Monday Pānui 5 September 2025

In today’s Pānui	Auckland PHO AI Survey Care Connect Issues Changes to Community Referred Radiology (CRR) Criteria Registered Nurse Primary Care Scholarships
Auckland PHO AI Survey	Last call to complete this survey: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools in General Practice. This anonymised survey is intended for clinicians to provide us with this baseline information. Thank you to those clinicians who have already completed it – we greatly appreciate your time and input. AI tools play a growing and powerful role in the delivery of health services, helping both patients and professionals in many ways.  Auckland PHO wishes to gauge our network's understanding and use of AI and AI tools (specifically clinical scribing tools). We will use this information to provide appropriate guidance as these tools grow and develop.
Care Connect Issues	If you are experiencing Care Connect issues, you are not alone! The Care Connect service still has issues.  Health Link have advised that: Some referrals are going through, unfortunately there is no common destination or time of the day for the successful delivery of referrals – it appears to be random. If your submission fails, try again (and again) If you are unable to connect with anyone at Health Alliance or Te Whatu Ora to get an idea of how long this issue may go on for, the following link will connect you to the Clan William status page for a live update. Clanwilliam Health Service Status
Changes to Community Referred Radiology Criteria	Medinz - Published by Te Whatu Ora– Te Toka Tumai Auckland, Counties Manukau and Waitematā on Aug 29, 2025 9:27:03 AM. New nationally consistent Community-Referred Radiology (CRR) criteria are being rolled out for publicly funded radiology from 1st September 2025 for x-ray, followed by CT and ultrasound on 30th September. Please note: Referral processes are not changing - send referrals via the most appropriate route (ATD, eReferrals to hospital radiology, POAC) based on patient presentation and the urgency. Practices will no longer have allocated ProExtra ATD budgets, however all referrals must meet the new CRR criteria. There will be regular audit. ACC, maternity and screening are not included. The new referral criteria will be available on Auckland Community HealthPathways. See full details:  National Community Referral Criteria for Imaging » Radiology. Please send feedback to Michaela.Ralph-Smith@TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
Registered Nurse Primary Care Scholarships	Scholarships are soon available for Registered Nurses, working in primary or community healthcare to advance their career, education and skills. Scholarships of up to $45,000 per year are available for 120 primary and community healthcare RNs. The scholarship package is intended to cover the following: Tuition fees  Employer incentives  RN incentives  Allowances for study-related travel, accommodation  Eligible primary care settings include: Primary care general practice  Aged care provider (except for retirement village only facilities) Primary Health Organisation  Rural primary care or community care provider  Hauora Māori primary care services  Pacific primary care services  Home and community support services  Tamariki and youth services  Palliative care  Advanced education includes: PGDip prescribing and  Master of Nursing Applications are open from 29 August to 30 September 2025. The first scholarships will be available for study in semester one 2026. For more information, queries and application guidance, please visit tewhatuora.govt.nz/for-health-professionals or contact the Te Whatu Ora nursing team at primarycarenursing@tewhatuora.govt.nz

Barbara Stevens | Tumu Whakarae / CEO