I feel that our health system started onto its current unravelled state when Andrew Little was Minister of Health and Ashley Bloomfield was head of the Ministry. They created a centralized model ignoring what a panel headed by Heather Simpson which produced a proposal which built on the existing DHB’s.
It’s been downhill since then, especially under the existing Minister Simeon Brown. Here’s the sort of responses which reflect what happens when dog eat dog drives all policies especially health:https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/health/1342837/members-of-public-gave-cpr-to-dying-auckland-man-allege-medical-centre-refused-use-of-defibrillator.
We have all seen the reports of A & Es crowded with ambulances stacked up in the ramp outside. The state of support for mentally ill people in our community has reached crisis levels. All the time Minister Brown rants on about how well things are improving. That’s just not true.
Rosemary adds: Last week there was a three page advertisement for Whatu Ora – South Island – extolling their ‘achievements’. Art the same time elsewhere in the paper the issues of understaffing, overflowing EDs, lack of GPs and rural health capacity. Her letter to the paper about this is below. I have heard that one of our Green MPs is following up on how this was allowed.
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