KEY POINTS:
New Zealand hospitals have to deal with many "Second World diseases" which put additional strain on already limited resources, former Capital and Coast District Health Board member Brendon Bowkett says.
Hospitals in other developed countries do not have to regularly deal with diseases such as bronchitis, skin disease and rheumatic fever, Dr Bowkett said.
He said there had not been a nationally co-ordinated programme from the Ministry of Health to try to change the prevalence of Second World diseases in New Zealand.
"What that means is that [patients] still get admitted.
"They get admitted to hospital, they take up beds and resources, they have their abscesses drained and deep surgical infections treated.
Dr Bowkett was an elected Capital and Coast board member from 2004. He did not stand for re-election this year.
The DHB, which runs Wellington Hospital, has been severely criticised for its ballooning budget deficit, the way it treats new mothers and a string of "sentinel events" over the past two years which led to the deaths of some patients.
The Government is expected to reveal today what it is going to do about the crisis-stricken DHB.
"Capital Coast needs to improve in a lot of areas, but so does the Ministry of Health and the Government, they really have to get off the mark much quicker," Dr Bowkett said.
To fix the problems there needs to be increased openness and accountability, the inclusion of all levels of staff in decisions and increased funding, he said.
"The integrity, skill and honesty of the staff at the coal face is as good as you get anywhere and that's an asset that needs to be used."
"I don't think that just applies to Capital Coast, I think that applies to all other boards."
The creation of a standard regional and national service between DHBs would allow for proper benchmarks and inspection, Dr Bowkett said.
He said information enabling international comparison would also benefit boards.
Such figures were either not available, or not sought by the board during Dr Bowkett's three years on it.
"I suspect we run a very cheap service and we cut corners.
"Here's a unit that's fallen over. It's under-funded. We know that the other units are under-funded.
"If you can't ring the Ministry of Health and get an answer as to international comparisons for cost ... I wonder what they're actually doing down there."
The board was very good at running on a low budget, but only if proper policies and prevention were in place, Dr Bowkett said.
Despite the current situation at Capital and Coast, Dr Bowkett said he was positive about the future.
"There's a lot of goodwill [from the staff] still there."
Dr Bowkett said he did not stand for re-election to the board because he felt his energy and knowledge were not valued.
He said he chose to work towards the hospital's improvement in other areas.
- NZPA
