Your views: Readers' letters

Out of touch: Correspondent Fiona Donne is unimpressed with the solutions offered by Minister Dr Jonathan Coleman and Prime Minister Bill English to the Dunedin Hospital healthcare crisis.

Dangerous delay

While it was shocking and very sad to see the accident involving a small car and logging truck on Anzac Parade near the City Bridge on Tuesday, it was interesting that it happened just hours after a story broadcast on Radio New Zealand's Morning Report.

The item featured Mayor Hamish McDouall and former long-serving, now retired, Transit NZ regional manager Errol Christiansen. Both voiced their concerns about the inexplicable delays and broken deadlines in repairing the damage along that stretch of SH4 that was caused by the June 2015 floods.

After two years and two months of what Mayor McDouall described as a choke point caused by "temporary" reduced carriage width and seemingly eternal "red hats", questions need to be asked of NZTA.

And if another high-velocity flood strikes between now and any action by the Transport Agency, will it also bear responsibility for the loss of the SH4 link that is so vital to our district's and the wider North Island's functioning and prosperity?

My compliments to the Chronicle for using live broadcast technology on Facebook to show our rescue services working so professionally in the accident aftermath. And thanks also to RNZ (bit.ly/2uB3plP) for bringing this to the attention of the politicians who so quickly choppered even before the flood had receded, full of empathy and promises of dollars to help.

Let's hope it also prompts the NZTA desk jockeys in Wellington to start asking hard questions of whoever is responsible for the dangers posed by this unconscionable two years-and-growing delay.

CAROL WEBB
Whanganui

Crash video

I'm writing to voice my disgust at the Facebook Live video broadcast on Tuesday morning of a car crash and the victim being removed by emergency services.

I've enjoyed a working relationship with the Chronicle for a few years and I am horrified at the nature of this post.

I believe very strongly in the role of the press in our society, but this is in no way in the public's interest.

It is disrespectful, and potentially traumatic for the victim's family.

I urge the Wanganui Chronicle to create guidelines on acceptable content to broadcast live and to lead the way in ethical journalism in the digital world.

LIZI GUEST
Palmerston North

Editor's note: The Facebook livestream was shot from a distance and did not show the victim or identify the vehicle.

However, there has been a lot of comment about the invasive nature of the filming, and so we have resolved that we will not livestream such incidents in the future.

We have no wish to cause distress to the victim or their family and friends, and we appreciate people's concerns and feedback. The livestream has been removed from our Facebook page.

Worth a watch

In my last Chronicle column -- on Papua -- I incorrectly called the Radio New Zealand video by Johnny Blades Anything can be burnt.

The correct title is Everything can be burnt. I point this out because this video is excellent political/travel journalism and definitely worth a watch.

Just search Everything can be burnt and it will turn up on YouTube.

I'd also like to say that Jay Kuten's last two columns on the opiate problem in the USA were also very good.

FRED FREDERIKSE
Papaiti

Health crisis

Having listened to RNZ's John Campbell over the past two weeks, exposing the crisis situation at Dunedin Hospital for patients there, I was not impressed when the Minister, Dr Jonathan Coleman, fronted up for an interview on August 4.

He concentrated on the eventual rebuilding of the hospital and the provision of extra ICU beds next year. Not much comfort for those who have been waiting months for surgery for life-threatening conditions. What a frightening and stressful situation for all those enduring such a wait.

The Prime Minister's solution was to send them elsewhere for their surgery. He obviously does not realise that the original DHB still has to pay the cost.

I believe the health system is understaffed, underfunded, and/or poorly managed -- or all three. Without our health, no one can cope with the problems in life we all face at some stage.

Roading in Auckland seems to be a much higher priority in funding terms. I hope health will be given the priority it deserves in the upcoming election.

FIONA DONNE
Aramoho

Send your letters to: The Editor, Wanganui Chronicle, 100 Guyton St, PO Box 433, Wanganui 4500; or email editor@wanganuichronicle.co.nz