Auckland Women's Health Council

28/09/2026

𝐇ī𝐤𝐨𝐢 𝟒 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐕𝐚𝐧𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐫
Only 2 Days left!
https://healthreformnz.org/

Sept 28: Levin – Horowhenua Youth Health Service (6:00 pm)
Sept 30: Wellington – Parliament Grounds (12:00 pm)
Documentary screening, Q & A at Lighthouse Theatre on Cuba, Te Aro (6:00 pm)

In 2025, doctors Art Nahill and Glenn Colquhoun drove from Te Hāpua to Wellington in an old Fort Transit van painted up as a whimsical ambulance to protest the state of the New Zealand health system. They held a series of public meetings along the way to capture people’s experiences and hear their ideas for reform.

Art and Glenn are back behind the wheel of their signature ‘vanbulance’ to launch their new book, Rethinking Health: Lessons from the Hīkoi 4 Health, alongside an upcoming documentary release. Since September 18th, the team have almost travelled the length and breadth of the North Island to deliver their findings directly to the communities that shared their stories during the original 2025 hīkoi.

According to Art, “though the kaupapa is coming to an end, we hope that some of the ideas in the documentary and book will create a sense of hope that that we’re not chained to the old ways of doing things and that we can reimagine the kind of high-quality, equitable, and sustainable health system we

17/09/2026

Today is World Patient Safety Day, and we’ve just wrapped up our Patient Safety Forum in Auckland.

A huge thank you to The Health Consumer Advocacy Alliance - Experts by Experience and Patient Voice Aotearoa for working together with us, to the politicians who showed up and took part, and to all our guest speakers who shared their knowledge and experience.

Most importantly, thank you to the patients who stood up and shared their stories. It takes courage to speak publicly about the times our health system has failed you, and those voices need to be heard.

And a big thank you to SkyCity Auckland and the Sky Tower team for helping us mark World Patient Safety Day by lighting the Sky Tower orange tonight. 🧡

Patient safety belongs to all of us.

17/09/2026

𝐓𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭'𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 at
https://www.youtube.com/live/Er1SxSvG0O8

16/09/2026

𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐃𝐚𝐲
Tonight The Health Consumer Advocacy Alliance - Experts by Experience, Kaitiaki Hauora and Patient Voice Aotearoa are hosting the 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐮𝐦!

It is not too late to get your free ticket to the event - just click here to register and get your free ticket https://events.humanitix.com/patient-safety-forum.../tickets

6:30 pm at the Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Road, Three Kings, Auckland.

15/09/2026

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧'𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐠𝐚𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟𝐟.

This is how women's health is turned from a physical condition with real symptoms into an "it's all in your head" problem.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/wellington/wellington-teen-amelie-cakebread-discovers-rare-aggressive-ovarian-cancer-after-years-of-pain/C3LN25DDURAALGMNYG2Y6FVJTE/

Just a day after we posted our article 𝐒𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧'𝐬 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 this article in the NZHerald proves the point.

https://tinyurl.com/bdcjs4by

Women should not have to visit the doctor with serious symptoms multiple times only to be fobbed off, told it's "all in their head" or they "just need to eat more". In other cases, women are told they just need to lose weight, or that they are drug seeking or attention seeking. Or they are too young for that - often the case with young women with cancer.

Amelie's ovarian cancer was rare, but NOT NON-EXISTENT.

Delays in cancer diagnosis can be a death sentence, and ovarian cancer is often diagnosed when it is too advanced to be cured. Let's hope this is not the case with Amelie.

On top of the atrocious attitude of the doctors she saw seeking answers for her severe pain, now Amelie has to travel to Christchurch for surgery, because HealthNZ and the Government DO NOT CARE ENOUGH ABOUT WOMEN to replace the last gynae-oncologist in Wellington who left in 2024! For the last two years all women in the Wellington region have to travel to Christchurch for gynae-oncology surgery. As if a cancer diagnosis is not hard enough!

17-year-old girls with cancer shouldn't have to go through this.
Women of all ages shouldn't have to put up with this. Our Women's Health Strategy is a joke, not worth the paper it is written on!

It took years for Amelie Cakebread to be given an ultrasound, which revealed the truth.

15/09/2026

𝐇ī𝐤𝐨𝐢 𝟒 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐕𝐚𝐧𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐫
+ 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠

Get your free tickets to the Auckland screening and book launch here https://www.iticket.co.nz/events/2026/sep/hkoi-4-health-the-movie

Find out more and check the itinerary here https://healthreformnz.org/

Hīkoi 4 Health is an independent, grassroots initiative to advocate for a high-quality, equitable, and sustainable health system by amplifying community voices from across New Zealand.

