Quietly Hopeful

Following the announcement of the Prime Minister and Director General of Health on Thursday, we are quietly optimistic that face to face consultations will become a reality for podiatrists in the near future.   There will no doubt be conditions and we look forward to guidance from the Registration Board to inform podiatrists on the requirements.  Don’t forget to keep checking our COVID-19 webpage – we are updating with new information as it becomes available. For Regulatory guidelines visit the Podiatrists Board website.

Important Update - Insurance

Bizcover has provided advice regarding expectations around transmission of COVID-19.  They say:  The insurers of Podiatry NZ members, Dual New Zealand, have confirmed that they would deem any behaviour by insured parties that could be construed as reckless, will result in policy coverage being negated.

Technically, the policy wording would not specifically exclude a claim against an insured party for spreading the Covid-19 virus. However, given the current status in New Zealand and the expected scenarios over the coming weeks or months, the insurers may consider those not following Ministry of Health or Registration Board standards and guidelines as wilful, negligent and reckless behaviour which would result in insurance cover being denied.  The insurers expect all insured parties to assist New Zealand and the World in stopping the spread of Covid-19.  Further details on your insurance details can be found on our website.

On Demand Webinars

The team here at the Secretariat want to thank all our wonderful members for their support of our webinar series.  Big shout out to all the members who have contributed - you are fantastic.  We have had a blast over the past couple of weeks putting these together.  We are currently converting all of the past webinars into On-Demand webinars and these will be available hopefully early next week for you to view.   We will send you a personal email with links once we have completed the uploads.

We would love to hear from anyone who would like to present on a topic they are passionate about, please give us a call 04 473 9547.

Registration Board Changes

The Health Regulatory Authorities are complex organisations who have the purpose to protect the health and safety of the public by ensuring practitioners are competent and fit to practice.   The Minister of Health has appointed/re-appointed 5 podiatrist members and 2 lay person members to the Podiatrists Registration Board. 

The Board now consists of:

Health Practitioners

Dr Matthew Carroll (3-year term)

Stephen York (2-year term)

Christopher Revwi-Wetini

Belinda Ihaka (3-year term)

Rebecca Finchett (3-year term)

Laypersons

Dr Dianne Wepa 2-year term)

Helen Wild (3-year term)

We understand that Fiona Angus (Chair) and Erin Beeler will be leaving the Board in coming months.  At PodiatryNZ we have always appreciated that we have been able to communicate freely and frankly with the Board and we wish departing members for their contribution to the profession and look forward to establishing a positive relationship with the new Board.

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