The Prime Minister’s fiancé Clarke Gayford has today apologised for “any confusion” he caused after speaking to a pharmacist about rapid antigen testing on behalf of a musician mate.
The pharmacist alleges Gayford gave inaccurate advice about testing guidance on behalf of his friend who was trying to get a rapid antigen test after being identified as a potential close contact.
The incident occurred as the first community Omicron case was detected in the community, UK-based DJ Dimension.
National’s Covid-19 spokesman Chris Bishop labelled the incident “deeply inappropriate” and claims the Prime Minister’s fiancé was effectively trying to subvert ministry of health rules for his mates.
Whenever you are giving Chris Bishop free hits, you know you’ve fucked up!
I know Clarke well. He’s the kind of loyal passionate friend who would give you the shirt off his own back.
What’s happened here is that he’s been put into a position by a friend and he’s fired up.
There are three issues.
1 – he shouldn’t have done that! He can’t pretend talking to a frontline staff assistant as the first Gentleman doesn’t carry a certain power imbalance!
2 – he was wrong! Telling a frontline staff member to agree to a test when that isn’t the actual protocol is a really dumb thing to do.
Last but not least, the 3rd thing is his dumb jumped up Muso mates who put him in that position in the first place! Stop calling Clarke into your shit you ego driven creatives, it’s your shit, not his! He isn’t there as a personal advisor to help you get through public health measures!
So yeah, bit of a dumb play by everyone involved, but Gayford has credit in the bank as a good bugger so anyone feasting out on this is doing so for political reasons pre Omicron in the Community.
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It’s a bit of a non event to be fair. Well, since we know international DJ’s that some clearly think are vital to New Zealand’s best interests in Covid times have been traipsing in and out multiple times in the last year.
Seriously, this sort of preferential treatment adds to the perception that the country is being lead by a pop star loving dilettante, at the most serious of times. It is.
Hell, I read Gayford gave inaccurate advice about Covid. Inaccurate advice? Well then I guess he’s up for running protest meetings, sorry, “family picnics in the park” to talk all about covid and vaccinations, the whole nine yards. He’s a fucken expert! Cranmer Square any chance this weekend?
How about Saturday morning in the Auckland Domain then through the kids’ cricket, then off to
Newmarket? Or what about Murupara? They’ll love to see him, they’re into that sort of thing. Of course if there’s any dumb lawyer in Nelson who can book a private flight to the Bay of Islands there’s bound to be a seat for him. There are plenty of Northern numpties who’ll be prepared to listen. Again.
Nah, just kidding. According to some Gayford’s missus has been inaccurate and misleading all the way through. All those press conferences, all those daily updates, all those interviews, every single one of them when she set out to deceive and mislead. That’s how it’s been, how it is, isn’t it? So why shouldn’t he play too?
Let’s lighten up, enjoy it for its entertainment value. We’ve had so much bullshit around covid from so many for so long. We’ve had mayors and lawyers and doctors and politicians, people all over, right up and down and across the country, putting out bullshit and believing bullshit. And they’re getting upset about whatever this guy said?
God, he could be their true leader!
It doesn’t help that your DJ mate, the wedding singer and now a backbencher have all miraculously gained MIQ spots as well when the majority of joe public isn’t. Irrespective of whether it’s innocent or not perception is reality and Gayford then sticking his head above the parapet was poor taste.
Ironically this story is a number of weeks old – why did it take so long for the MSM to run with it?
Whippy do don’t we have any better news than this.
Well covid is pa, house prices are up 28.2% in NZ for the year, Christchurch a staggering 40.2% or in real terms $220,000 per house on average price climb in just a single year. Yet another year of record growth, and that is yet again, under a Labour government!
Megan Woods and Labour are the toast of the REINZ, real estate agents in general, the wealthy, the banks and lets not forget those much maligned misunderstood creatures,
investors and… throughout the world.
How’s that?
Across the whole range on impacting factors, what should they have done for housing from the beginning of 2018 onwards to see the situation not as now?
The state builds a hell of a lot more state houses than the National Party set, fiscally conservative numbers they’re building at the moment. For starters! Why, because our housing dysfunction is only worsening.
Create a state backed company to take over building these houses as the number 1 priority!
By now understand what the issues are instead of looking clueless.
By now understand the ramifications of the housing catastrophe to society left unchecked as they’re doing now.
Stop making excuses to justify tinkering.
Show Megan Woods the door.
Admit house prices can and should fall just like any other investment instead of pretending they can’t.
Not run away from Captial Gains. Tax multiple property ownership into the stone age.
Loan to Debt ratio of 90% for investors, except new builds.
Let’s admit it, Labour are an abject failure for the people I thought they represented and society overall. But break out the magnums of finest French champers for everyone else.
So, specifically you would have:
– Created a state backed company building many more state houses
– Had a Captial Gains tax.
– Taxed multiple property ownership into the stone age.
– Had a Loan to Debt ratio of 90% for investors, except new builds.
And those things would have dramatically eased the housing situation.
