The Premium Debate: Subscribers weigh in on surgery wait times

The number of patients waiting for surgery at Tauranga Hospital has soared from 12 to 1940 in five years. Of those waiting, 1583 do not have a date scheduled for surgery. Among those on the list is Tim McMahon who, at 56, can't walk 100m. There is Louise Roberts who is in "chronic pain" and can no longer work full time, and Helen, who has trouble getting dressed, cooking and doing the dishes.

Read the full story here: 'I can't even walk 100m': Pāpāmoa man's painful wait as surgery backlog grows

Our health system will never improve until medical and nursing professionals are listened to and the real funding is increased. Reforming the health system was just rearranging the deck chairs at huge expense to achieve little. The system is collapsing with staff leaving for Australia in droves. Nursing and medical pay and conditions need to be urgently addressed. When our hospitals lose accreditation to teach medical students we will have to train doctors in Australia. The Government needs to wake up and get its priorities right. People will die if nothing changes.
Kirsty G

Far too many electives were cancelled during Covid, needlessly. We will never catch up.
Stephen H

"Ardern said setting up the national health system - Te Whatu Ora - would make a difference in the long term."

Hard to know what she means by the "long term". But in the short term NZ needs the staff to get on with the job - these people and others have already waited way too long ... It is maddening to see money being spent on media reforms, public transport fantasies and ineffectual strategies to address climate change while so many people suffer from treatable illness consequent to not only staffing shortages but also highly effective new drug treatments.
Andrew M

Interesting that the number has gone from 12 to 1940 on the wait-list in five years. According to Labour, the problems are due to National's nine years of neglect. These numbers have increased under Labour's watch.
Mark Y

I don't care which party fixes this, but we need to spend more in the area of health. This might seem heretical, but could we not just add a 1 per cent tax rate increase to anyone earning over $70,000 to improve our health system? Not just the wait-lists but also the services offered and the infrastructure. There is so much that needs to be done in the areas of health, education and other essential services. Everyone's solution just seems to be to cut our existing services and redistribute the money. I don't mind paying a bit more so these people and all the others on wait-lists can receive their surgeries. We also need to fund our tertiary sector better so we can actually have more doctors.
Karen F

Why add more tax? How about cutting all the consultants, working groups and bureaucrats Labour seem to rely on.
Mark Y, replying to Karen F

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