The Health of our People will be the Health of our Nation

MAUREEN PUGH

Most of the feedback I have received lately is about the outcomes of the shake-up of the health system which has seen the end of District Health Boards and the start of a new Crown Health Authority, Te Whatu Ora.

Just a couple of months in, and an increase in head office staff, we are still to hear from them about how they plan to fix the major challenges that patients and front-line staff are experiencing.

The government have cruelly manipulated the waiting list statistics so that when the Health Minister says the waiting list is ‘reduced’, it’s because GP’s referrals for first specialist appointments are being declined. People simply don’t make it to the list. There have been deaths already attributable to lengthy waiting times, the worst possible outcome for patients and their families.

People in rural areas are the most at risk from the change because distance from hospitals and care facilities can mean delays at the best of times. The timeliness of the initial diagnosis is essential to the correct treatment plan, and delays or mistakes will cost lives.

Staff problems are at the heart of the problems in our health system. It’s clear that we needed to have trained more doctors. Had this government committed to National’s planned third medical school with a specialist rural GP training facility, we would not be in such a mess now. Allied to staff shortages is the need for the borders to be opened up to the skilled people we need, and the immigration system streamlined. In the last two to three years, we have attracted some of the specialist medical talent we needed, only to lose them again because it has not been possible for their families to join them in New Zealand due to our very restrictive immigration conditions.

So, what would National do, if given the chance next year? It’s a fair question on an important issue that is facing New Zealanders, young and old, rural or urban or, in fact, healthy or sick.

Like we did in the 2008-2017 era, National will increase health spending every year, recognising the need to keep up with inflation. There is a clear shortage of nurses so we would immediately put nurses on the ‘straight to residency’ pathway to attract more skilled staff.

We will bring back targets for waiting times. It is difficult to understand why the government scrapped Emergency Department waiting time targets. These goals were respected by staff, and we know these measures saved lives. National would put a priority on reinstating them. Targeting the sectors where care and resources are most needed would become the hallmark of the health system under National.

Only a handful of Te Whatu Ora board members have management experience. With due respect to current medical people on the Board, what is required are change management skills, because it’s obvious that change will need to come quickly if we are to have confidence in the new health system.