In 2025, doctors Art Nahill and Glenn Colquhoun drove from Te Hāpua to Wellington in an old Fort Transit van painted up as a whimsical ambulance to protest the state of the New Zealand health system. They held a series of public meetings along the way to capture people’s experiences and hear their ideas for reform.

Art and Glenn are getting back behind the wheel of their signature ‘vanbulance’ to launch their new book, 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡: 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇ī𝐤𝐨𝐢 𝟒 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡, alongside an upcoming documentary release. Starting September 18th, the team will travel the length and breadth of the North Island again to deliver their findings directly to the communities that shared their stories during the original 2025 hīkoi.

The hīkoi kicks off with a special documentary screening followed by a Q & A with Art and Glenn in Auckland on September 18th at The Factory Theatre in Onehunga before heading through Northland, the Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki, and Manawatū, concluding with a presentation of their book to members of Parliament in Wellington.

15/09/2026

𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧'𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐍𝐙 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭!
It is pretty clear that women’s health simply doesn’t matter to the Government, health policy and decision makers, and those who hold the health system purse strings. The issues described in our feature article on the failures of the National Cervical Screening Programme are just the “tip of the iceberg” and epitomise the lack of attention paid to women’s health; the lack of priority placed on women’s health.

Read more in the August September Newsletter:
https://tinyurl.com/bdcjs4by

Mesh harm, Essure harm, far too many women are on long waiting lists for specialist appointments, especially gynae-oncology, and there is a significant shortage of women’s health specialists. For example, the only gynae-oncologist in the Wellington region left in November 2024, and with no plan to fill that vacancy, women/wāhine from the Wellington region now have to travel to Christchurch for surgical treatment.

The ways in which women’s health in Aotearoa New Zealand is underfunded, unrecognised and treated as irrelevant or invisible gets longer every week.

Despite women living longer than men, “women spend 25% more of their lives in debilitating health.” In Aotearoa New Zealand, while women/wāhine have a life expectancy of 83.2 years, their health expectancy was only 65.2 years, meaning that on average they spend 18 years in poor health!

We advocated for and got a Women’s Health Strategy under the Pae Ora (Health Futures) Act 2022. But where is it? What has it done for us?

When is HealthNZ, the Ministry of Health, and whichever parties are in government at any given time, going to give us what was promised – a health system that works for women!

14/09/2026

𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟑 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐮𝐦!

On Thursday the 17th of September The Health Consumer Advocacy Alliance - Experts by Experience, Kaitiaki Hauora and Patient Voice Aotearoa are hosting the Patient Safety Forum as part of World Patient Safety Day.

Attendance is free - just click here to register and get your free ticket https://events.humanitix.com/patient-safety-forum-part-of-world-patient-safety-day-2026/tickets

6:30 pm at the Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Road, Three Kings, Auckland.

14/09/2026

𝐃𝐚𝐦𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐍𝐂𝐒𝐏 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐬

Thirty-eight years after the Cartwright Inquiry, women/wāhine are being failed by a cervical screening register that has myriad flaws and raises the spectre of serious harm to an unknown number of women eligible for screening. The failures of the new Register represent a betrayal of everything the Cartwright Inquiry Report recommended. Women’s health advocates, including the Auckland Women’s Health Council, are demanding urgent, transparent accountability.
https://tinyurl.com/bdcjs4by

See our feature article in the August-September Newsletter for the full details on the myriad flaws and failures of the new cervical screening Register that came to effect in Spetember 2023 with the switch to HPV primary screening.

13/09/2026

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭-𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰!

https://tinyurl.com/bdcjs4by

In this edition our feature article (page 6) is a long, unsparing review and analysis of a recently released report on the flaws and failings of the National Cervical Screening Programme Register.

We also report on an amazing number of campaigns and events being undertaken by our collaborators - such as the Health Consumer Advocacy Alliance - Experts by Experience, Kaitiaki Hauora, and the Ovarian Cancer Foundation NZ - and the wider advocacy community that we are part of. I feel like the only way to not be overwhelmed by the enormity of what is wrong with our health system is to stay connected with all the other organisations working in the same space as us, and to draw energy and optimism from all that they are doing as well.

We support all that is being done around the motu to improve our health system for health consumers, and the health workforce that show up everyday in the public health system, often in very trying circumstances, and do their best to keep you all safe and well. AWHC knows better than most how often people are harmed in our health system, but we also understand that decades of underfunding has brought our hospitals to the brink of collapse, and that many of our doctors and nurses put their own health at risk working very long, understaffed shifts and in old and poorly maintained facilities.