identified with its battery says it could not have happened at a worse time.
Ford said it had written to the owners of some Escape PHEVs regarding a battery issue that could create a fire hazard, if they were fully charged.
“A manufacturing defect in one or more of the vehicle’s high voltage battery cells may cause the cell to develop an internal short circuit. Ford globally has had no incidents reported and the batteries we’ve checked, again globally, less than one percent have shown it to even be a potential issue.
“In NZ, we’ve had no known incidents and no batteries have yet been found to have the issue in question.
“However, as an added safety precaution, Ford has asked customers to limit the charging to 80 percent and drive in auto EV mode only. This is not a ‘stop drive’ issue.
“Ford is investigating a permanent solution and will be in contact again with customers asap.”
Brian Holmes said it was very inconvenient to be told his vehicle could “burst into flames”, when he wanted to rely on the battery more than ever.
He told Ford that, given the fuel crisis and the increasing uncertainty of the future price of petrol, the need to avoid using the full value of the plug-in hybrid could not have come at a worse time.
He had asked for compensation, but was told that a decision had not yet been made about whether that was possible.
“They don’t have a technical fix and have stonewalled my enquiry about compensation.”
Earlier, Westpac New Zealand managing director of institutional and business banking Reuben Tucker told RNZ demand for electric vehicles through the bank’s greater choices home loan top up and other loans for electric vehicles had soared.
“In the last two weeks, the number of applications for EVs through these products has roughly doubled,” he said.
Denim is present in practically every country in the world and is widely adopted as one of the most common forms of everyday attire. Its appeal spans generations and social groups: jeans are worn worldwide by those who follow fashion and those who do not, by people seeking to stand out and by those who prefer to blend in. However, many of us have never found the perfect pair.
Although denim has been produced since the 16th century, its association with American culture and durable workwear emerged during the Californian gold rush of the 1850s. It was during this time that Levi’s – now arguably the most recognisable denim brand – was established.
Levi Strauss, an immigrant entrepreneur who arrived in California from Bavaria in the 1850s, opened a dry goods business catering to miners. One of his customers, the tailor Jacob Davis, developed the innovative use of metal rivets to reinforce stress points in work trousers, making them more durable. Strauss and Davis jointly patented this technique, and the Levi’s brand was born.
Denim is a popular fabric around the world.
123RF
Blue jeans were originally a seen as symbol of labourers (like the miners) and they also gained a strong association with cowboys. In the decades that followed, denim jeans evolved from practical workwear into one of the most iconic and enduring symbols of global fashion and culture. Film stars such as Marlon Brando and James Dean popularised the jeans and t-shirt look to a young generation in the 1950s. These films personified motorcycle-loving nonconformists, and 1950s Hollywood embraced denim as the garment of rebellion.
Today, the cultural significance of denim jeans has moved beyond early associations with workwear, the cowboy and the teenage rebel, to become a staple worn by people of all ages and backgrounds.
Finding the perfect pair
Denim jeans are often seen as a problematic fashion product in terms of sustainability, because their production leaves a considerable environmental footprint.
Cheap prices on the high street can encourage consumers to treat denim products as short-term items, reducing their lifespan. Cotton, which is commonly the main fabric for denim, is incredibly water intensive; the production of one pair of jeans uses approximately 7,500 litres of water.
Different components involved in the making of a single pair of jeans, such as denim, thread, cotton and buttons, can originate from different countries all over the world. This raises questions regarding the environmental costs involved in the production process. Further issues include that jeans are often not made from single fibre materials and therefore cannot be recycled.
Adding to sustainability concerns, at the consumer level, the perfect pair of jeans remains an elusive concept. But in a recently published book chapter, I explain that the perfect pair of jeans is elusive for a reason. Jeans have to be correct for the individual wearer in terms of comfort, social and personal identity, and also the complexity of fit.
Previous reports have focused on women’s struggle to find jeans that fit and are flattering. The inability to find the perfect pair of jeans may encourage overconsumption, due to repeated purchasing based on poor fit.
