Effective 7 August, all Pathlab sites will be offering lipase as a better alternative to amylase.

ACC is reviewing the urgent care clinic contract with the plan to introduce a 'primary acute care' replacement service contract within the next two years. ACC is recruiting for an expert advisory group which will help inform the review. GPNZ has been asked by ACC to help co-ordinate representation onto this rōpū. If you are interested in being involved, please complete the EOI form by 5pm, Friday 18 August.

It's been one month since the $5 prescription co-payment was removed. To ensure awareness of this change, Te Whatu Ora has created a fact sheet and poster with clear information about the co-payment removal. Please feel free to display them in your practices or visible areas for patients.

From 14 August, in an effort to improve outcomes, when a patient is referred for hip and or knee arthroplasty/osteoarthritis, their first specialist appointment may be with a physiotherapist at Waikato Hospital. The physiotherapist will assess the patient and determine the best treatment pathway for them.  

In order to keep patient and practice data secure from cyber-attacks, ProCare is adding multi-factor authentication (MFA) to the login process for the Profusion Standalone website, Tableau and the MRI Providers Portal. As of Monday 31 July, practices using these sites will have the option to set up MFA when logging in.

A randomised controlled trial, of caffeine prophylaxis to improve neurodevelopment in babies born late preterm, is about to get underway in the Te Whatu Ora Taranaki Neonatal Unit for the next 18 months. General practices may get questions from patients who are part of this trial.

In this July 2023 issue read about BPAC e-referral for notifiable diseases, mumps notifications, Hepatitis B, Te Manawa Taki Community Hepatitis C Service and more.

World Hepatitis Day is on Friday 28 July. This is a good opportunity to remind practice staff to consider a simple blood test to screen for Hep C exposure, check you have offered treatment to all your patients with known Hepatitis C and Refer to HealthPathways for details, and contact the Te Manawa Taki Community Hep C Team if you would like support finding or managing your Hep C patients.

The stop smoking service contract in Tairāwhiti now sits with Turanga Health Smoking Cessation Service rather than Once and For All. Referrals can be sent to Turanga Health Smoking Cessation Service via email or phone.

A pilot of a continuous monitoring device for Māori living with diabetes in Taranaki significantly reduced their blood glucose levels and gave them tino rangatiratanga (autonomy) over their hauora (health), those involved in delivering the service say. Matire Ropiha-Stewart, diabetes community coordinator speaks more about this in an interview with Waatea News.