Very easy to see why Rob Campbell was removed for the hatchet man and chief gaslighter Lester Levy.
A whole system approach is required, good housing,adequate wages and benefits, restoration of pay equity claims, investment in health staffing to name a few things.
In the meantime this disgrace we call government are spending $800m upgrading Christchurch prison.
In the meantime Simeon Brown-nose is openly politicizing the Nursing and Medical Councils with political appointments.
Alongside telling health professionals like me to be Apolitical during the election campaign.
Hear, hear...I don't bother trying to see a doctor anymore if I've got a health problem...despite the cost of diesel I drive 80 k's to Greymouth Hospital (new thanks be...done by Labour) from Reefton to the A&E ward, generally in the middle of the night....even if its just to get antibiotics for some new infection....damn these Neoliberal /Atlas idiots all to hell...if I wasn't 75 and only just surviving on my pension, I would be back in Wellington haranguing these coalition assholes every chance I got...
Agree and where is the superstar Lester Levy now? I'm sure many people in ChCh were shouting when he replaced Rob Campbell. Levy wrecked the health board here. Delightful man.
The coalition government is deliberately moving to privatising health (weakening the public system by not investing in it while happily paying very high prices to private hospitals for surgeries etc) and education (very generous charter school funding without the compulsory requirements state schools must meet…😳…), and weakening social services, without regard to the increasing poverty in New Zealand.
Meanwhile, we have the comical sight of National’s Simeon Brown and Nicola Willis screeching about tax regardless of the question put to them!
😳 Unfortunately first person experience of all of this health situation this week ie delay in getting into GP meant running out of respiratory meds (older relative) & deterioration to needing emergency ambulance & ED>3 nights hospitalised with intensive nursing by a depleted staff due to illness on top of being short staffed anyway 😳 BTW all staff were amazing & attentive despite being run ragged & shuffling patients around to make room for new emergency admissions. Too bad the current lot aren't both humble enough, & caring enough about NZers, to apply the lessons of COVID in a timely manner - agree not lockdowns, but masks, vaccines, hand sanitising etc in a "public health" push BEFORE the predicted 'flu season 😱 Hopefully rellie will recover & regain their independence 🤞🏼 Let's ditch the 💉' s in '26 👍🏾💪
I'm sorry to hear that subs are trending down Nick. Your posts are a bright ray of sunshine on the Coc's continuing gloom they cast over this country. Health is only one of many they are determinedly trying to edge out of a public good offering. Education, early child care, the environment, infrastructure, public transport.........all being undermined. Hang in there. I'm sure there are enough fair-minded folk out there who will open their wallets.
Hearing this country described as 'Third World' is common enough these days but I think Luxon's government has taken us way beyond that level and we're now sitting at a fourth or fifth world status. Such a shame. Once upon a time we were the envy of the world...
Your posts are always thought provoking and I look forward to them and devour them every time. I'm guilty of vaping because I'm an ex smoker but I have given up alcohol and feel a hell of a lot better now getting into my latish 60s.
I'm still in good health but my left hip is now giving me gip and I have been on pain killers for the last 8 months and luckily I have a great employer that has kept me in full time employment even though I have slowed down a tad due to my limping.
My right hip was replaced in 2014 and was really straight forward then compared to what I am going through now.
Two weeks to a month to see my Doctor now and they have told me that I may have to wait 2 or 3 years to get it replaced with the public system. Things have really gone down hill over the last twelve years in the public health sector.
I thought Rob Campbell was great & our tax system needs to have an overhaul so we can pay for the things that matter like health & education without these two things where just a banana Republic.
Rob Campbell knows health better than most because of his previous position.
A couple of points I'd like to add:
Flu vaccinations are only free for a limited group ie superannuants and some others. I heard of these only 59% had had this years flu shot.
For those who have to pay there will be other barriers.
To Jack PSA is not the primary union for all Health workers. NZNA for nurses and Doctors have their own unions. The anti PSA stuff in particular and unions in general is political.
We all need a functioning health system. We must prioritise that.
