The government announced today it will establish a national Cancer Control Agency by December this year. It will also give the drug-buyer Pharmac an extra $20 million this year and a further $40m next year. It says Pharmac has told it that will mean it can fund a range of new medicines, including se
Bowel cancer patients in Southland have suffered unacceptable waits of months – and even years in some cases – to get diagnosed because of major failures at Southern District Health Board. A damning independent report released today describes a state of “inter-service warfare” between bowel speciali
The petition of a terminally ill Southland father calling for cancer care reform has been presented to Parliament today. Blair Vining started the petition after he was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer late last year. The petitions asks for an independent, national cancer agency to be created t
Blair Vining, a 38-year-old father of two, met with Health Minister David Clark in Dunedin on Monday. Mr Vining was diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer late last year and had to seek life-lengthening treatment through the private sector, he is now living his life in three-month blocks. He is respon
A Southland father with terminal bowel cancer hopes to trigger a citizens-initiated referendum to reform cancer care in New Zealand. Blair Vining was diagnosed with stage four cancer last October. He has launched a petition calling for the creation of a national cancer agency with oversight of care
Strikes by junior doctors this year have cost district health boards more than $19 million and there’s no end in sight. Members of the Resident Doctors Association (RDA) have held five strikes since mid-January in a row with their employers over proposed changes to their now-lapsed employment contra
An outbreak of measles in Canterbury has prompted huge demand for vaccinations, but what is the disease and how serious is it really? This Q&A explainer lays out the facts … What is measles? Measles is one of the most infectious contagious disease known, infecting children as well as adults via coug
A study by researchers from Statens Serum Institut (SSI) once again invalidates the claim that the MMR vaccine increases children’s risk of developing autism. The study results are timely because Europe is currently witnessing a tripling of measles cases in just one year. For more than 20 years, cla
