Claire Davies, a practice nurse at Mahoe Medical, felt motivated to consider how she could find something practical to directly address improving the mental wellbeing of her wider team. She ran a four-week challenge dubbed ‘Mahoe Med Fitness Fiesta’ resulting in a team-wide uptake.

The funded brand of phenobarbitone tablets (15 mg and 30 mg) is changing because the current supplier, API, is closing its New Zealand manufacturing plant. A supplier has applied to Medsafe for marketing approval of their brand of phenobarbitone tablets, and this is being assessed. Read the necessary actions for prescribers here.

Te Whatu Ora Taranaki sexual health service has noted a rise in local trichomonas infections recently. To make it easier to request testing, the trichomonas PCR has been moved on the TPS order form - now directly below chlamydia and gonorrhoea testing. People of any gender and any anatomy can get trichomonas, and it should always be treated if detected.

South Taranaki patients may wish to join Sport Taranaki and ACC for an opportunity to connect with community support services and learn ways to keep themselves moving.

Te Whatu Ora Waikato has noted the wording in their recent newsletter about the new BPAC disease notification eReferral, requires clarification. At this time COVID-19 remains a notifiable disease, but that notification does not need to come via GP practices using the BPAC form as it is generated via result uploading.

EAP Services want to make it easier for your people to get the support they need. A new tool now allows your team to book appointments quickly and easily from the comfort of their own home or office at any time of the day.

With winter rapidly upon us, maximising the management of asthma and patient self-care makes sense for workload across the whole system. Dr Christ Tofield (GP leader in Tauranga) and his colleagues at Research Review have developed this free refresh on asthma management.

Te Whatu Ora has released a Quality Improvement Review of Breast Screening Aotearoa, which sets out the pathway to improve breast screening services across New Zealand. In particular, the review has identified ways Breast Screening Aotearoa can improve participation rates and experiences for wāhine Māori and Pacific women.

Health Payments Integrity Team (HPIT) of Te Whatu Ora / Health New Zealand is commencing a PHO data matching project in June. Approximately 710,000 new patients have enrolled with a PHO in Aotearoa since the last PHO eligibility data matching project was completed in 2018. Pinnacle MHN will receive a list of individuals who have been identified as ineligible, and we will work with the relevant practices to remove them from future enrolment registers before the next submission.

The team at Te Whatu Ora Taranaki's endoscopy service is reviewing patients planned for surveillance endoscopy. The Ministry of Health has recommended the 2020 Colon Polyp Surveillance Guidelines be applied retroactively. As a result, some patients will receive a letter, which will be cc’d to their practice, outlining the rationale and process for reviewing surveillance indications and stating the updated recommendations. Patients with a firm booking date are not affected.