In Contact - February 2007
Back for Summer.
I hear I didn't miss too much of summer with my extended trip overseas?
It all started in Sydney with a great day on the harbour followed by a mate?s 50th in a city night club. I then met the family at the airport and after a fourteen hour long-haul we landed at OR Tambo airport. Less than twelve hours later we were en route to Umngazi River Bungalows in the ?Transkei?. I got pulled over by the local constabulary at 142km/h, having hardly touched the ground. Fortunately they took pity when they saw my Kiwi drivers licence and with a firm ?Stick to 120?, we were on our way.
We did a few side trips into the famous Drakensberg, where I did a lot of hiking and camping in my youth. After a few days back in Pretoria we travelled to Mount Sheba, a rain forest and mountain resort.
For most of our trip it was a hot 35?C but around Xmas we had some of the striking highveld thunderstorms and a welcome cooling down.
Marvellous.
New Yeah?
I guess I must be an optimist.
I had half hoped the HPCA dramas were behind us. I'd also hoped that ?07 would see the end of all the nonsensical solution dramas we suffered during 2006.
No such luck it seems.
On my arrival back at work I discovered there had been more solution ?discontinuations? and recalls. There was not one single bottle of saline available in NZ from suppliers. Lens Plus aerosol has been ?discontinued? as AMO sold the aerosol saline business. AMO?s re-branded OcuPure saline was itself a victim of a recall that affected NZ stocks. We were left with only B&L?s Sensitive Eyes Saline. With nothing else available that was sold out and unavailable. Some patients had unpreserved saline ?made up? and that in itself is a potential infection nightmare.
Argggghhh.
When will it ever end?
Fit Dailies.
Bored?
As to the Board, it seems we are in for another round of potentially onerous and frustrating conditions that will be tagged onto getting our APCs renewed. Apparently some of us will be lumbered with audits and ?cultural competence assurance? stuff. It sounds like racism to me. I've had a few correspondents jumping up and down. I also noted the slightly sarcastic commentary in a recent NZAO newsletter on this issue?
With all this ?competence assurance? surely the powers-that-be should themselves show some sort of competence? So far my ?05 and ?06 APC renewals and aspects of CPD have been fraught with incompetence on the part of the authorities.
I believe that a body assuring bureaucratic competence should be created.
This body could appropriately be named ?Competence in Registration Authority Processes? [CRAP].
Labour was so busy creating cushy government jobs in Wellington [the stats back this up] that they ended up with a bloated public service [Vote buying? Keeping unemployment low?]. They soon realised they had to get all these people working. The result has been the re-writing of tons of legislation and the creation of crocs like the HPCA.
Let?s put a stop to this pedantic, onerous, over-the-top, bumbling bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo that's being force fed under the guise of the HPCA. I fear practitioners are becoming so focused on this that they are in fact becoming less competent while they chase paper work instead of focussing on patient care?
It's time all of us resisted.
Or else get used to it.
One day you may find yourself legislated out of your profession as an incompetent ?old person? at the tender age of 38.
Isn?t there something in the ?Bill of Rights? that relates to ageism and racism?
HPCA is up for review in 2007.
Take the opportunity to get it sorted!
Have a great year.
For more information or any comments email Alan at incontact@optom.co.nz.