Dr Worm

Simeon Brown with his head in the ground.

I'm interested in things
I'm not a real doctor
But I am a real worm
I am an actual worm
I live like a worm

Songwriters: John Flansburgh / John Linnell.

---

My apologies. I’ve written quite a bit lately about the state of our healthcare system; it’s in the headlines every other day, and you would hope it would be a key factor when people cast their votes on or before the 7th of November.

I think back to the initial protests across the country, the placards highlighting what would happen and what has since eventuated. The people who knew the realities of the system were not listened to by a government that thought it knew better, and it simply looked away as conditions deteriorated.

Now, Simeon Brown spends his time lying about how many new taxes Labour would introduce: seven, eight, do I hear nine? He should be focused on a similar increase: the hours people have to wait in ED. Is it four, how about eight, do I hear twenty-four?

From the article yesterday, “An ED nurse said, on a recent Monday night shift, one man fell asleep and hit his head while waiting 12 hours to be seen.”

I posted:

It’s only a matter of time before someone else dies and Simeon Brown will have blood on his hands.

Whether it is people waiting too long to be seen in the ED or a lack of support for the homeless, the actions of this government are literally killing people.

Kerry said, “The thing which got me in that article was ‘Simeon Brown said the current situation in Wellington ED was unacceptable, as it continued to be one of the lowest-performing in the country’ - as if slashing budgets and hiring freezes is going to help anything be ‘better-performing’. This is not a business; it’s a hospital - for people - run by people who need support, and probably sick days themselves.”

Phil quoted Simeon Brown saying, “New Zealand’s health system is managing well through the severe winter flu season” and asked, “What does the death toll need to reach before we’re not ‘managing well’?”

In a typical year, 500 New Zealanders die as a result of the flu, two-thirds of whom are 85 or older, but this has been a particularly dangerous strain.

From Stuff:

“The most intense winter illness outbreak in over a decade has claimed lives and put a strained hospital system under extraordinary pressure.”

Epidemiologist Michael Baker said, “Influenza is responsible for well over 1% of all deaths in New Zealand, getting up towards 2%, depending on the modelling that you use: so it does need to be confronted.”

Take a look at that blue line, which is skyrocketing and indicating very high activity. With many EDs reporting that they are operating at 200% or 300% capacity, it is hard to reconcile the reality on the ground with the Minister of Health's claim that “New Zealand’s health system is managing well through the severe winter flu season”.

Last week Kerri Nuku from the New Zealand Nurses Organisation called that out, big time, saying:

“The Minister is delusional and completely out of touch with reality. He continues to ignore warnings from nurses on the frontline that patients are at risk. He fails to acknowledge that patients can’t get into their local doctors, or can’t afford to, and are arriving at EDs increasingly unwell. Once in ED, they can’t be moved because the hospital wards are full.

Instead, Simeon Brown continues to perpetuate untruths on social media about his Government hiring 2100 more nurses despite admitting in Parliament last week the net increase is just 54 full-time nurses. With a growing and ageing population, this means there are fewer nurses, not more.”

It is maddening that so many people are clearly identifying the problem, yet the Minister simply refuses to listen.

Dr Worm. Image: META.

The feedback from patients in our public service always seems to be “the staff were great, so hardworking and caring, but there just aren’t enough of them or enough capacity to deal with the load on the system”. It’s not a left/right thing; it’s a pretty universal experience that we can all see. All of us, except Simeon Brown, who just doesn’t want to know about bad news.

For goodness sake, he doesn’t even want to listen to Senior Doctors and Specialists...

This coming Thursday, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) has its annual conference. Simeon Brown agreed to attend in April but has now said that he won’t, with no reason given. This is the first time since 2007 that a health minister or associate minister has not attended.

It’s so rude. You get used to coalition Ministers pulling out of media events at short notice because they lack the stomach for criticism, but this is a significant event in the sector he is responsible for. Let me guess: is he prioritising telling more campaign lies about other parties over listening to senior doctors' concerns? It sounds awful, but it’s probably true.

In his absence, Simeon has offered a pre-recorded message, but what is the point of recorded spin about how things are on track if he won’t actually listen or answer questions?

There is also a political panel with Labour, the Greens, New Zealand First, ACT, and the Opportunity Party, but no one from National, the ruling party.

ASMS executive director Sarah Dalton said, “It’s a real shame that he’s not willing to take an hour out of his diary when he had previously agreed to come and face up and be accountable to his health workforce.”

So why has the Minister of Health pulled out of such an important event? Well, when he appeared last year, it was as if someone had given him a cup of coffee, and he launched an attack on the participants, telling doctors to call off strike action, which he said crossed an “ethical line”.

In response, the assembled medical professionals shook their heads; they booed, jeered, one person turned his back on Brown, and they laughed at him, which made him a very angry elf indeed.

Many in the room laughed when Simeon Brown said the health sector was turning a corner. Photo: Bruce MacKay

Now I don’t know if Brown was so petty that he stamped his feet and refused to be humiliated again by his own words, or whether it is to do with the “Government's proposed overhaul of health professional regulation risks allowing political and workforce pressures to influence decisions about who is safe to practise,” which is greatly opposed by the Nursing Council.

Either way, Simeon should grow a pair, face the senior professionals in a sector he theoretically manages and open his bloody ears and listen.

But just remember he’s not a real Dr.; he’s just a worm. If you want real Doctors who understand the issues in our health system, Dr Ayesha Verrall and Dr Gary Payinda are the ones you want.

Have a good Monday, folks, and take care; it’s a bitter wind out there, up this way anyway.

Ngā mihi,
Nick.

If you can spare a little to subscribe to Nick’s Kōrero, it’s $80 a year or $8 a month.

If you have a Gold Card, are a student, or are unwaged, there is a 15% discount, making it $68 for the year or $6.80 per month.

Alternatively, if you want to show your appreciation but aren’t comfortable subscribing, you could “Buy Me a Coffee” as a one-off koha for any amount you like.

To end today, here are They Might Be Giants with Doctor Worm.