Paula Bennett: Too little, too late for our ailing health system

Auckland City Hospital has reportedly had to turn away ambulances with patients needing care. Photo / Jason Oxenham

OPINION:

WATCH YOUR STEP!!! Drive extra carefully and take your vitamins. The last place you want to end up is in the emergency department of your local hospital. Well, that is if you can get in the door. Already Auckland City Hospital has had to turn away ambulances with patients needing care and I was horrified to hear a paramedic on talkback say that one night they had 15 ambulances holding patients outside an ED because there was no space inside. But it’s all right, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says the health system is in better shape now than it was three years ago.

Staff are burned-out, disillusioned and our nurses are striking. Not just striking but also leaving: Reports this week said 5000 Kiwi nurses have registered to practise in Australia. Can’t really blame them.

Cancer patients in the south are being told of a 12-week wait to see a specialist. One had been told he had six to eight weeks to live and was then told to hang in there and he might get specialist care in 12 weeks.

Gail was diagnosed with stomach cancer and was told she would have to wait 12 weeks. She couldn’t wait so travelled five hours and paid $25,000 for private care. Lucky her. As she says, she was so grateful she could afford it but feels for those who don’t have that option. But it’s all right, Hipkins says the health system is in better shape now than it was three years ago.

The new Māori Health Authority has spent $9.2 million in its first eight months on contractors and consultants – not on frontline staff. That could have funded 460 knee replacements. While people suffer, we hear excuses from Hipkins and Immigration Minister Michael Wood, from our Health Minister Ayesha Verrall I hear despair at the mess she has inherited and the tired old lines she has to run out.

Wood just announced 32 new health roles that will have a straight-to-residency opportunity. He opened it up to nurses only very late last year. He then tells us “you can’t turn it around on a dime” - then why the hell didn’t he act sooner? Remember last winter? People in corridors and not getting timely treatment? We all knew this year would be worse but still he waited to approve the fast track. Too little too late. But it’s all right, Hipkins says the health system is in better shape now than it was three years ago.

If you are a nurse or specialist from overseas, would New Zealand be your first choice to come to when you hear of the long hours, poor conditions and sheer exhaustion? I also feel immense sympathy for the guilt many feel when they can’t provide the kind of service they want to.

The Government has spent much resource and effort in rearranging the back office, centralising everything to Wellington and setting up the Māori Health Authority. The only ones to win out of that have been the consultants. But it’s all right, Hipkins says the health system is in better shape now than it was three years ago.

Paula Bennett is a former Deputy Prime Minister and National Party politician who now works at Bayleys Real Estate as national director-customer engagement.