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Similarly, it is difficult to document the advice you have received, as aliases are often used on these forums. In the event of a complaint, it would be difficult to justify management based on the advice provided by ‘X’ person on a social media forum.

From the perspective of someone providing advice on social media, you may like to consider that you have less information than a so-called ‘corridor consultation’.

It is also difficult to ask for more detail on social media. Some unintended consequences of giving specific management advice could be that the advice is interpreted incorrectly or that there is a poor outcome for the patient. Additionally, if this advice is given with your personal profile, your reputation may also be adversely affected.

Workplace policies

So how do employers view posts on social media? Many workplaces and employers will have a policy around posting on social media. For example, some employers will not allow posting of patient information on social media. Additionally, if critical comments are made about an individual’s employer, the employer may then have access to this, and issues may arise around professionalism and adherence to organisational policy.

Medical forums on social media have taken a number of practical approaches to facilitate discussion of interesting medical cases whilst maintaining patient privacy and professionalism.

Some platforms allow settings that permanently delete messages within a day of posting and allow documents to be viewed only once without sharing.

We all benefit from discussion and learning from unusual presentations and challenging cases. From a practical perspective, these large forums are very useful for commenting on appropriate referral processes or protocols used in a given region. However, for the reasons outlined, using social media forums to seek advice about the management of individual patients can be quite problematic and create professional risk. The safest approach is to consider any social media post to be both permanent and accessible to any member of the public.

When your employment moves from DHBs to Health NZ on 1 July there will be no change to your terms and conditions of employment.

The legislation establishing Health NZ states that on 1 July every DHB employee becomes an employee of Health NZ “on the same terms and conditions as applied immediately before they became an employee of Health New Zealand.”

That means the protection and transfer of: • All provisions of the current MECA (either the 2020-21 MECA which is still in force, or any MECA resulting from the current negotiations) • Any DHB-specific or departmental/service agreements that have been negotiated in addition to the MECA

• Any individual conditions, such as your MECA salary step and anniversary date. As an existing employee, you cannot be required to work outside of your former DHB district if that was a condition of your original employment, unless you make a new agreement with Health NZ. There can be no change to your salary, any local employment agreements which are in place, or additional arrangements you may have. Any proposed changes affecting any aspect of your work or the work of your service must be mutually agreed, which is what happens now under the MECA. If you have any concerns, please contact your industrial officer.