Small group clinical education for primary care clinicians on topics that are engaging, relevant and strategically important to the Aotearoa NZ health system. The programme runs exclusively online via Zoom and covers 5 topics across a 12-month period. Upcoming topics include frailty and legacy prescribing, menopause and chronic kidney disease.

New guidance, approved by the Director of the National Public Health Service, introduces the upper age limit of 2 years for the Pre-call and Recall initiative payment for 6-week immunisations.

Effective Monday 9 September, Pathlab will be working in accordance with the 2016 British Andrology Society laboratory guidelines for post-vasectomy semen analysis. This will see a change to only performing a direct microscopy and proceed with a sperm count when only non-motile sperm are seen.

The latest guidance for health care workers who have respiratory illness published by Te Whatu Ora continue to encourage us to stay home if we are potentially infectious, to have some specific advice around COVID-19, and, the main message, "do the basics well".

The Waikato Medical Research Foundation exists to support and encourage research within the Waikato region and to assist in the publication of the results of this research. The Foundation awards grants that contribute to the overall costs of the research project but do not fund overheads nor profit. Grant applications of up to $50,000 are welcomed.

Waka Kotahi | NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) is consulting on the revised Medical aspects of fitness to drive: a guide for health practitioners (MAFTD). MAFTD helps health practitioners assess the fitness to drive of their patients.

Pathlab has seen increasing instances of STI associated e-ordering leading to incorrect specimen collected, incorrect testing, and the need for specimen recollects. Investigation has shown the underlying causes to be multifactorial but one of the primary causes has been the inability to request chlamydia / gonorrhoea / trichomonas testing from multiple body sites at the same time. After consultation with colleagues in sexual health clinics and the community, Pathlab is introducing a new STI Screening tab on the e-ordering system.

The End of Life Choice Act 2019 resulted in the implementation of assisted dying in Aotearoa New Zealand in November 2021. The act is undergoing a review which has involved specific consultation with providers, researchers, professional groups like the RNZCGP and is now open for general public contributions.

The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners supports research and education that benefits general practice, rural general practice and rural hospital medicine through three funding rounds each year. Applications for the final funding round of 2024 are now open.

More paramedic and audiometrist treatment will soon be available to treat ACC clients, as part of a set of regulatory changes coming into effect on 1 December. Read the ACC media release here.