NZ Engine

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Last remaining doctors at Palmerston North Hospital gastroenterology department to leave
• Concerns expressed about post code lottery for patient care
• Health NZ says it’s filling gaps at the department using staff from around the country, and recruiting new specialists

Doctors at a regional hospital are warning the postcode lottery is still alive in New Zealand’s heath system, after recruitment problems have driven one department to the brink.

Only two doctors remain at Palmerston North Hospital’s gastroenterology service, which focuses on patients suffering from problems with their digestive systems.

Of the two, one is about to finish and, now, the other one said he’s going to leave because of the workload and working conditions.

Health NZ said it’s covering gaps in the service while it recruits replacements.

Workload too much – doctor

Dr James Irwin was one of two gastroenterologists left at the hospital – the other was about to leave for another job.

Irwin, a member of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists union, said that would leave too much work for just one full-time specialist.

“I’ve essentially made the decision that I’ll leave my position at the hospital.

“I’ve worked for Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ for 26 years. It’s not a lightly taken decision. However, I don’t see a future where it’s going to change, so I need to position myself where I’m able to work and have a volume of work that’s manageable.

“The amount of work that falls on me is too much to consider doing in the long term, so I’d need a number of colleagues to manage this.”

The gastro department was funded for 5.6 full-time equivalent positions, according to answers to parliamentary questions asked by Palmerston North MP Tangi Utikere, of Labour.

The two doctors there now cover 1.6 full-time equivalent positions. On January 1 there were 3.6 permanent employees.

Last summer there was public outcry when surveillance colonoscopies at the hospital were paused.

They had resumed, but permanent specialists had left, leaving locums to plug the gaps.

Irwin said they could do endoscopy procedures, which were also moved to private providers, but the real gap when he left would be patients requiring care for chronic conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome.

“Postcode lottery’s been a phrase that’s always brought up at election time in New Zealand.

“I think it’s a great term to describe the desire to provide an equitable service regardless where one lives. Over the last five years the postcode lottery has worsened and deepened.”

Irwin had written to Health NZ, pleading for competitive pay and conditions at the regional service, and a manageable workload, so people were attracted to working there.

He was yet to be persuaded that anything would change for the better.

“For me to really muck in and really be part of a recovery I need hope for a recovery, for a future for the department.

“For me it means recruiting people here. It means recruiting New Zealand trainees to Palmerston North. We really have very little likelihood of doing that.”

Saddened by decision to leave

Recruitment to regional areas was hard, as medicine became more international, and Irwin estimated 40 percent of New Zealand trainees didn’t enter the workforce in the country.

“Those things mean that it’s really difficult to recruit and retain gastroenterologists in New Zealand.

“We’ve suffered that, and then not been able to replace people that have become unwell. Those that have remained have realised that it’s not going to change unless there’s a major change in the way health is delivered in our country, and they’ve gone to greener pastures.”

Irwin’s unsure of where to next for him.

It could be private practice work or doing some sessions in the public sector, such as endoscopies, but not having responsibility for referrals, recruitment and retention.

“I feel really sad about it. I’m 51 years old and my life since I was about 20 has been working towards providing healthcare service to the community.

“Since I’ve been in Palmerston North, I’ve worked hard to build a gastroenterology service and deliver good care to the people of the community.

“The way things are now, I can’t do that.”

Health NZ working on recruitment

Health NZ chief clinical officer Dr Richard Sullivan said locums and doctors from other regions were filling the gaps while it recruited more specialists.

For patients with gastric bleeding, Health NZ had developed a plan where doctors from neighbouring hospitals in Wairarapa and Whanganui were called on to work in Palmerston North.

“We’ve got what we call a sub-regional model, where they’re all working together to provide that support on that roster.

“That roster’s currently functioning very well. It’s been in place a couple of months since we started to lose more of our colleague in that space.

“That runs through to the end of May and we’re just working through now to extend it out for another three to six months.”

Sullivan acknowledged the concerns about postcode lotteries, but said being able to call on doctors from other regions showed the benefits of Health NZ’s national focus, rather than the previous regional model.