Sir Brian Roche as Public Services Commissioner has also inserted himself into negotiations on pay and conditions. ‘Mr Fix-it’ for the National-led coalition government is doing a lot of the heavy lifting for them.
This coalition ‘government’ has a number of players playing dirty:
Just a selection from memory includes…Simeon Brown (attacking unions), Erica Stanford (attacking teacher unions and politicising education by inserting herself into curriculum matters), David Seymour (attacking firefighters and their union).
Attacking unions for speaking out and seeking better pay and conditions for their members.
The nasty nature of these politicians is amplified by the destructive cuts to public services, the fear these austerity measures instills in those public servants still employed, and the spectre / announcement from Nicola Willis that more severe cuts are still coming.
And Roche sits on the sidelines appearing to be neutral. He is acting far from neutral. It’s a disgusting and disgraceful display.
The PSA is providing a collective response to the govt's cutbacks, even although it may not be the specific union responsible for negotiating for such as nurses, doctors, etc. It is only with a collective response that we can push back against those who would prefer to profit from our social and health needs. I am not a PSA member, but do receive email updates about PSA activities and have, on occasion, joined in their public protests in the spirit of collective action. If you are dismayed at what we are losing in terms of health and social services then maybe you too could come and stand with those workers who are carrying the can for the rest of us.
I am pleased PSA is standing up. I know the structure of unions and have joined some protests. I have been active in Education Unions during my working life.
My comment was because I thought Jack was being a bit 'tricky' trying to bring PSA actions into a conversation about Health.
Nick thank you for writing about this. I loved Rob Campbell's interview. I am sure you know he is who we jokingly would once have called a Trot in his days in the union movement! I really rate him. On privatisation, I thought his point about GP Services was valid too; it's not just in hospital care where privatisation is happening. Big Corporates are buying up GP practices. The funding model there will have to be looked at some time. Big job. Way back, Mark Gosche, then leader of the Service Workers Union helped start the Union Heath Centres with a vision of affordable care for ordinary people. They still exist, but only just. BTW I just asked my son in San Francisco what health care insurance costs him now after he got the heave-ho from working for the nasty OpenAI. It is $4k a month for he and his wife. Medicare is such a huge issue in the States ; let us not get to that point here.
Rob Campbell, together with Ganesh Ahirao’s later interview on Q &A this morning, even with Jack trying a few gotcha questions, joined many of the dots between public healthcare, housing, food security and the wider social determinants of wellbeing.
I think Rob and Ganesh were essentially arguing for many of the same ideas, just from different starting points. Some of Rob’s public-health proposals are absolutely right, but they will take years, if not decades, to make their full impact. That is precisely why we need to start now. Otherwise, we will wait another few years, or longer, while our population continues to age and become less healthy, with little to show for the delay.
And, to paraphrase Rob, we need something like another $5 billion now just to get the right number of health workers in the right places today, before we even begin properly preparing for the future we have known for years was coming.
Then Labour announces its fiscal election policy, still relying heavily on the same economic, fiscal and monetary framework of the past 30 to 40 years. As Ganesh argued, much of that framework no longer makes sense for the challenges of a modern economy or for improving wellbeing.
That is the disconnect for me. We are increasingly recognising that health, housing, food, income, workforce capacity and wellbeing are deeply interconnected, yet we are still trying to address them within fiscal rules and economic thinking largely inherited from another era.
Thanks Brian, we’re on the same page in our thinking. I also get annoyed by the ‘we are broke’ brigade, almost as much as the ‘no new taxes’ and ‘Labour will have nine new taxes’ screeches from the economically illiterate Nicola Willis, and the no-ideas Luxon doubling down on cuts, cuts and more cuts as an economic strategy.
I’m certain that David Seymour does not ever have a single philanthropic thought. A Cancer treatment centre seems like Disney World.
Ask “what is in it for him?” Certainly not altruistic feelings - “big pharma” vampires! Let’s not forget how he saved money feeding the “little shits”. As for his new bestie Paul Henry 🤯
I understand his mother died of cancer which might go someway to his belief that he knows best what drugs should be stocked by Pharmac, I think it is more a vote grabbing exercise given that few of us have not had someone we love be diagnosed with cancer thinking they might get better care than in the public system. I think however, it has as much chance of being built and staffed as does a Kiwi Disney World.
