NEWS HR
January 7, 2019
Professor Kerse has been appointed the inaugural Joyce Cook Chair in Ageing Well, a role made possible by a $5 million gift to the University’s For All Our Futures fundraising campaign from Metlifecare founder Cliff Cook.
December 20, 2018
Wellsouth Primary Health Network has a new chief executive officer. Andrew Swanson-Dobbs works for the Midland Health Network as a general manager, and has previously been chief executive of Nelson Bays Primary Health. WellSouth, the local primary health organisation for Otago and Southland, oversees primary health services for more than 300,000 patients and serves 84 general practices. Mr Swanson-Dobbs replaces Ian Macara, who has headed WellSouth for eight years.
December 20, 2018
A South Auckland health board manager is the new chief executive of Central Otago Health Services Ltd, which runs Dunstan Hospital, in Clyde. Kathryn de Luc had been a general manager at Counties Manukau District Health Board, in South Auckland, since 2014, health services chairman Allan Kane said. She takes up her role on February 4.
December 19, 2018
The clean slate law was primarily designed for those who have committed lesser crimes but a High Court judge has concealed the history of a paedophile in a landmark court case. A former teacher convicted of repeated sexual offending against an 11-year-old boy has been granted a clean slate so he can work in aged care, despite objections by those in the industry and another judge. It is the first case of its kind to reach New Zealand’s High Court, with those convicted of sexual offences ordinarily exempt from the law designed for people who have committed lesser crimes. The Kiwi man, who cannot be named, applied to conceal his historical offending under the Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act 2004 so he could embark on a new career in aged care. But his request was initially declined by Judge Lawrence Hinton in the District Court, who said it was for aged care providers – not the courts – to make employment decisions. “I believe the chosen employers here must be able to choose for themselves … I have concluded that an awareness of [the man’s] previous convictions is appropriate in the public interest,” he said. However, on appeal to the High Court, the man was granted his clean slate. “This appears to be the first case of its type to reach the High Court,” Justice Mathew Downs, who heard the appeal, said in his judgment released to the Herald this week. The man’s offending occurred when he befriended an 11-year-old at a children’s camp before indecently assaulting the boy during the 1980s. A decade later the offender confessed to his flatmate, who told her mum. When she learnt the man was a teacher in the late 1990s she informed police. The man was charged and promptly pleaded guilty before being given a suspended sentence of imprisonment and ordered to a term of community work instead. Police overseas had also investigated the man and searched his home after a complaint. The police report referred to him possessing “a large quantity of information pertaining to paedophilia”. The man’s conviction resulted in a lifetime ban from teaching children, but he later lectured adults in New Zealand and overseas. A spokesperson for the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand, which is responsible for the register of teachers, said if a person’s conviction was a specified offence under the Vulnerable Children Act it would still be disclosed in a police vet even if it was clean slated.
December 11, 2018
Australasia’s largest Health IT network, HealthLink, has appointed Aucklander Michelle Creighton as its new chief executive officer. Michelle joined HealthLink’s Auckland office in 2012 as finance manager and has previously worked as a business analyst in various information technology companies. HealthLink is the largest provider of clinical messaging services in New Zealand and Australia.
December 7, 2018
The Southern District Health Board will soon appoint a new head of mental health, chief executive Chris Fleming says. The role of mental health medical director has been vacant since Dr Brad Strong ended his four-year stint with the SDHB and returned to the United States.
December 4, 2018
The Ministry of Health has announced the appointment of Michelle Arrowsmith to the role of Deputy Director-General DHB Performance, Support and Infrastructure.
December 3, 2018
Oamaru Hospital’s new clinical director will play a key role in the hospital’s transition from a specialist to rural model, Waitaki District Services chairman Chris Swann says. The Waitaki District Council-controlled company officially announced Dr Pragati Gautama has taken on the role.