“We do have a clinician starting in September, so that’s a little light of positivity, and we’re actively recruiting at the moment.

“I believe there’s been two or three interviews of different individuals who are going through the recruitment process.

“The challenge with recruiting senior doctors is that it can take many months until you can get the feet on the ground.”

Sullivan said he was closely monitoring the situation in Palmerston North, as was the entire Health NZ senior leadership, and he was visiting regularly.

He was also working with Irwin to try to work through challenges he and the department were facing, and Health NZ was looking at ways of encouraging more trainees through provincial hospitals, in the hope they would stay there and work.

Three years ago seven specialists worked there, but they’d left due to illnesses, retirements and resignations.

“Inevitably, when you’ve got no team on the ground, you need to find a solution to make sure you deliver care for patients. That’s our key focus.

“We’ll grow the senior doctor workforce and get ourselves back to a sustained environment. But, unfortunately, we’re going to have a period of many months to a year or so where we’re going to have to look for other solutions.”

Sullivan said providing care to patients with chronic conditions was tricky. Virtual appointments were possible.

Compromising care – emergency doctor

Emergency medicine specialist and union branch president Dr Thomas Carter said the hospital had felt the effects of the gastroenterology department losing permanent staff.

“Late-stage cancer diagnosis is one of those things that if we don’t have a functional service, we’re going to see more and more of.

“That’s frustrating because by the time you have a symptomatic cancer, it’s much further along. It’s often metastatic [spread].”

He’s also concerned about patients with gastro bleeds getting quick access to specialist treatment, although Sullivan had detailed the regional plan in place for this.

“With any upper or lower GI [gastrointestinal] bleeds, they can become wildly unstable,” Carter said.

“Especially with the fuel crisis right now, it becomes incredibly important that you can treat them locally.”

If that option isn’t available medical staff would have to organise a helicopter or transport to nearby hospitals – still hours away.

Carter said the emergency medicine team had faced struggles in the past year to get specialist help for gastro bleeding.

“If there is not someone available locally, then some of the patients are going to perish.

“As much as that is hard to talk about, it’s the truth, and it’s why doctors talk about moral injury and talk about having to deny care.”

Denying care to chronic patients would mean dramatic falls in their quality of life.

Carter agreed with Irwin that this was an example of the postcode lottery, as specialists were effectively incentivised to work elsewhere, where pay and conditions were better.

‘Needs to be sorted, now’

Utikere said it was always challenging to attract people to regional centres, but Palmerston North Hospital had long been aware of the shortages in the department.

“That is deeply concerning for residents in Palmerston North. As a regional hospital it needs to be fully staffed.

“I’ve asked local management at the hospital about this and they tell me that this is the most serious threat to Palmerston North Hospital.

“It needs to be sorted and it needs to be sorted, now.”

Malcolm Mulholland, of Patient Voice Aotearoa, said health authorities needed to be upfront with the community.

“Why has this happened when we knew there was a lack of staff in gastroenterology almost a year and a half ago?

“Everyone saw this coming, everyone that is apart from MidCentral, Health New Zealand, and the government – those who are in charge of our health system.

“The time has come to have a meaningful conversation with a plan to get us out of this mess. Without it, people will die,” Mulholland said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

When Everybody’s Theatre in Ōpunake put out an emergency call after its projector broke down, it appears “everyone” wanted to help out.

With a repair bill of $18,000, the coastal Taranaki cinema faced months out of action – but the community was not having that.

Everybody’s Trust member Aretha McAdams opened up the theatre when RNZ came to visit.

“This is the entranceway with the lovely chandeliers and the ticket sales are over to the left and here we have the shop where we have snacks and drinks for sale when we are operational.

“And if you keep coming through down here… we’ve got all the couches.”

The couches are a throwback to when the building was being earthquake strengthened between 2012 and 2016.

The donated couches were able to be removed from the auditorium during the working week and dragged back in to allow film screenings at weekends.

