Letters: Strain on hospitals, Ukraine, ex-prisoners, GP misconduct, and the Tauranga by-election

Support, protection, and encouragement of healthcare workers are needed more than ever in the current, complex social and financial world. Photo / Supplied, File

Opinion

Healthcare stress
I am horrified to hear about the death of a woman (NZ Herald, June 17) after two visits within a few hours to Middlemore Hospital emergency department – horrified for her and her family and horrified for the staff involved.
The very least family and friends should be able to expect is that care in the final days and hours is of the highest standard.
For staff, not only does the inability to provide such care impose personal and professional frustration and lack of work satisfaction, but it also has serious implications for their professional practice.
My heart and enormously grateful thanks, plus an inordinate amount of admiration, go out to those who continue to turn up at work knowing the stressors they face each day. I can fully understand why many healthcare staff are resigning, many of whom may well be leaving jobs they actually love. They are also victims.
Good on them for caring for themselves personally and professionally. Unfortunately, those resignations or transfers just contribute to the downward cycle of problematic healthcare provision.
Support, protection, and encouragement of healthcare workers are needed more than ever in the current, complex social and financial world we all must trudge through.
Maria Carbines, Hillsborough.

Ukraine ceasefire
Zelensky needs to heed the call "for Ukrainian fighters to lay down arms" (NZ Herald, June 16) rather than continue pleading for more weapons from Nato/US.
Billions of dollars in barbaric warfare using high-tech weapons are killing us. The outcome is "lose-lose" for Ukraine and Russia.
The greater threat is nuclear war devastation. It starts by "accident" because no one in their right mind would do such an abominable thing. Revenge sets off chain reactions. The living will envy the dead. Blaming Russia is no excuse.
Hence, 40 Western allies meeting in Brussels are wisely advising Zelensky to end the war by negotiation of a peace deal, rather than endless war, risking nuclear holocaust.
Putin's security demands are clear: Neutral Ukraine (not in Nato) with no US military bases or nuclear weapons on Russia's border (a similar demand made by US in the Cuban missile crisis 1962); and recognise Donbas autonomy stipulated in the 2015 Minsk II agreement (in federation).
NZ must cease "lethal aid" and instead be a beacon of sanity for humanity, a nuclear-free peacemaker nation.
Laurie Ross, Glen Eden.

Hard of hearing
I am very concerned with the way we are treating some ex-prisoners such as Mose Vaipapa (NZ Herald June 16).
Firstly, his hearing loss wasn't picked up until very late as a schoolchild. If students are falling behind, why are we not testing them for hearing loss and eyesight?
A close friend who was a remedial reading teacher (now a professor) shared some information with me many years ago that showed that 50 per cent of prisoners had significant hearing loss; mainly due to untreated glue ear. As I have a child with a significant hearing loss, I feel very saddened at this statistic which probably hasn't changed since then-several decades ago.
Secondly, if we are so concerned about the Australian 501 policies in Australia, why are we doing the same thing here in sending ex-prisoners back to the countries of their birth, but very little else? Sending these people back to a country of their origin without family, friends, contacts and often the language is unjust and will probably lead to more crime in those countries.
Let's figure out a way both these issues can be remedied.
Susan Wilson, Surfdale.

Disrepute in practice
A GP has been censured for family violence but allowed to continue practising (NZ Herald, June 14). The doctor was reported to have a criminal history. The courts sentenced him to 12 months supervision and the Medical Council of New Zealand ruled that the doctor's behaviour was likely to bring discredit to the profession.
Despite this, his name was suppressed. That means that his patients will be entirely unaware of his history.
The Health Disciplinary Tribunal is comfortable with that. The tribunal believes that the doctor's reputation is more important than the ability of his patients to be well informed.
It would seem that the Health Disciplinary Tribunal is more likely to bring the profession into disrepute by putting its members' interests ahead of those of its patients.
Nick Hamilton, Remuera.

Hollow victory
I am not sure that, if I were Christopher Luxon or Paul Goodfellow, I would be overly excited about the results of the Tauranga by-election.
Okay, yes, their candidate retained a safe seat that only Winston Peters has been able to take away from National in what 87 years. A sigh of relief all around. Now, for the concerns I would have.
With the economy, health, and law and order being hot topics, I would have expected a bigger voter turnout even for a by-election.
I would have expected a bigger decline in the support for the Labour Party candidate.
I think I would also be concerned that the Herald had the results on its breaking news position online at 7.30am but dropped them by 11.30am the same day. If I can't see that the National Party positions on the three biggest issues facing New Zealand have energised the voters in Tauranga or gained valuable exposure in arguably the biggest news website in the country, I would be worried that my message was not making a major impact at the polling booth where it actually counts.
Dunstan Sheldon, Rototuna.

Lightbulb moment
To all those people rushing off to Australia for supposedly better wages, please remember to take some batteries, torches, and candles with you.
The failure by the Australian Government to deal with moving away from coal and gas for electricity generation and ignoring the effects of climate change has now meant Sydney residents are being asked to reduce usage between 5.30pm and 8pm to reduce the risk of blackouts.
At the same time, Australia's main wholesale electricity market has been suspended by regulators in the latest sign that the crisis threatening the stability of Australian energy supplies is deepening.
The lack of investment in the electricity industry in Australia is equally matched here in New Zealand. Our stroke of luck is at least we have a lot more rain, meaning we have significant hydro and only one coal-fired electricity generating station.
But the lack of investment by the now privately owned generators, while concentrating on paying shareholders dividends, means we are just a whisker away from the same fate. Time to get investment under way here too.
Neil Anderson, Algies Bay.

