Wyn Drabble: The health system is limping badly

Wyn Drabble: "Thank you, health service, you may put your clothes back on now. I'll prescribe some ointment and some sticking plasters but you'll need to pay for them." Photo / Getty

OPINION:

Our health system is in need of urgent medical attention.

It has made it on to a waiting list but the initial consultation is forecast to be at least six months away. "Now, some music for you to enjoy while you wait."

I realise that, with the Covid-related overloads, this is a bad time to be criticising and I am certainly not criticising the overworked staff in hospitals, whose efforts are to be admired.

But the overall system which is supposed to care for us is clearly broken.

So if the health system would care to take off its clothes and lie down on the examination bed, we'll check it for symptoms.

Well, here's one straightaway. For obvious reasons I won't name the people involved but there are many waiting for hip replacements.

Some are in serious pain but their estimated date of surgery is still months away.

Wyn Drabble: "People surely have a right to believe their health system should look after them anyway?."

Some extreme cases have even flown to Thailand to have it done at their own expense but still at cheaper rates than our own private systems offer.

RNZ has reported doctors advising patients that the only way to get on a public health waiting list is to wait until the pain is so bad they can't sleep. Unacceptable!

Now, if the health system would mind taking a series of deep breaths.

Yes, here's another alarming symptom. Ovarian cancer has recently made the news headlines because sufferers are also on long and unacceptable waiting lists. Oh dear!

And if the health system will just allow me to feel its pulse.

Yes, it's clear here that certain sectors of our society – Maori and Pacific communities, disabled people, those suffering mental health issues, rural communities – are being poorly served.

Now, if the health service could just roll over on to its tummy.

Look at that. I can see a huge disparity among waiting times in different DHBs.

In 2021, the Health and Disability System Review report published in www.nzdoctor.co.nz found that in over half our DHBs more than 10 per cent of people did not receive cancer treatment within 62 days of diagnosis.

Part of this, the report said, was because the systems have become too complicated and too fragmented with duplication of roles and responsibilities.

Emergency medicine specialist, Dr Scott Orman, cites examples of patients marooned in ambulances for hours, patients with untreated pain bedded in corridors, mental health patients waiting up to three days for staffed inpatient beds to become available.

Finally, may I please ask the health system to pee into this beaker.

In and out goes the testing strip and it shows me straightaway that a number of hospices are now going to be forced to close because of rising costs.

Thank you, health service, you may put your clothes back on now.

I'll prescribe some ointment and some sticking plasters but you'll need to pay for them. You are free to go now.

Certain readers may say that some of these people should have private health insurance.
Unfortunately many can only dream of having enough money to pay for health insurance as they are struggling to provide their families with the basics.

And let me also point out that, as people age, their insurance costs rise exponentially and can become untenable so many of the vulnerable are forced to return to the lottery that is the public health system.

Add to that the fact that people surely have a right to believe their health system should look after them anyway.

Yes, the health system is limping badly.

It needs surgery and it needs it urgently.

All it must do in the meantime is survive its time on the waiting list.

And be rigorous in its use of ointment and sticking plaster.