“Apparently it was absolutely freezing and that’s how the blankets started as well.”

The crocheted blankets and couches are now fixtures, but don’t be thinking you can grab a blanket and just sit down on any old sofa.

“There are people who have their favourite sofa and they get quite distressed if someone else is sitting on it.”

There is also an upstairs section.

“So, the upstairs here is more traditional cinema seating. The middle section is all new seating and on the side sections – they wanted to keep some of the nostalgia – so there’s the original seating of the theatre. It’s all been made more comfortable and recovered.”

Everybody’s seats a total of 135 guests, with about 80 on the couches and the rest upstairs.

The theatre started life as a general store in about 1912 – before local businessman Boss Whiting converted it into a cinema in 1921.

His son Bruce ran it until 1980, when he wanted to retire.

“Of course, in the 80s TV had taken over and no-one wanted to buy it, but the community didn’t want to lose this asset,” Adams explained.

“So, people rallied around and all of the community put in to save the theatre and they purchased it and formed an incorporated society and a charitable trust. Hence the name Everybody’s Theatre.”

Trust chair Kim Gatenby said the community had also dug deep for the earthquake-strengthening and again come to the party for the projector, running garage sales, raffles, making donations and everything in between.

“We have been gobsmacked actually. We couldn’t believe it within two days the public were offering to help us with all sorts of things.

“We had people coming up to me in the street saying ‘hey, we’ll give you a loan of $18,000 if you need it’. So that’s very unusual.”

Gatenby said the cinema was a cherished part of coastal life.

“If you’ve grew up in Ōpunake a lot of people have fond memories about the place and if you didn’t grow up in Ōpunake – like myself – you walk in here and it’s the way the movies used to be many years ago.

“Everyone’s friendly, everyone’s helpful, everyone wants to see Everybody’s Theatre succeed that is the biggest thing in Ōpunake.”

‘It’s just magic for the town’

Brook Melody, the owner of the Four Square across the road, provided a hamper to raffle off for the theatre.

“It’s a big draw piece for the community, you know, it brings people into the area,” said Melody.

“This is small close-knit community and you’ve got to be willing to support each other, so if someone needs a helping hand and we’re able to give that helping hand to them we do.”

Farm Source manager Carol Dodunski was also on board and had donated a wheelbarrow full of goods.

“It’s a special building. It’s just magic for the town. It draws people to our town and you’ve got to go to a movie to see it. It’s really special.”

Trust member Rachael Hughson-How said the $18,000 was raised in double-quick time, but Everybody’s was still carrying on with the fund-raising drive for now.

“We’ve got ongoing costs even while we are closed. We’ve got the power, the insurance, the Eftpos machine. All those little things add up.

“We’re struggling like every other theatre, so we just need to keep on top of that to keep us sustainable, especially since we’ve been closed the past couple of weeks.”

Hughson-How said the projector issues had probably setback plans for the theatre to install solar panels on the building in an effort to reduce power bills.

With parts for the projector on their way, Everybody’s Theatre was hopeful of getting up and running again over the Easter break.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A new whare for whānau and residents has opened at Barnardos’ Christchurch care residence.

Te Poutama Ārahi Rangatahi offers therapeutic care for up to eight boys aged between 12 and 17 who are in state care.

But now residents and their families will have a place to meet, learn and heal outside of the facility’s chain link fence.

The whare – named Te Ao Mārama – opened on Tuesday.

Barnardos chief executive Matt Reid said having a place for the boys and their whānau outside the wire was important.

“Can you imagine being a 13-year-old boy going straight through the wire, through a couple of locked doors as your first experience. Rather they will go into this very safe space surrounded by identity and culture, they will be able to come out here to do their learning and healing,” Reid said.

“Importantly, too, it’s a space for their whānau, whether it’s mum or dad, uncle, aunty, grandad, grandma can come and stay.”

He said it provided an environment for the boys to receive what they really needed – aroha.

“Most of the young ones we’re working are carrying some trauma and because of that they have gone on to have some at-risk behaviours and what we’re about is … learning to manage that trauma,” Reid said.

“We are about aroha. Everyone deserves aroha and I think we should be judging ourselves on how we look after our most vulnerable, and some of these young people are our most vulnerable so let’s wrap that aroha around them.”

A focus for Te Poutama Ārahi Rangatahi is kotahitanga – or unity and collective action – and it took a real display of kotahitanga to get the whare built.

A team of 20 volunteers gave up two weeks of their time to come to Christchurch from across New Zealand and work 12 hour days.

Pete Walker, a firefighter and the leader of the volunteer team, said it was easy to find helpers.

“We took away far more than what we gave,” Walker said.

“It doesn’t make sense in today’s economy but if you haven’t ever volunteered, if you haven’t had a chance to give something back, give it a go and you’ll be amazed at the result of it all.”

Some of the boys from the residence worked on the build with the volunteers, he said.

“We wanted to have an open work space with as many opportunities as the young folk could be a part of it,” Walker said.

“They would often come across at lunch times and sit and talk and we would have a chance to interact and it gave us real motivation.”

The idea for Walker’s volunteer army to build the whare came about after a chance meeting in a coffee shop between him and Reid.

Barnardos had only had to raise about $350,000 to pay for what could have cost well over $700,000 due to the efforts of volunteers and donors.

The idea of a whare for the boys and their whānau was first floated by the late Matua Whare Tamanui.

Ben Huriwai, who works as a team leader in the residence, said the idea had been around since before he started working for Barnardos a decade ago.

“It’s hard to put into words,” he said, when asked what it meant to him.

“This is just a massive day for us as Barnardos, a massive day for the rangatahi we support, and for our communities as well. All the work throughout the years to get to where we are, all the ‘noes’, all the hurdles that were put in the way. Getting to this space and being able to be part of it is just massive.”

Resident manager Anaru Baynes said the whare was the product of true kotahitanga.

“This is a game changer for us,” he said.

“You can try and have whānau therapy … but unless there’s something specifically built for it, you’re probably going to find that a challenge. At the moment we have a care residence that was designed to keep people safe and contained, what we have now is a place rangatahi whānau can visit, they can stay and we can sure up those relationships and the harm that’s be done we can help process that with the young person and their whānau.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A grand old dame who survived World War I and emigrated from Europe to New Zealand with a Kiwi solider has made a surprise visit to Te Papa to see an exhibition which tells her story.

Torty the tortoise is well over a hundred years old and had been taken care of by three generations of the same family.

She was brought to New Zealand by Stewart Little, a stretcher bearer who cared for her in Greece after she was run over by a French gun cart. He shipped her home in his rucksack in 1916.

After Stewart Little died, Torty was cared for by his son and daughter-in-law. After their deaths, Little’s late grandson and his wife Christine Little took on caring duties.

On Monday, Christine Little took Torty on an impromptu visit to see Te Papa’s Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War exhibition, which featured a replica of the tortoise.

“We thought we would just pop into Te Papa and see if we could grab a photo with her replica. But she caused quite a sensation, and the next thing we had many staff and lots of members of the public very interested to meet her.”

Torty’s story began when Stuart Little spotted her run over on a road. Christine Little said he was not expecting the animal to survive, so was surprised to see this resilient little tortoise had stood up and was carrying on trying to walk, despite her quite serious injuries.

“And given that obviously he was a man of kindness and compassion, being part of the medical corps, he picked her up and looked after her. I mean, she was, after all, wounded in the war.”

Christine Little’s husband was one of Stuart Little’s grandchildren and she said Torty once lived with Christine Little’s mother-in-law in her rest home.

“It is a complete family affair.”

If Torty could talk, Christine Little thinks she might want to thank Stuart Little for the kindness he showed lifting her out of the mud that day in Greece.

“And I guess that she would have some pretty horrible stories about what she saw during that time in the war. She’s also had a number of adventures along the way, like being stolen in the 1930s and turning up in a circus in Dunedin!”

Now well into older age, Torty still makes school visits and had her Te Papa outing but mostly her days were spent with a regular routine of waking about 8am, eating and sleeping and then bed at 5pm.

“She’ll wander out onto my lawn. She lives out just in my backyard, which I’ve let grow, and it’s grown into a bit of a meadow. And she’ll graze. Just eat until she feels tired and ready for a nap, and then she’ll have a nap. And then she might wake up and have some more to eat, and that’s sort of how her day goes.”

In the next couple of weeks Torty would go into brumation and wake up in September. It’s not known how long she could live for, but the family had a plan for when she passes on.

“A number of years ago we had a discussion about this as a family. It has been decided that when it’s her time, she will come back to the Manawatū and she will be buried with Stuart and his wife, Maud.

“So that’s all been organised with the cemetery and it’s all good and that is what will happen.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Health New Zealand (HNZ) is struggling to build new hospital projects, partly because staffing cuts have slowed down procurement activities, according to a newly-released report.

HNZ is headed into another Budget with long-standing infrastructure delivery challenges caused partly by job cuts, according to the Treasury report released under the Official Information Act.

The report showed that when the finance and infrastructure ministers met Health Minister Simeon Brown in December for a “please explain” meeting, “health capital underspends” were a focus.

“Health NZ is significantly underspending its capital expenditure compared to forecasted intentions,” was a key message.

A second was that “individual projects are also frequently running over time and over budget”.

The Infrastructure and Investment Ministers Group has been pushing chief executives and ministers of capital-intensive agencies with “the highest levels of Crown capital underspend” like HNZ to make their forecasts much more accurate.

Health NZ had a $315m discrepancy – including $190m on buildings and plant – between forecast and actual capital spending for the first quarter of 2025-26.

The Treasury papers tracking this are only released publicly months after they were given to ministers.

RNZ requested additional documents from Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop and was provided one from December 2025, written just ahead of Brown’s meeting with Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Bishop.

That three-page report said that fixing the underspend and under-delivery of hospitals faced big hurdles.

“Health NZ has long-standing infrastructure delivery challenges stemming from two key factors: Health NZ’s organisational capability and market capacity,” Treasury told Bishop and Willis.

The construction sector has 2.1 percent fewer jobs now, compared to a year ago.

“These challenges are further exacerbated by difficulties in recruiting and retaining experienced project directors for major projects, reductions in staff numbers which have slowed procurement activities [and a third factor that was blanked out],” Treasury said.

“Efforts to address these challenges are ongoing (via improving project sequencing and bundling, and staff capacity building) but progress is slow.”

It did not help that health’s project teams tended to be optimistic in forecasting capital expenditure and “often do not accurately update forecasts to reflect experience and trends in expenditure”.

Despite myriad costly efforts to improve this since HNZ was set up in 2022 – in part to fix the fragmented hospital building-and-management regime under 20 health boards – the weaknesses have persisted between governments.

HNZ was promising in 2023 to “make health infrastructure delivery quicker and more efficient by standardising Te Whatu Ora infrastructure planning, design, decision making and construction”.

That year Health NZ set up a new national infrastructure team, but the whole agency has since undergone financial upheaval and a reset, and had now embarked on decentralisation which Brown this month said was the government’s most significant structural move on health.

In April 2025, the government put out a multi-billion-dollar, 10-year plan for rebuilding hospitals and promised building would become more efficient, partly by doing things in phases. At the time health projects with ministerial approval worth $7.44 billion were underway.

One of the first projects to go the bite-size route has been Nelson Hospital, which HNZ recently said was on track but that Treasury last year said faced an 18-month delay on its inpatient block.

At the time the government launched the 10-year plan, HNZ papers show it foresaw significant risk it would not invest in the right place or “meet government expectations around providing a prioritised pipeline of capital investments”.

Early this year, a study to assess the agency as the rapid decentralisation ordered by Brown got underway found it had workforce gaps in its infrastructure and investment group particularly in the northern and central North Island regions.