Bloated bureaucracy
Mark Nixon (NZ Herald, June 16) explained large bureaucracies were crucial in the 1970s and 1980s to keep New Zealand functioning. Not so. NZ didn't compete with the rest of the world, only with itself.
A bureaucratic Government system of tariff protection was in place. No company could import items unless it was awarded a tariff code. Manufacturing companies not only paid for this code annually for sole access to overseas componentry and also jealously guarded this protection. As an example, fully assembled TVs were purchased in Japan, then stripped down, packed into boxes in Japan and freighted to NZ. These were then unpacked and reassembled. Cars were also imported and assembled with just exhaust systems and seats locally manufactured.
The Government-owned Railway Corporation "mopped up" the unemployed, with dozens picking grass from rail lines. Employers were directed to enrol employees into trade unions within two weeks and required to collect the trade union subscriptions and remit these to the unions. Annual pay award negotiations were a nightmare. My mortgage rate was 9 per cent. Thank goodness for the farmers and meat export sector that kept us above water – not the Civil Service.
David Hallett, Mt Maunganui.

Paint-by-numbers
In business, a plan without skilled people to execute it is just a delusion.
Thomas Coughlan (NZ Herald, June 16) thinks National should follow Labour's paint-by-numbers diversity quotas.
Could it be that local and central Government's focus on meeting diversity quotas rather than putting a diversely talented team together is a contributing factor to the current crises hammering New Zealand?
Peter Mayall, Tamahere.

Driving lessons
Christine Keller Smith (NZ Herald, June 15) references those drivers taught by an older family member and therefore inheriting their bad driving habits.
I am one of those drivers and got my licence in 1958.
Very recently, having decided to refresh my knowledge and upskill, I completed the AA's Defensive Driving Course and I highly recommend it.
Janet von Randow, Grey Lynn.

With the flow
I cannot remember reading a letter I agreed more with than that of P Belsham's "Still waters" (NZ Herald, June 17). He or she is completely correct in their comment about ownership of assets such as water. And also 100 per cent accurate in their opinion on the dreadful lack of accountability in regard to all of Auckland's "super" city assets.
It is to be hoped that Three Waters will do a better job and cost a lot less when the obscene salaries of unaccountable boards are removed.
Melanie Scott, Mangawhai.

Unified action
One-third of Auckland's councillors voted against the new "climate action targeted rate package".
Our new mayor must be able to lead and unite the councillors into a formidable force to fight climate change and bring about the actions which are desperately needed.
Polls show that the vast majority of people want to see this happen.
We must select a mayor who has the ability to do this and is not driven by some personal agenda.
David Tyler, Beach Haven.

Short & sweet

On roads
The centre-line is 4 inches wide, not 2 feet wide, not 4 feet wide. Four inches gives no room for error unless you're driving under 10km per hour. Randel Case, Buckland Beach.

On diversity
Diversity by itself is no substitute for competence. Gary Andrews, Mt Maunganui.

On consultants
It is indeed a scandal that so much being spent on the design of the light rail system is going to experts (NZH, June 17). I'm sure it would be a lot cheaper to employ those unqualified, know-it-all armchair critics shouting from the sidelines. Neville Robertson, Hamilton.

On Robertson
Maybe when you nail your tenth Super Rugby title in a row, Razor, then that could stick out on your curriculum vitae to the NZRU for All Blacks coach? Glenn Forsyth, Taupō.

On diplomacy
If there is one good trait the Irish have - they can take a joke. Ian Doube, Rotorua.

On guns
To solve the US gun crisis, fire all the Republicans who mostly receive money from the National Rifle Association. I MacGregor, Greenhithe.

The Premium Debate

The one market than won't fall

The old oilman's adage is that the best cure for high oil prices is high oil prices. High oil prices drive over-investment creating oversupply and crashes as in 2014. However, this oil crisis is driven by the refusal to invest long-term in fossil fuels and Russian oil and gas off the market. Throw in supply chain issues and the market is no longer able to transition smoothly to net zero with declining oil demand. People also forget the non-transport or energy uses of oil - plastics; other petrochemicals; bitumen; lubricants and so on which alone means that the world will need as much oil in 2050 just for such processing alone as it consumes today. As an oil executive with 40 years experience, I can only re-state that the market will not fix this anymore. Govt intervention both incentives (eg for EV and renewable grid energy) and controls for domestic security (eg export limits on US oil and Australian LNG) and penalties (eg windfall tax) will become both popular and necessary. Rick P.

Remember the days when we thought oil would run out? Another wise old oilman asked me once, "how much oil do you think is left?" His answer, "Twenty years at today's price." Fuel was $1.20/litre then. Dianne M.

There is a saying that, "it isn't speed that kills, it is sudden deceleration". It's the same with the change to green energy and the response to climate change. Lack of forward planning, followed by abrupt change causes massive and unaffordable disruption. Foresight, planning and the gradual transition are what we need. Unfortunately, we have a Government that makes massive decisions like banning gas and oil, stopping roading projects, and allowing Marsden Pt refinery to close, before putting transition plans in place. We all bear the costs of that shortsightedness. John A.

I had a conversation with my son about this. I pointed out that the new technologies before - rail, gas lighting, electricity, cars, aeroplanes, TV, computers and now phones, all had a natural uptake. First the enthusiasts, then the rich and business, then as technology improved and prices fell, the rest of the population. With green power we are attempting to jump from the first stage to the third with nothing in between. We don't have the improved technology and it's not cheap enough for the general population. Anna S.