National 21 November 2017
Dear Member,

Welcome to the 11th issue for 2017 of ASMS Direct, our national electronic publication.

You can also keep in touch with the latest news and views on health issues relevant to public hospital specialists via our website www.asms.nz, which contains links (at the top of the home page) to our Facebook and LinkedIn pages, as well as our quarterly magazine The Specialist. We’re also on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ASMSNZ.

Counting down to the ASMS Annual Conference

The Association’s 29th Annual Conference will be held in Wellington this Thursday and Friday, with a stimulating line-up of speakers on topics relevant to your work as specialists.
Speakers include:

  • National President Dr Hein Stander
     
  • The new Minister of Health, Dr David Clark
     
  • Dr Victoria Atkinson, CMO and cardiothoracic surgeon, St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, on changes to culture to address negative behaviours and improve safety
     
  • Dr Erik Monasterio, Canterbury DHB forensic psychiatrist, on a personal experience of stress
  • Simon Kayll, Chief Executive, MPS
     
  • Dr Charlotte Chambers, ASMS, on the results of research into bullying
     
  • Martin Stokes, Chief Executive, MAS, on ethical investment and supporting good causes
     
  • Marika De Vecchis, Federal Executive Officer, Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation
     
  • Kieran Bunn, Immediate Past President, Medical Students Association.

There will also be updates, presentations and discussions on a range of other topics, including mentoring, ASMS formal business, implementing the DHB MECA, and the ongoing development of a network of women members. We will report on the Conference in more detail in the December issue of The Specialist.

For the first time, we will be live-streaming some of the presentations as they occur during the Conference.

You can access the live-streams for each of the two days:

Day 1 (Thursday 23 November): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OmQXax4ShQ

Day 2 (Friday 24 November): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMLEdQWjcLo

We will also be posting the details of the live streaming on the ASMS website and Facebook page, and we hope that members not attending the Conference in person will take the opportunity to ‘tune in’ for some of the presentations.

Briefing to the new Health Minister

The Association has written to the new Minister of Health, Dr David Clark, to outline the key challenges for New Zealand’s health system and recommend seven policies to achieve and maintain a high quality, sustainable health service model. These are described in our Briefing to the Incoming Minister (BIM) on the ASMS website: https://www.asms.org.nz/news/asms-news/2017/11/17/asms-briefing-income-minister-bim/.

Kind regards,

Ian Powell
Executive Director