A new survey of 150 community pharmacists in Aotearoa has found that government prescription fees contribute to serious health issues and cause significant community distress.
News and Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to Gemma Perry, a Community Pharmacy owner in Te Awamutu.
Perry is a member of the Prescription Access Initiative, a group working to enact change around copayments about this.
She started by asking Perry why removing prescription fees for medication is necessary.
Rachael talked to Bianca Rocca and Toya Webb about their show 'Working Title', on at the George Fraser Gallery. Theo was in studio and played some Korean experimental music from the Bulgasari community. He also played some commentry from John Waters, the director of Multiple Maniacs.
Jenna's just read Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu and highly recommends it. If Charles' work on HBO series, Westworld, isn't enough to entice you to read this book, perhaps winning the Fiction prize in the National Book Awards for 2020 will.
Lachlan speaks with with Universities NZ Director Chris Whelan about the 2% increase in fees across Aotearoa. Then, Ben spoke with AUSA President WIll Matthews about the recent vote by the University of Auckland to increase their fees.
As of July 2023, the government scrapped the $5 fee on prescriptions. Since then, the public health system has seen a significant change in hospital admissions rates.
However, with a new government in parliament, the government wants to reinstate the $5 co-payment for prescriptions.
Rachel spoke to GP at the Auckland City Mission and Professor of General Practitioners and Primary Health care at the University of Auckland, Dr Bruce Arroll, about the implications the public health system will see if the government reinstates $5 fees on prescriptions.
This week the arts community has been remembering Nanette Cameron, who passed away aged 95. She's been dubbed "Aotearoa’s preeminent interior designer" by arts organisation Objectspace, "instrumental in the flourishing of interior design practice in Tāmaki Makaurau and nationally." Her passing has been met with tributes, gratitude and aroha for a woman who is described by those who met her as formidable, a sweetheart and everything in between. To hear more about her life Frances caught up with retired director of Objectspace, Philip Clarke, who was director of Objectspace when they staged the major exhibition and published the publication Nanette Cameron: Interior Design Legend in 2013.
Housing and Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford announced yesterday the banning of letting fees. It was a seemingly welcome move, however some organisations have criticised it arguing there is economic reasoning for the fee. Jenn spoke to Angela Maynard, Coordinator of the Tenants’ Protection Association Auckland, on what letting fees are, why they were introduced and the effects on tenants and property management. She first asked; What is the association's stance on the ban?
Music can be a pretty unifying force, especially for the geographically isolated. Kiran talks to Mikey about music critic David Keenan's first novel, This Is Memorial Device, which evokes this idea while portraying a fictional post-punk band in '70s-'80s small town Scotland.
Alex picks a show Mike's had on the brain for ages - the '70s crime drama Quarry. With an antihero whose story spans the Mekong to the Mississippi, Alex gets in behind to make some bold claims of quality.