Letter to the Editor - Thursday May 09, 2013

Dear Mr Ryall

As a man obviously possessed of considerable sartorial flair, it would be reasonable to assume you to also have an excellent working imagination.

I would like you to imagine what it is like to go to work every day in an occupation that requires you to be on your feet for at least seven hours of each paid shift, and to have a heavy gin trap attached to one of your ankles and a medieval torture device containing spikes of varying dimensions attached to the kneecap of the opposite leg. The torturous, excruciating levels of pain experienced would be horrific.

You would think it would be impossible to work while experiencing such crippling pain. That is bone on bone, no cartilage left pain. Picture this, I know you can do it.

A friend of mine has done this for five years while waiting for a much-needed ankle and knee replacement at Whangarei Base Hospital.

Recently she collapsed at work, despite the large quantities of morphine and tramadol she is forced to ingest in order to keep working. As a middle-aged divorced woman she knows how limited her window of opportunity is to save for retirement. The alternative is to go on the sickness benefit ($240 per week), live in abject poverty, use up her savings and have no job when she recovers from her joint replacements.

D has worked all her life. She has always paid her taxes. She has raised a family, all of whom are now employed and also taxpayers. She is a voter and a citizen. She has paid for her health care many times over. Yet she cannot get the surgery she so desperately needs. She has saved money to support herself during her recovery.

Your government's cutbacks are wrecking people's lives. No economy ever succeeded through austerity.

Recovery from joint replacement surgery can take two years to achieve full fitness. I know this because I too suffer from arthritis, and have had both hips replaced. Luckily I wasn't dependent on the public health system.

Your government has spent $48 million of taxpayers' money to promote the sale of Mighty River shares. This money would have been better spent on our health system.

My recent visit to Whangarei Base Hospital appalled me.

The run-down state of our hospital compared with five years ago is inexcusable. The flooring is cracked. The walls have huge gouges from hospital trolleys, the paintwork is chipped, scratched and fading. The place is dirty. There was no one on reception. The signage is misleading and inaccurate. The lighting is poor.

I am very familiar with Whangarei Hospital. My family have had a number of treatments and surgeries there over the last 12 years. I have never seen it in such run-down condition.

The surgery lists are bulging. The people who pay their taxes are suffering needlessly because of unwarranted cut-backs by your government.

No amount of expensive, taxpayer-funded spin can change the reality of what people are experiencing in their day to day dealings with our failing, under-funded health system.

Shame on you. Shame on your government.

A copy of this email will be sent to newspapers locally and nationally.

SHONA RUTHERFORD

Taxpayer, Voter, Citizen

Whangarei