My research shows that this is an issue which applies to all genders. The men I spoke to noted how they resented paying a higher price for brands like Levi’s, so spent less by purchasing cheap, high street alternatives. This attitude can lead to overconsumption, as low price points achieved through low-quality production often compromise product longevity.
This demonstrates the perpetuating cycle of fast fashion, driven by cheap, low-quality production, and contradicts the original purpose of jeans of being highly durable and having longevity. The combination of highly environmentally damaging production processes with overconsumption results in even greater environmental harm.
Retailers can make efforts to reduce the trend of overconsumption with better fitting garments. However, fit is a complex issue for retailers as well as consumers. For the retailer, producing jeans in a wide range of sizes and styles is often not cost effective, and complex sizing systems can also confuse the consumer.
Technology could provide future solutions to improving the accuracy of fit. Personalised virtual fitting, made possible through improvements in 3D human shape recognition, could ensure improved fit for the consumer. This would benefit online shoppers, although the technology does remain in its infancy, and is yet to be adopted by major online fashion retailers. Virtual fitting rooms also cannot replicate the feeling of denim next to the skin, so although the fit may be perfect, comfort could be compromised.
Ultimately, the enduring challenge of finding the “perfect pair” of jeans highlights not only the garment’s cultural significance but also the opportunity for the fashion industry – and consumers – to move toward more sustainable, better-fitting and more thoughtfully designed denim for the future.
Rose Marroncelli is a lecturer at Nottingham Trent University
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
“Hey, man. Jean-Michel Jarre in the New Zealand bush – what do you reckon?” read an out-of-the-blue 2am text Sam Scott received from filmmaker Taika Waititi.
A few months later, the Wellington musician and composer learnt about Hunt For the Wilderpeople, and he and Moniker collaborators Lukasz Buda and Conrad Wedde began working on its soundtrack.
But several months after the trio had scored the whole movie in “a very Jean-Michel Jarre way”, they were told a new direction had been decided on, and they had three weeks to present a new soundtrack from scratch.
This video is hosted on Youtube.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
“On my first day as a refugee lawyer – in three different jobs – they thought I was the refugee, not the lawyer’, Perera says in a clip of her stand-up posted to social media that many Australians related to.
“The best thing about comedy is saying something very personal, but having it resonate around a room, around the country. That’s what makes it really, really beautiful.
“I keep looking over my shoulder like, is this allowed for an adult to be having quite this much fun?” she tells RNZ’s Saturday Morning.
This video is hosted on Youtube.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Ford has written to owners of Escape PHEVs regarding a battery issue.STR
An owner of a Ford hybrid vehicle that has had a problem identified with its battery says it could not have happened at a worse time.
Ford said it had written to the owners of some Escape PHEVs regarding a battery issue that could create a fire hazard, if they were fully charged.
“A manufacturing defect in one or more of the vehicle’s high voltage battery cells may cause the cell to develop an internal short circuit. Ford globally has had no incidents reported and the batteries we’ve checked, again globally, less than one percent have shown it to even be a potential issue.
“In NZ, we’ve had no known incidents and no batteries have yet been found to have the issue in question.
“However, as an added safety precaution, Ford has asked customers to limit the charging to 80 percent and drive in auto EV mode only. This is not a ‘stop drive’ issue.
“Ford is investigating a permanent solution and will be in contact again with customers asap.”
Brian Holmes said it was very inconvenient to be told his vehicle could “burst into flames”, when he wanted to rely on the battery more than ever.
He told Ford that, given the fuel crisis and the increasing uncertainty of the future price of petrol, the need to avoid using the full value of the plug-in hybrid could not have come at a worse time.
He had asked for compensation, but was told that a decision had not yet been made about whether that was possible.
“They don’t have a technical fix and have stonewalled my enquiry about compensation.”
Earlier, Westpac New Zealand managing director of institutional and business banking Reuben Tucker told RNZ demand for electric vehicles through the bank’s greater choices home loan top up and other loans for electric vehicles had soared.
“In the last two weeks, the number of applications for EVs through these products has roughly doubled,” he said.
“We don’t take the Force lightly, especially on their home patch and after the loss to the Brumbies last week it’s important we get the little things right on Saturday,” – Chiefs coach Jonno Gibbs.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand