264 days ago

Hospital EDs are using a voucher system to divert patients to private clinics

What's happening:
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Waitākere Hospital’s stretched emergency department is sending about 25 patients a day to an urgent care clinic with a voucher to cover the cost. The vouchers are offered to patients when EDs have long wait times and cover consultations which can cost as much as $200 at private centres. The voucher system has been in place at emergency departments for at least 10 years, but their use has risen dramatically at some hospitals. In the last three years, the number of vouchers issued at Waitākere Hospital has increased nearly 60%. The total spent on vouchers in Waitematā (North Shore and Waitākere EDs) was $1.8m in 2024, up from $1m in 2022.
The response:
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Dr Kate Allan, the NZ chair of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, said the voucher system relieved pressures on the EDs where they were offered. "Where it is in effect it makes a difference for those patients... because it spreads the load and it redirects those patients to the care they need in urgent care." But Northland ED doctor Dr Gary Payinda said he believed the voucher system was one of a growing number of areas in which public services were being privatised. "In order to have a good, stable system in the future, you cannot keep giving public taxpayer money to private corporations because it weakens the system from within." Payinda estimated that the $1.8m spent on vouchers last year in Waitematā would pay for up to 14 nurse practitioners, who could see up to 100 patients a day.
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Dry cleaners mt Roskill

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Hello our fellow neighbors I was hoping someone would know where the old dry cleaners we had up at the lights on dominion road have moved to?? I was out of town and when I came back they were gone .... I had some items that I would really love to get back but if only I new where they moved to or how to get In Touch with the owners to see what they did with our clothes if they closed down or moved elsewhere? Any updates or news about it would be amazing neighbors. Have a great day

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Poll: As a customer, what do you think about automation?

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

The Press investigates the growing reliance on your unpaid labour.

Automation (or the “unpaid shift”) is often described as efficient ... but it tends to benefit employers more than consumers.

We want to know: What do you think about automation?
Are you for, or against?