Saving Money vs Saving Patients
Acute underfunding leaves hospitals short of resources.
And you shouldn't have to say goodbye
And wonder if this way is how
It's going to be
Songwriter: Andrew Brough.
Blow that budget, Brown.
It’s the sort of headline we might typically say indicates that the government has failed to meet its target, having missed its goal by half a billion dollars. I reckon it’s not good enough.
This time, however, I want to see them fail more, to let that deficit grow even larger, and forget about the target.
Minister Simeon Brown lets Health NZ run deficits for longer
I have many criticisms of Simeon Brown, but this deficit isn’t one; in this case, I would rather Health NZ had overspent even more than the $475 million it has.
Brown actually sounded, for the first time, like he understood the equation: that there is a direct trade-off between health expenditure and how many patients can be treated; either that, or internal polling suggests that voters are getting restless about the state of our health system.
Cos it sure ain’t good; this week there have been serious issues at both Waitakere and Christchurch hospitals.
“Health New Zealand could balance its books tomorrow,” Brown told the Herald in a statement, “but it would only get there by treating fewer patients than it has proven it can treat, and that was not an option for me.”
Simeon spoke of elective treatments, winter preparedness and primary care, saying, “That is care being delivered to New Zealanders right now, and I was not prepared to trade it for a faster route to a number on a page.”
So, congratulations on joining the human race, Simeon. It’s great that you don’t want to cut expenditure further, as it will affect the status quo, but what you seem to be ignoring is that the status quo isn’t good enough.
Critical Overload in Christchurch.
Last night on 1 News, we learned that the ED department at Christchurch Hospital went into critical overload for four hours this week due to staff absences, which are inevitable at this time of year, highlighting how leanly our health system is being run if it falls over when winter illnesses hit.
“We’re cramming in so many patients that you block the corridors; you can’t move patients past them. I’ve never seen that happen; we didn’t do that during the earthquake or the mosque shooting. To jam that many patients in corridors and expect that you’ll keep them in corridors,” said Dr Dominic Fleischer, Emergency Specialist.
Dr Fleischer said that many innovative measures were being tried, but it didn’t change the fact that this was the worst it had been; he looked deeply concerned, and you could hear in his voice just how unacceptable he thought things had become. I posted:
Christchurch hospital is more overloaded than after the earthquakes or the mosque shootings; this is mental. Our health system is in crisis, and Simeon Brown is working as National’s campaign manager.
Phil wrote, “ On TV1 News tonight the reporter said this is happening in EDs in Australia and all around the world. Clearly then this is no one-off aberration. It is co-ordinated and planned. State-funded healthcare is being systematically dismantled and replaced with private for-profit healthcare funded by insurance - if you can afford it. Too bad if you can’t.”
Todd looked for a silver lining, “Well, here's hoping he is just as effective as a campaign manager as he is as a minister of health.”
Debbie commented, “Waited 4 hours today at 24-hour surgery for a toddler to be seen. Regular doctor was chocka, and it would've been worse at ED. The doc apologised for the long wait; it was not his fault, we told him. The system is broken thanks to National.”
National may be allowing Health NZ to run a half-a-billion-dollar deficit, but that is down from over a billion. In other words, they have taken hundreds of millions of dollars out of our healthcare system to try to balance the books, and we are seeing the result, with tales like this around the country, including at my local hospital.
Patient suffers spinal fracture amid Waitākere Hospital staffing shortages
This occurred last Monday during the shift handover. As with Winter illnesses, this again highlights the need for additional staffing so that a handover can safely take place between shifts without putting patients at risk. If you have no spare capacity, things break easily.
“We try our best to keep people safe, but we are falling short of that target on a regular basis. Unfortunately, this gentleman now has a T-spine fracture that could have been prevented,” said NZ Nurses Organisation delegate Gemma Bethell.
This has been an ongoing issue at Waitākere, as I’m sure it is across the country, and our local MP, Phil Twyford, is fighting to improve things:
I commented under his post, “Good man, Phil. I was at Waitakere in outpatients yesterday, and it was mayhem with queues of people just waiting to get to reception. The nurses are so hard-working and compassionate; they deserve better.”
If you’re in the West Auckland area and would like to attend Phil’s meeting, it is at 7 pm on the 13th of August at Te Pai Centre, Henderson. If you’re not familiar with the venue, there is plenty of easy, free car parking available.
I know some people find the idea of vote splitting confusing, but in my case it’s very straightforward. I give my party vote to the Greens because their policies align most with mine, but I always give my electorate vote to Phil because he’s a bloody good local MP who really gets the area he represents. Voting for anyone else would only help the National Party candidate, who only lost by 129 votes in 2023.
Here is Phil earlier this month promoting Labour’s solar policy outside a pretty typical Te Atatu house, pre-infill housing.
How are things at your local Emergency Department? What is the wait time - 4, 8, or 12 hours? Do the people working there look as if they have enough staff to do their important job well?
I’m grateful that Simeon Brown isn’t trying to squeeze further savings from Health NZ, at least for now, while he is wearing his Campaign Manager’s hat. But that isn’t the point; our health system is in crisis. Our hospitals should not leave patients waiting in corridors for many hours before being seen; people should not be injured because staff have to hand over to the next shift.
I trust Labour and the Greens to better fund our health system; I know if National and ACT are re-elected there will be more cuts. It’s as simple as that.
Have a great Saturday folks, it ‘s pretty lousy up here in Tamaki Makaurau, I hope it’s not so bad where you are.
Ngā mihi,
Nick.
To end today, one of the most beautiful Kiwi songs ever, I reckon, Straitjacket Fits with Andrew Brough’s glorious Down In Splendour:
I agree about Phil T Nick. He is an excellent campaigner Always has been from his days when he worked in our union and beyond. He also gets it. His speech in the House on the Employment Leave Bill was magnificent, talking about NZ First primping themselves around as the workers' friend when they have voted for all of the rollbacks for workers under the CoC. What Simeon has to do is clear the blockages from recruiting / employing staff which go right up the chain and back to Simeon's door with layers and layers of management decisions in between.
Simeon leans toward the hypocritical oath, rather than the Hippocratic one, it’s cheaper…