My concern with OP is that they will leach votes from the left weakening it to the extent that National has more votes. Since OP have stated they will negotiate with the party with the most votes first they would go with National thinking in their political naivety they could influence that lot because we should all "work constructively together" or some such - not that they're wrong about that. It's just that this government captured by its lobbyists and donors as has been shown would just continue to trample in its anti-democratic fashion over such altruistic aims. We must vote this government out and OP can't be counted on there.
Jack Tame's Q&A guest this morning, former Health NZ chair Rob Campbell, had some very interesting and logical views on the current health system that we should all take notice of if we value a well resourced and responsive public health system in this country.
This COC in particular, has done everything possible to undermine the public health system by underfunding it. Privatisation seems to be at the top of the agenda (even although this was never put to voters at the last election) and comes with a much heftier price tag because of the profit motive. If some of the large amounts of public funding currently being channeled into the private sector were clawed back, perhaps NZ could once again have the beginnings of a functioning public health system to be proud of. We should also be realistic in needing a tax overhaul in order to pay to achieve this. Unless we address this soon, could we be destined for an American style health system? I certainly hope not.
Very easy to see why Rob Campbell was removed for the hatchet man and chief gaslighter Lester Levy.
A whole system approach is required, good housing,adequate wages and benefits, restoration of pay equity claims, investment in health staffing to name a few things.
In the meantime this disgrace we call government are spending $800m upgrading Christchurch prison.
In the meantime Simeon Brown-nose is openly politicizing the Nursing and Medical Councils with political appointments.
Alongside telling health professionals like me to be Apolitical during the election campaign.
Fuck him I say. They have to go in November.
Hear, hear...I don't bother trying to see a doctor anymore if I've got a health problem...despite the cost of diesel I drive 80 k's to Greymouth Hospital (new thanks be...done by Labour) from Reefton to the A&E ward, generally in the middle of the night....even if its just to get antibiotics for some new infection....damn these Neoliberal /Atlas idiots all to hell...if I wasn't 75 and only just surviving on my pension, I would be back in Wellington haranguing these coalition assholes every chance I got...
Agree and where is the superstar Lester Levy now? I'm sure many people in ChCh were shouting when he replaced Rob Campbell. Levy wrecked the health board here. Delightful man.
I was working in ICU then as a RN.
Levy brought in his own accountants E+Y I think. They said we had 600 extra nurse's above what was needed.
Bullshit if ICU wasn't full/busy nurses were sent to the ward to cover for staffing short falls.
Although not working there now I see ex colleagues in the hospital and nothing has changed.
The coalition government is deliberately moving to privatising health (weakening the public system by not investing in it while happily paying very high prices to private hospitals for surgeries etc) and education (very generous charter school funding without the compulsory requirements state schools must meet…😳…), and weakening social services, without regard to the increasing poverty in New Zealand.
Meanwhile, we have the comical sight of National’s Simeon Brown and Nicola Willis screeching about tax regardless of the question put to them!
😳 Unfortunately first person experience of all of this health situation this week ie delay in getting into GP meant running out of respiratory meds (older relative) & deterioration to needing emergency ambulance & ED>3 nights hospitalised with intensive nursing by a depleted staff due to illness on top of being short staffed anyway 😳 BTW all staff were amazing & attentive despite being run ragged & shuffling patients around to make room for new emergency admissions. Too bad the current lot aren't both humble enough, & caring enough about NZers, to apply the lessons of COVID in a timely manner - agree not lockdowns, but masks, vaccines, hand sanitising etc in a "public health" push BEFORE the predicted 'flu season 😱 Hopefully rellie will recover & regain their independence 🤞🏼 Let's ditch the 💉' s in '26 👍🏾💪
Hear hear again, Cindy...same thing has happened to me...which is why I drive straight to
hospital emergency these days for antibiotics...and true, the poor overworked doctors and nurses are still marvelous to deal with.
I'm sorry to hear that subs are trending down Nick. Your posts are a bright ray of sunshine on the Coc's continuing gloom they cast over this country. Health is only one of many they are determinedly trying to edge out of a public good offering. Education, early child care, the environment, infrastructure, public transport.........all being undermined. Hang in there. I'm sure there are enough fair-minded folk out there who will open their wallets.
If you listened to the economist Ganesh his way of sorting the economy would work much better for everyone by the sounds of it.
Hearing this country described as 'Third World' is common enough these days but I think Luxon's government has taken us way beyond that level and we're now sitting at a fourth or fifth world status. Such a shame. Once upon a time we were the envy of the world...
Your posts are always thought provoking and I look forward to them and devour them every time. I'm guilty of vaping because I'm an ex smoker but I have given up alcohol and feel a hell of a lot better now getting into my latish 60s.
I'm still in good health but my left hip is now giving me gip and I have been on pain killers for the last 8 months and luckily I have a great employer that has kept me in full time employment even though I have slowed down a tad due to my limping.
My right hip was replaced in 2014 and was really straight forward then compared to what I am going through now.
Two weeks to a month to see my Doctor now and they have told me that I may have to wait 2 or 3 years to get it replaced with the public system. Things have really gone down hill over the last twelve years in the public health sector.
I thought Rob Campbell was great & our tax system needs to have an overhaul so we can pay for the things that matter like health & education without these two things where just a banana Republic.
Thanks Nick,
Rob Campbell knows health better than most because of his previous position.
A couple of points I'd like to add:
Flu vaccinations are only free for a limited group ie superannuants and some others. I heard of these only 59% had had this years flu shot.
For those who have to pay there will be other barriers.
To Jack PSA is not the primary union for all Health workers. NZNA for nurses and Doctors have their own unions. The anti PSA stuff in particular and unions in general is political.
We all need a functioning health system. We must prioritise that.
Yes Heather - I agree.
Sir Brian Roche as Public Services Commissioner has also inserted himself into negotiations on pay and conditions. ‘Mr Fix-it’ for the National-led coalition government is doing a lot of the heavy lifting for them.
Yes he has and it he who has been politicising about Union actions.
This coalition ‘government’ has a number of players playing dirty:
Just a selection from memory includes…Simeon Brown (attacking unions), Erica Stanford (attacking teacher unions and politicising education by inserting herself into curriculum matters), David Seymour (attacking firefighters and their union).
Attacking unions for speaking out and seeking better pay and conditions for their members.
The nasty nature of these politicians is amplified by the destructive cuts to public services, the fear these austerity measures instills in those public servants still employed, and the spectre / announcement from Nicola Willis that more severe cuts are still coming.
And Roche sits on the sidelines appearing to be neutral. He is acting far from neutral. It’s a disgusting and disgraceful display.
The PSA is providing a collective response to the govt's cutbacks, even although it may not be the specific union responsible for negotiating for such as nurses, doctors, etc. It is only with a collective response that we can push back against those who would prefer to profit from our social and health needs. I am not a PSA member, but do receive email updates about PSA activities and have, on occasion, joined in their public protests in the spirit of collective action. If you are dismayed at what we are losing in terms of health and social services then maybe you too could come and stand with those workers who are carrying the can for the rest of us.
I am pleased PSA is standing up. I know the structure of unions and have joined some protests. I have been active in Education Unions during my working life.
My comment was because I thought Jack was being a bit 'tricky' trying to bring PSA actions into a conversation about Health.
It was not intended as a criticism of the Unions.
Ngā mihi
Sorry Heather, that is not what I meant. I am just encouraging people to join in and support the PSA and the workers - the "you" is everyone.
All good. No need to be sorry. We do all need to stand together.
Nick thank you for writing about this. I loved Rob Campbell's interview. I am sure you know he is who we jokingly would once have called a Trot in his days in the union movement! I really rate him. On privatisation, I thought his point about GP Services was valid too; it's not just in hospital care where privatisation is happening. Big Corporates are buying up GP practices. The funding model there will have to be looked at some time. Big job. Way back, Mark Gosche, then leader of the Service Workers Union helped start the Union Heath Centres with a vision of affordable care for ordinary people. They still exist, but only just. BTW I just asked my son in San Francisco what health care insurance costs him now after he got the heave-ho from working for the nasty OpenAI. It is $4k a month for he and his wife. Medicare is such a huge issue in the States ; let us not get to that point here.
Rob Campbell, together with Ganesh Ahirao’s later interview on Q &A this morning, even with Jack trying a few gotcha questions, joined many of the dots between public healthcare, housing, food security and the wider social determinants of wellbeing.
I think Rob and Ganesh were essentially arguing for many of the same ideas, just from different starting points. Some of Rob’s public-health proposals are absolutely right, but they will take years, if not decades, to make their full impact. That is precisely why we need to start now. Otherwise, we will wait another few years, or longer, while our population continues to age and become less healthy, with little to show for the delay.
And, to paraphrase Rob, we need something like another $5 billion now just to get the right number of health workers in the right places today, before we even begin properly preparing for the future we have known for years was coming.
Then Labour announces its fiscal election policy, still relying heavily on the same economic, fiscal and monetary framework of the past 30 to 40 years. As Ganesh argued, much of that framework no longer makes sense for the challenges of a modern economy or for improving wellbeing.
That is the disconnect for me. We are increasingly recognising that health, housing, food, income, workforce capacity and wellbeing are deeply interconnected, yet we are still trying to address them within fiscal rules and economic thinking largely inherited from another era.
Exactly Paul - well said 👍
Your last sentence is a beacon of light - do we realise that “…fiscal rules and economic thinking largely inherited from another era”?!?
Using the same old tired thinking and questionable logic means we are caged and imprisoned by it. Ditch that thinking.
On 7 November, we need to vote for a government that is courageous and intelligent enough to do so! 76 days from now.
Thanks Brian, we’re on the same page in our thinking. I also get annoyed by the ‘we are broke’ brigade, almost as much as the ‘no new taxes’ and ‘Labour will have nine new taxes’ screeches from the economically illiterate Nicola Willis, and the no-ideas Luxon doubling down on cuts, cuts and more cuts as an economic strategy.
Health hath no fury like the public (system) scorned
I’m certain that David Seymour does not ever have a single philanthropic thought. A Cancer treatment centre seems like Disney World.
Ask “what is in it for him?” Certainly not altruistic feelings - “big pharma” vampires! Let’s not forget how he saved money feeding the “little shits”. As for his new bestie Paul Henry 🤯
I understand his mother died of cancer which might go someway to his belief that he knows best what drugs should be stocked by Pharmac, I think it is more a vote grabbing exercise given that few of us have not had someone we love be diagnosed with cancer thinking they might get better care than in the public system. I think however, it has as much chance of being built and staffed as does a Kiwi Disney World.
My concern with OP is that they will leach votes from the left weakening it to the extent that National has more votes. Since OP have stated they will negotiate with the party with the most votes first they would go with National thinking in their political naivety they could influence that lot because we should all "work constructively together" or some such - not that they're wrong about that. It's just that this government captured by its lobbyists and donors as has been shown would just continue to trample in its anti-democratic fashion over such altruistic aims. We must vote this government out and OP can't be counted on there.
Rob Campbell is so credible. It is sad to think of the continued destruction of public health.
Jack Tame's Q&A guest this morning, former Health NZ chair Rob Campbell, had some very interesting and logical views on the current health system that we should all take notice of if we value a well resourced and responsive public health system in this country.
This COC in particular, has done everything possible to undermine the public health system by underfunding it. Privatisation seems to be at the top of the agenda (even although this was never put to voters at the last election) and comes with a much heftier price tag because of the profit motive. If some of the large amounts of public funding currently being channeled into the private sector were clawed back, perhaps NZ could once again have the beginnings of a functioning public health system to be proud of. We should also be realistic in needing a tax overhaul in order to pay to achieve this. Unless we address this soon, could we be destined for an American style health system? I certainly hope not.