Email: / Denise Tringham
P O Box 22 234
Wellington
Tel: (04) 938 4827
Fax: (04) 976 4827
History of The Paediatric Society of New Zealand
The Paediatric Society of New Zealand (PSNZ) was founded in 1946 in Auckland by a group of General Practitioners and Paediatricians led by Dr S L Ludbrook who became the inaugural President of the Society at the first AGM held 14 May 1947 attended by 32 members.
The aims and objects were “to stimulate interest in and to promote the scientific study of child health and Paediatrics in New Zealand, and to engage in all activities, clinical and educational, which in the opinion of the Society, may be necessary from time to time in the interest of child health” and to engage in the following activities:
· the holding of clinical meetings.
· the collection and dissemination of scientific data.
· the helping of practitioners to maintain the highest standard of child health in their districts, especially in relation to nutrition and prophylaxis.
· establishment of the principal that the undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in relation to child health should be maintained always at the highest possible standard, in the spirit and measure of New Zealand’s other social and community development.
· The education and shaping of public opinion as may be required from time to time, on all matters that concern the welfare of children.
· co-operation with all such Government Departments and all such societies and Institutions as are concerned with matters pertaining to the physical or psychological welfare of the child.
· the maintenance of a highest possible level of scientific and ethical practice in this branch of Medicine in New Zealand
Annual scientific meetings were commenced featuring overseas experts in child health mainly from Australia and Great Britain; good relationships were established with voluntary agencies such as the NZ Crippled Children’s Society and with Government Departments involved in child health. The PSNZ has always striven to promote undergraduate and postgraduate teaching of Paediatrics and played a significant role in persuading Government and the University of Otago to establish the first Chair in Paediatrics in NZ to which Professor J W Watt was appointed in 1967. The Executive remained in Auckland from 1947-1962, then moved to Wellington, and thereafter a pattern of rotation through the five main paediatric centres at 3-4 yearly intervals was established.
At first, the majority of PSNZ members were general practitioners who had a special interest in child health. In 1966 a separate list of Specialist Members was established, and now PSNZ consists of Members who are specialists (mainly medical paediatrics but also paediatric surgery, child psychiatry, genetics and pathology) and Associate Members (advanced trainees who have passed the Part 1 FRACP (paediatrics) examination and others who practise mainly in the arena of child health).
There is an increasingly close o-operation with the Division of Paediatrics, RACP and the NZ Committee of The Royal Australasian College of Physicians in regard to appointing Examiners for the FRACP specialist examination in Paediatrics and supervising advanced training. In 1991 a Board of Paediatrics and Child Health was constituted jointly by the NZ Committee of the RACP and the PSNZ to co-ordinate clinical and educational issues relevant to child health.
Postgraduate specialist education in Paediatrics is supervised by the NZ Committee of the RACP which has 4 paediatricians on the Committee for Examinations. Specialist training normally starts after 2 years of hospital experience rotating through various specialities and lasts a minimum of 5 years. There is a rigorous written and clinical examination (FRACP Part I) taken after 2 years training and the candidate if eligible to be elected FRACP after a further 3 years in approved posts (NZ or overseas) subject to satisfactory reports from the supervisors during this period of advanced training. The Medical Schools of the Universities of Otago and Auckland offer a Diploma in Child Health, with examination after a minimum of 6 months full time clinical paediatric training with an emphasis on community Paediatrics, but this is not a specialist qualification.
The Society does not have direct or official involvement in child health in the general community other than via the influence of individual members, but is consulted by Government agencies on specific issues – and from time makes public comment on child health matters, endeavoring to influence public and/or Governmental opinion as an advocate for the nation’s children. Over the last 2 years we have worked in a collaborative arrangement with government to review tertiary paediatric services in NZ and plan their development over the next 5 – 10 years. Summaries of these planning documents can be viewed at our website (see below).
To enable the NZPS to adequately represent Child Health Professionals to government, we are anticipating a significant change to our constitution that will allow any child health professional (nursing and allied health) to be elected to full membership of the NZPS. We believe that this will allow our annual scientific meeting to become multi-disciplinary thus more closely reflecting the nature of today’s paediatric practice as well as giving us a stronger voice in the community and with Government.
A recent development is the use of an E-mail list server to allow easy communication with all NZ paediatricians who use e-mail (currently about 80% of members). This is regularly and enthusiastically used by the membership and has led to a stronger feeling of community amongst NZ Paediatricians. We have just commissioned the NZPS Web site which may be visited at http://www.paediatrics.org.nz
The PSNZ is a member of APSSEAR and the IPA.