The January 2026 internal report said the delays in delivering projects had a favourable short-term effect on HNZ’s cash balance.

But it added that “delays are likely to lead to increased project costs such as increased labour, equipment and material costs in the long term”.

Related extra depreciation costs had taken $85m off the bottom line in 2025-26 – when HNZ aims to report a $200m deficit – and that would jump by another $160m next financial year, even as it tried to get to break-even.

One of the causes of the delays was lack of capacity – Treasury in December had said: “Common issues across infrastructure investments include challenges with HNZ capability, sector capacity and internal prioritisation”, – but a second one carried a ring of hope: That more effort was being put in to get better decisions round investments, the January report said.

In December, ahead of the ‘please explain’ meeting for Willis and Bishop, Treasury listed some questions “you may wish to ask Minister Brown…” but Bishop’s office blanked them out.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Two young men allegedly filmed themselves drowning young puppies in the Whakatāne River and posted the video to social media last night.

A 19-year-old man has been charged with cruelty to an animal, and a 17-year-old male has been referred to Youth Aid after the incident.

Senior Sergeant Cam MacKinnon said police were contacted just before 6pm on Monday by members of the public who had seen a video on social media of two males allegedly throwing very young puppies in the Whakatāne River.

“We received information from the public who saw the males take the puppies out of what looked to be a pillowcase and throw them into the Whakatāne River, while filming their senseless activity.”

MacKinnon said the puppies tragically drowned in the river.

“This type of wilful ill-treatment towards animals is unacceptable in any form and is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 1999.

“As with this incident or any similar behaviour, we will robustly work to hold these offenders to account for their actions and this includes restrictions on bail during court proceedings.”

Both offenders were soon located by police.

“Police would like to acknowledge the members of the public who contacted and assisted police with this incident,” said MacKinnon.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Hamilton Zoo has announced the death of one of its Asian fishing cats, Indah.

Indah was 13-years-old and had been living with arthritis for some time prior to being euthanised on Tuesday morning, the zoo said in a social media post.

In the last few weeks of Indah’s life the zoo had been sharing updates on adjustments that were being made to her medication in the hopes of keeping her comfortable.

Despite this, the zoo said her condition did not improve.

“It became clear that her mobility challenges were impacting her comfort and quality of life.

“After exhausting all medical options available to us, we determined that the kindest and most appropriate course of action was to prevent further discomfort or distress.

“Indah was humanely euthanised this morning surrounded by her keepers who knew her best. Her passing was peaceful and dignified.”

The zoo said the final decision was a hard one but her actions and behaviour over the past couple of weeks had told them it was time.

“We are deeply grateful for the care, understanding and support shown by our community during this difficult time.

“Indah will be greatly missed.”

Fishing cats were an endangered species and according to the zoo’s website, typically lived for between 10 to 12 years both in the wild and under human care.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Aged care advocates say the fuel crisis has exposed a longstanding problem, with home-based care only cheaper on paper because carers are shouldering hidden costs.

The Aged Care Association, the union for aged care providers, said a recent report by RNZ on unions taking Health NZ to court over travel costs should be a wake-up call for policymakers.

The association said that for years, the government had promoted care in the home as the more compassionate and cost-effective option for older people.

But it argued home-based care was only cheaper because key costs like travel were being put onto support workers.

“This is not efficiency. It is cost displacement.”

It said time spent driving between clients, workforce turnover, missed early interventions and avoidable hospital admissions all carried real costs which were not being counted in the comparison.

The fuel price spike had not created a problem, the association said – it had revealed one.

On Wednesday, ministers told RNZ they had sought urgent advice about how best to ease the pain of rising fuel prices for in-home care workers and other public servants who might be in a similar plight.

Support workers are not fully reimbursed for their transport costs despite having to visit injured, disabled or elderly people as part of their job.

Health Minister Simeon Brown said the government was acutely aware of how fuel prices were hurting carers – and he hoped to resolve that very soon.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis said they were waiting on advice about how to deliver temporary, targeted and timely help to care workers.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand