Vol 136 No 1585: 10 November

What might we expect as health policy with the new government?

This editorial outlines what I think is likely to be the health policy of the incoming government. This opinion is based on the pre-election policy statements of the parties that are likely to make up the new government under our mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) system.

Inequities in colonoscopy access: a retrospective audit of accepted referrals in Te Whatu Ora Counties Manukau

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cause of death from cancer for Māori and, while it is more common among non-Māori, the incidence and mortality rates are increasing more rapidly for Māori than non-Māori.

Non-small cell lung cancer chemotherapy treatment outcomes and ethnicity: a twenty-year single-centre patterns of care study

Lung cancer is the commonest cause of cancer death in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Trends in the primary healthcare nursing workforce in managing diabetes from two sample surveys in 2006–2008 and 2016 in Auckland, New Zealand

The changing role of the primary care nurse has been largely driven by increasing numbers of people with chronic care conditions and escalating costs of secondary healthcare.

Co-design of youth appropriate services for young people with rheumatic fever/rheumatic heart disease in Counties Manukau District

The incidence of rheumatic fever in Aotearoa New Zealand is much higher than in comparable countries and regions such as North America and the United Kingdom. Within Aotearoa New Zealand, the incidence varies greatly by geographic region and ethnicity.

Increasing rates of referrals for investigation of primary aldosteronism at a tertiary centre

Primary aldosteronism (PA) is a pathology of autonomous secretion of aldosterone from one or both adrenal glands, classically associated with hypertension and hypokalemia. PA appears to carry a greater burden of cardiovascular disease than essential hypertension and is independently associated with end organ damage, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, left ventricular hypertrophy, microalbuminuria and atrial fibrillation.

Investigation and treatment after non-ST segment elevation acute coronary syndrome for patients presenting to rural or urban hospitals in Aotearoa New Zealand: ANZACS-QI 75

In Aotearoa New Zealand, patients with non ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTEACS) may present to one of three main groups of hospitals: urban hospitals i) with (interventional) or ii) without (non-interventional) routine access to percutaneous intervention (PCI), or iii) rural hospitals.

Call to action—the urgent need for a heart health plan in New Zealand

Cardiovascular disease is responsible for a third of all deaths and is the leading cause of health loss in Aotearoa New Zealand. The current health system reform presents a once in a generation opportunity to address how our health system works for all.

No fixed abode: a case report highlighting the complexities of schizophrenia and homelessness in the context of diminishing access to psychiatric rehabilitation

A 41-year-old Māori man (iwi: Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Porou) self-presented to an emergency department because he felt “unsafe”.

Increasing isolation of non-toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae in Aotearoa New Zealand

Diphtheria is rare in Aotearoa New Zealand, largely due to successful vaccination (three primary series doses and two booster doses in the childhood immunisation schedule, and two adult booster doses).

Exophthalmic Goitre.

The great weakness of modern medicine is that everyone is so busily occupied in acquiring new facts, recording observations, trying out new methods and developing new theories that one often forgets to think.

Proceedings of the Waikato Clinical Campus Research Seminar, Wednesday, 27th September 2023