CPRG Updates & Resources
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CPRG News

22 October 2025 

Measles Update

The National Public Health Service (NPHS) wants to alert clinicians to an escalating national risk of measles with two new measles cases yesterday in Manawatu and Nelson. These latest two cases appear to be from community transmission as none of the cases are linked to each other. NPHS is managing contacts linked to multiple exposure events in all three regions. Locations of interest are reported here: Measles: Locations of interest in Aotearoa New Zealand

A reminder to primary care providers – do you know the immunisation status of your staff? This is a crucial part of your business continuity planning and will benefit you and the public health team in the case of exposure.

Multi-Union Strike Action

As you are probably aware, a multi-union strike action has been called for a number of union members for 23 October 2025. Included in the action are PSA, NZNO, ASMS (Christchurch only, not Kaikoura or Ashburton), and PSA-PACS. On the West Coast, home and community workers are also involved. Requests for staff at Christchurch Hospital & Specialist Services for Life Preserving Services (LPS) have been submitted and agreed by the unions.

Life Preserving Services means:

  • Crisis intervention for the preservation of life or the prevention of permanent disability
  • Care required for therapeutic services without which life would be jeopardised or permanent disability would occur
  • Urgent diagnostic procedures required to obtain information on potentially life-threatening conditions or conditions that could potentially lead to permanent disability.

Acute Demand Service labs via taxi will be impacted – samples must not be sent to CHL via taxi unless they meet criteria for Life Preserving Services. All Health NZ blood test centres and outpatients locations will be closed.

For more information on the strike actions, see: Industrial action – Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora also Community HealthPathways: Home – Community HealthPathways Waitaha | Canterbury

Reminder – Healthcare Provider Emergency Readiness Survey Closes Soon!

With support from Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora (Te Waipounamu), CPRG has developed a short survey for General Practice and Community Pharmacy to understand current emergency planning strengths and where improvements may be useful.   Responses will only be reported in a summarised, non-identifiable way.
Healthcare Provider Emergency Readiness Survey

 

Emergency Events

Current Events

23 October 2025 

UPDATE: If any Canterbury primary care facility requires assistance due to this emergency event, please contact CPRG either by phone or email – eoc@cprg.org.nz.

There is an anticipated extreme weather event occurring from 23 October that is expected to hit the South Island in the very early hours and continue through to Friday. Red Warnings for our district have been issued with effect from 23 October 2025:

  • Canterbury High Country, 0100-1700 hours
  • Christchurch and Canterbury Plains, 1000-1600 hours

MetService Severe Weather Warnings: Weather Warnings & Watches | MetService

For up-to-date information on known hazards, visit these sites below. There are also a couple of really interesting weather sites that you might be interested in: Ventusky – Wind, Rain and Temperature Maps and Windy: Rain, thunder. There are different filters you can apply (e.g. rain, wind, etc.) to see real-time weather patterns across NZ and the world.

Emergency Management Updates & Resources

Tsunami

Earthquakes

Weather

Other