Monthly media digest: October/November 2022
14 November 2022
A digest of college news coverage for October/November 2022
Anaesthesia and Westmead Children's Hospital
Staffing issues at Westmead Children's Hospital in Sydney featured in a page 1 Sun Herald article on 13 November.
The article referred to a letter sent by ANZCA President Dr Chris Cokis and CEO Nigel Fidgeon to the NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard expressing concern about a worsening staff crisis at the hospital.
The college warned there were too few paediatric anaesthetists in NSW, limiting the ability to train new specialists, “leading to the chronic under-utilisation of operating theatres at a time of high demand following the COVID-19 pandemic”.
NZ fellows in spotlight over call for more anaesthetic technicians
ANZCA Indigenous Health Committee member Dr Ted Hughes and NZ fellow Dr Morgan Edwards were interviewed on NZ Breakfast on 27 October about the shortage of Māori and Pasifika anaesthetic technicians.
"Pasifika and Māori are an example of a group that needs higher representation - it's only about 3% for each group," Dr Hughes said.
"That's much lower than the representation in the population."
Both anaesthetists said that while the process of getting more locally-trained technicians is a long-term goal, it is essential to shortening the wait lists in NZ.
National Anaesthesia Day 2022
ANZCA has released two media releases about National Anaesthesia Day including one about a new trial on a children’s recovery after surgery checklist led by Brisbane fellow, Dr Paul Lee-Archer, from the Queensland Children’s Hospital.
Children's recovery after surgery
Brisbane fellow Dr Paul Lee-Archer featured in a
Courier-Mail article (paywalled) focusing on his children's recovery score trial which was the subject of a National Anaesthesia Day media release. The
Courier Mail interviewed the mother of his first trial patient, two year-old Zephyr. The online article was syndicated to nine other News Limited online news sites inclduing the
Daily Telegraph, the
Herald Sun, the
Gold Coast Bulletin and the
Northern Territory News.
NZ fellow Dr Dean Frear interviewed on Radio NZ Nights
New Zealand fellow, paediatric anaesthetist Dr Dean Frear from Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland, was interviewed on Radio NZ Night's flagship evening program with presenter Karyn Hay on 14 October about National Anaesthesia Day.
The segment ran for nearly nine minutes and focused on this year's theme of anaesthesia and children.
ANZCA President Dr Chris Cokis interviewed by ABC Radio Perth
Dr Cokis was the featured “Ask an expert” guest on ABC Radio Perth’s afternoon program with presenter Christine Layton on 6 October discussing and taking calls from listeners about anaesthesia and National Anaesthesia Day 2022.
The segment ran for nearly 30 minutes.
Rotorua Now and Scoop.co.nz
NZ online news
Rotorua Now (sunmedia) posted ran an
article “Anaesthesia campaign to ease children’s fears” with a link to ANZCA’s new “Anaesthesia and children” animated video. This was syndicated to
SunLive online news. The online news site
scoop.co.nz also posted a localised NZ ANZCA media release.
Radio release
Pre-recorded audio ‘grabs’ of Dr Cokis compiled by the company Radio Release were distributed to dozens of metropolitan and regional and rural newsrooms across Australia on the day. As of 4pm AEDT on 17 October these had been downloaded for possible broadcast by more than 250 radio newsrooms across Australia including newsrooms in NSW, Queensland and the National Indigenous Radio Service. These have a potential audience of more than 500,000 people.
Other ANZCA and FPM media coverage
FPM Dean interviewed on ABC Radio about the 2022 Spring Meeting
Dr Kieran Davis was interviewed in an 11 minute segment on 13 October for the ABC Radio Sunshine Coast Drive program with Annie Gaffney.
Dr Davis discussed the highlights of the meeting and why long-COVID can have serious implications for people living with chronic pain. The program was also syndicated to other Queensland radio stations including: ABC Far North, ABC North West Qld, ABC Western Queensland, ABC Capricornia, ABC North Queensland and ABC Tropical North reaching over 120,000 listeners.