Had those measures been introduced which of them do you think the National/Act Party would have got rid of when they are Government in 2023?
Or as you would like, do nothing
Easy, a progressive stamp duty. 10% on the third house 15% on the 4th house and so one payable at time of purchase like gst.
Poof speculators are out of the market.
+1
Hopefully Clarke’s friends will stop ‘using’ him, and he has learnt to say ‘contact the ministry for the latest information’. As for Chris Bishop’s indignation, if that’s the worst dirt he can scrape up we are doing well.
Clarke was spreading Covid disinformation during a heightened state of alert, a serious criminal offence which while carrying no sentence for pseudo celebrities moving favours, does require said pseudo celebrity to try harder next time to ensure his entitlement and intent are better disguised.
EW, Clarke was being foolish, but ‘foolish’ is not a criminal offence or we would all be guilty. The pharmacy’s legal responsibility is to follow MOH Official guidelines, not second-hand interpretation, no matter who is offering it, even if it was the PM herself.
Yep – tiny squall in a tea cup, with Righties trying to dramatise… Boring.
Perhaps Clarke assumed, incorrectly it seems now, that what he thought was a private conversation with a health professional would remain private.
Do pharmacists routinely discuss people who consult about health issues, behind their backs or make the contents of those conversations public?
I thought discussions of health matters with a pharmacist were supposed to be confidential.
I must be wrong.
Joy, I understand your concerns about the privacy issues that have arisen about this; but at the end of the day Clarke should not have given any ‘guidance’ other than to suggest if the pharmacist was unsure they should refer his friends’ situation to the MOH for official instructions.
All it brought to mind, was that time a multi-billionaire jumped the que and got his Aotearoa residency/citizenship under a month while the ordinary people had to wait five years…so fuck it all, NEXT.
Yes, agree. Peter Theil’s residency a far worse ‘favor’ and this is totally a gotcha moment for Gayford.
I have been following the Clarke Gayford and RAT Testing with interest. Pharmacists are forever saying they want to be taken seriously as part of the wider health care profession. As a consequence I have just re-read the code of Ethics from the Pharmacy Council, where it specifically mentions the privileged and confidential nature of any conversation between a pharmacist their patient/customer, and any possible support person involved. It does not say that these ethical guidelines may not necessarily apply to musicians or fiancés at the whim of the pharmacist involved. As someone who works with ethnic communities many of whom by default, use phone translation services or support people to engage with health professionals, they would be horrified that any conversation had in a pharmacy setting especially on speaker phone is not totally private and confidential. Let alone that it would end up in a Pharmacy Facebook chat post identifying all those involved. Surely anything I say at my local chemists should be totally private. Mr Michael Taylor needs to be disciplined for this obvious breech of ethics and fined accordingly. Did he not learn anything at Otago University whilst obtaining his degree. I certainly will be reminding my own pharmacist of their confidentially obligations to me next time I seek advice in their shop, or pick up prescriptions. I do not want my information to appear somewhere online for their own salacious entertainment. I presume My Taylor is not 14 years old. One wonders if he also passes on information about HIV patients to his colleagues just for a giggle?
Good points.
According to the Herald:
“On December 29, Michael Taylor, a pharmacist in Bayfair, Tauranga, was asked by potential Covid-19 close contacts whether they could get a Rapid Antigen Test.
Taylor posted an account of the events to a private Facebook group for pharmacists.”
“Taylor said he was posting the message to the group as he wanted to ask fellow pharmacists whether they were aware of any changes to the health guidance.”
“Taylor yesterday confirmed he had made the Facebook post, but would not comment further, referring questions to his chief executive.
Alison Van Wyk, the chief executive of Green Cross Health, which owns the pharmacy, defended Taylor’s advice.”
It seems clear that to get the advice he needed the pharmacist had no need to name individuals. His boss defended the advice he gave but there is no comment about the ethics of naming individuals.
On the surface, given what you say the Ethics from the Pharmacy Council are, and based on what’s been in the media, discussion of a breach of ethics is justified.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/deeply-inappropriate-clarke-gayford-sorry-for-confusion-after-claim-he-tried-to-get-mate-rapid-covid-test/BERMJTAVSMBW756EZLHP56PCVA/
@ joy “Perhaps Clarke assumed, incorrectly it seems now, that what he thought was a private conversation with a health professional would remain private.”
I read that the conversation was heard over speaker phone. If this was in a public area such as a shop should the party at the other end have been advised of the fact?
Privacy laws have a wide scope. Are phone calls not covered?
How did the information get passed to Chris Bishop?
After visiting two pharmacies and an audiology clinic in Auckland this morning, all staff I talked too thought the release of information about a private discussion or consultation in the health setting of a pharmacy and the subsequent release of names on social media was a massive breach of confidentiality and were horrified. They thought that disciplinary action should be taken against the Pharmacy and queried the age of the pharmacist thinking perhaps he had just graduated.
Certainly it has made my son say, “well that’s the last time I buy my condoms at the chemist, give me the anonymity and professionalism of Countdown any day”
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