Chance for public to air health views

Press, 12 April 1989, Page 14

Chance for public to air health views

BY

SARAH SANDS

Health consumers will have a chance to put their views to the medical profession at a seminar on the Cartwright and Mason reports this week-end.

The seminar, “What response to the Cartwright and Mason reports?” has been organised by the Christchurch School of Medicine and the Canterbury Post-graduate Medical Society, with support from the Canterbury Hospital Board. The aim of the seminar was for health professionals to listen to the concerns of the public and join them in looking for solutions, said the associate dean of postgraduate affairs at the Medical School, Dr John O’Hagan. “There’s a lot of criticism and anger out there about doctors, and we felt the best way to deal with it was to listen to those concerns,” he said. Ms Phillida Bunkie, co-author of the

article which sparked the Cartwright inquiry into the treatment of cervical cancer at National Women’s Hospital, will be a guest speaker. Another speaker will be the senior lecturer in medical ethics at the Otago Medical School, Mr Grant Gillett. The Friday evening session would include input from local patient advocacy and health groups, which would take part in a panel discussion chaired by Judge Trish Costigan, said Dr O’Hagan. The seminar will be held in the science block at the University of Canterbury. Registration should be made through the post-graduate office at Christchurch Hospital.