New Zealand Society for the Study of Diabetes (NZSSD) is hosting a series of webinars for the benefit of primary care.

Te Whatu Ora is asking all practices to complete a brief survey on nurses' IV cannulation, infusion, CVAD, and port access skills. They're requesting one response per practice, by 2 April. This national stocktake will help shape how oncology and infusion services are delivered closer to home for patients and whānau.

Free bowel screening is now available from age 58 across most of Aotearoa New Zealand, including the Te Manawa Taki region. Around 100,000 more people will become eligible in the first year. Find out what's changed and how general practice can support the rollout.

Te Whatu Ora is seeking EOIs from urgent care centres, after hours providers and rural hospitals and rural integrated health services to offer online GP consultations within their facility. This initiative aims to help people who find it difficult to reach or enrol with general practice by allowing them to consult a GP online from an urgent care centre or rural hospital and integrated health service. This EOI is open until 23 April 2026.

AIR coordinators in Waikato are reviewing unenrolled tamariki who are under-immunised, connecting whānau with community providers and supporting general practice enrolment. Your practice may receive a call from a community immunisation provider as part of this outreach. No action is required from your team unless you're able to assist with this information.

THINK Hauora and Collaborative Aotearoa recently hosted a webinar exploring what high-performing, place-based integrated primary care looks like in practice. Speakers shared a clear thread that integration is a relational discipline, built on trust, grounded in local context, and is only meaningful when Māori and community voices help shape the way forward. The recording (1.5 hrs) is available for those who'd like to go deeper.

A reminder of correct swab technique for HPV dry tube collection. Breaking the swab at the pink line, not cutting, protects specimen integrity and prevents instrument contamination. Read the full guidance with photographs.

IMAC has been advised that a number of Comirnaty 30mcg vaccine batch lots have been recorded incorrectly in AIR and PMS.

Sputum culture is a low-value test in most community settings, with only 6 per cent of samples identifying a respiratory pathogen resistant to first-line antibiotics. New guidance outlines when it is clinically indicated and when to hold off.

This is an opportunity for Pinnacle network practice nurses to register their expression of interest to attend this six-session nursing leadership education series.