Letters: NZ’s health crisis clear after 24 hours in a city hospital; how to fix maths and reading failures

"Arriving at the North Shore Hospital ED around 5.45pm, I was not seen by a doctor until 3.30am." Photo / Dean Purcell

OPINION

City EDs on life support too

It is not just rural hospitals that are struggling to staff emergency departments. A recent experience I had at one of our largest metropolitan hospitals would suggest the problem is widespread.

Last week I was referred to the emergency department at North Shore Hospital by my GP to determine if I had a serious issue that needed to be urgently dealt with. Arriving at the North Shore Hospital ED around 5.45pm, with the referral from the GP written up and sent before I arrived, I was not seen by a doctor until 3.30am. In the meantime, I sat in the ED with many other people, some of whom had been brought in by ambulance, some of whom had been referred by their GPs, and many walk-ins with pretty serious issues.

While the stretched but highly competent nurses did initial analysis as best they could, it didn’t appear too many of us had seen a doctor - certainly when I was sent to a ward at 2am, I hadn’t. Except it wasn’t actually in the ward - I was put in a bed in the corridor of the Acute Diagnostic Unit, along with several other patients. For the 24 hours I was in North Shore Hospital, I was a “wall hanging” in the ADU corridor, with the nursing staff continually apologising for us being stuck in the corridor.

It is painfully clear there is insufficient staff available to staff these hospitals. The staff on the front line - the ones this Government keeps telling us have not been affected by the cuts to public services - kept telling me, “Don’t believe what they are telling you, we don’t have enough staff.”

Neil Anderson, Algies Bay.

Mixed health messages

Anybody who has had contact with the health system over the last decade will have observed the stress our doctors and nurses are working under. Why there aren’t more cases of burnout is beyond comprehension. Yet we are getting contradictory messages. The Government says it is spending more than ever before; the DHBs say they are overstretched financially; the recently appointed Health NZ commissioner says there is plenty of money, just being wrongly applied. There is a shortage of nurses, according to the nurses and most observers, yet we are not taking in new graduates. Doctors are crying out for more specialists and resources, but the answer is always the same - not enough money, too much bureaucracy.

It seems to me somebody is telling us a whole lot of fibs, and I don’t think it is the doctors and nurses. This situation didn’t happen overnight; it’s been coming for at least the last 20 years. It won’t be solved overnight, but a little bit more honesty and less spin would be a good start.

Richard Alspach, Dargaville.

Maths v literacy

Changes in education are afoot - again. It’s Christopher Luxon who is now unhappy with the achievements of our children. What a surprise. Many come from impoverished homes, the fault of government policies over the years, with schools left to cope.

Interference has involved massive amounts of money spent on maths programmes that were never going to work - BSM and the Numeracy Project come to mind - so heading back to basics sounds good. Literacy, however, is entirely different. At the beginning, reading relies hugely on pre-knowledge, allowing time for catch-up. Running records show teachers a child’s level and the strategies needed to move on. Demanding an expected level only punishes and belittles young readers and puts teachers in a precarious position to hurry them along.

Reading is to understand and enjoy formal/informal language, characters, setting and plot, then link this to the spoken word and writing. It is not cut and dried - it’s careful nurturing to turn a young reader into a lover of language.

Emma Mackintosh, Birkenhead.

Wilde assertions

Chris Rattue’s column (NZ Herald, August 2) placing triathlete Hayden Wilde in the losers’ category because “at times Wilde looked happier than winner Lee and bronze medallist Leo Bergere” was a little harsh. Apart from the fact Wilde was gracious in defeat and also acknowledged the efforts of Dylan McCullough in helping him get on the podium, Wilde has stated he had “given everything”.

Also, maybe Rattue should have done a little research before hinting disparagingly at Wilde’s reaction post-race. Yee represented Britain in the European Track Champs over 10,000 metres in 2019. With this knowledge, Wilde needed to devise a strategy to defeat Yee, and that was to go out hard in the run and distance himself so as to nullify Yee’s speed. This was a risky but brave move which almost worked. Wilde will have private moments of disappointment, but he is in no way a loser. He is a great sportsman in more ways than one.

Bernard Walker, Mt Maunganui.