Patients referred for orthopaedic surgery not even making waiting lists
GPs say patients who desperately need hospital treatment are increasingly not even making it onto waiting lists.
An excerpt of a letter to a GP from Palmerston North Hospital’s orthopaedic clinic earlier this year – obtained by RNZ – confirms some referrals are being knocked back due to “lack of resources”:
“This decision is forced upon us by a lack of sufficient resources to enable us to see all patients referred to us within the limits of the Ministry of Health waiting time targets.”
Until recently, former Palmerston North mayor Heather Tanguay, 80, was one of those people living in limbo, waiting for a specialist appointment about her painful hip.
“I would lead a hīkoi, if I could, of those waiting for surgery, but sadly we would not make it – so many are now unable to leave their homes,” she said.
Her condition suddenly deteriorated a few weeks ago.
“It was horrible – it felt as though my hip was going to collapse, so I went to the [Waitakere Hospital] emergency department].
“The fantastic doctor apologised for the situation, that it would take 300 days to be seen in the public system, and then he could not say, when or if even, I would ever have surgery.”
Her GP tried to get her bumped up the list.
“We were told there was no way, they were not reprioritising anyone.”
Tanguay’s only option was to pay privately for a hip replacement.
She felt fortunate that she was able to afford the $25,000 to $35,000 operation, but said it made her angry to think of how many older New Zealanders would not have the money.
“It’s neglectful, shocking. It is a sad state of affairs when those who have given so much in the past to their country, now lie in their homes in pain waiting, waiting and waiting.”
…hear that folks, she’d lead a hikoi if her hip wasn’;t giving her gyp!
Whenever I hear Boomers complaining about Public Health underfunding and their hospitals imploding, I wonder, ‘and who did you vote for then love’, because there is a very clear reason the public health system is imploding, and that’s because lots of boomers voted for this Government!
In the Budget, National allocated just 2.9% increase to health services but inflation was 3.3% and population growth 2.6% while an ageing population adds more to costs!
National gave 2.9% for health but we needed 8% to stand still, is the electorate dumb enough to fall for National’s latest manufactured public service crisis to introduce more failed free market reforms?
The Minister says we can’t afford $1.4billion for health but we could borrow $12billion for tax cuts???
I don’t think people appreciate just how radical our neoliberal reforms were to public services and no where can you see the grim truth of throwing out egalitarianism and progressive fairness for money and profit margins better than this brilliant Stuff article that highlights the terrible legacy of fucking over our public health system.
Look at these stats and gasp in horror at what we have wrought…
…people claim this can’t be true, but the facts stack it up and it is true.
We have progressively decreased taxing the richest to fund out public services until the public services fall over and the public scream ‘something must be done’ and the Right ‘here’s something’ and they privatise a little more and you get even less.
So who did you vote for again Boomer? Every Boomer complaining about poor public health should be asked that question each time they complain and this purposeful underfunding of public health.
Who did you vote for?
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Hi Martyn,
This is one boomer who did not vote for them. I voted Green because I felt they had a better taxation policy than Labours pathetic offering.
This is a second who didn’t vote for them.
I am the 3rd boomer who didn’t vote for them or labour. Hence why all this went to the Greens.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Eswu9kaNk/
Neither labour or national have the political will to bring it about.
It’s not just this government and who voted for them last election.
For decades, the boomers voted for low taxes and a housing-dominated economy while insisting that governments fund health and aged care like NZ is a much more productive, first-world nation.
The sense of entitlement now is vomit inducing.
Ada. “ It’s not just this government and who voted for them last election” Correct.
And let’s not just blame “ bloomers”. It’s a silly damn word, it’s ageist, and it trivialises the impact of the neoliberalism brought in by a Labour government.
Boomers not bloomers – we may be late bloomers but calling us boomers isn’t too bad. I find that older people in general have little grasp of what the young and the strugglers are going through, and this is because of policies and pollies that have been regularly voted in without much cogitation. Now is the time for the aged to come to the aid of the party – eh! As for the future, those who have houses and keep their lawns mowed and have time and money for holidays in Qld or on cruises, don’t worry too much – someone will straighten it out – technology will save us ad infinitum.
The voice of reason is very limited and diluted in Kiwiland. Even Maori who are pushing for better may be believers in being authoritarian, when actually we all need to stand tall, strong, clear thinkers, but also listeners, be softer and kinder, looking for rational and possible good outcomes; accepting of what can only be partly resolved, even in one lifetime and what good can result from ‘bad’ behaviour. Previously considered negatively may
be misapplied energy or skills, eg thieves have thought out a project, nerved themselves to carry it out; turn that determination to better outcomes.
I like the this quotation:
The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalms 118:22-24 Share – Bible.
https://www.bible.com › bible › compare › PSA.118.22-24
There is much emotive, abrupt, immediate opinion around when in fact the lifestyle that we have ended up with is so fast-changing you need one foot in the known old systems and the other turned to the new, warily and thoughtfully. Knowing that there are no panaceas and that every change results in some problem, one would ask ‘Have these been thought out and considered proper’?
Changes posited from the community and those advocating for whomever, must be open to rational discussion and research and well conducted exploratory meetings. These with time for succinct airing allowed (limited) according to the needs of the individual presenter. And ideas not just dismissed by a haughty, overbearing meeting controller.
Matthew. “ Jacinda’s kindness didn’t extend to the elderly”, nor to child povidy, nor to paying the designers and craftspeople from whom she accepted freebie frocks and jewels.
Winter Energy payment ring a bell, shame for you to be loosing it!
Agree and I am a boomer.
So Hollyhock and Geoff, you’re happy with Lex’s kindness?
oops that comment above went in reply to the wrong comment so no I dont agree with hollyhock.
Another boomer here that did not vote for them .I broke my leg durrng covid just after the end of the first lock down.The orthopedic surgeon said we were lucky we had the labour government in office because if national had been in office I would not of had surgery because the hospital would have been paralized with covid patients and sick staff .At best I would have had a plaster applied and sent home to hope like hell and would be now classed as disabled .Now they are in charge with no pandemic and things are way worse .One can see what would have happened in the pandemic with these clowns ,Spain ,France or Italy anybody.?
Is that fact or fiction gordon?
I think the same with everything you say Daniel?
I can see Daniel waving goodbye, God it looks like Daniel…
Did the media tell you COVID was all over? Deaths are still up. I still have to mask, glove, & wash the shopping to care for someone that cannot vaccinate.
unfortunately covid and long covid are here to stay.
Vamptonius: “Did the media tell you COVID was all over?”
Are you replying to Gordon? He didn’t say Covid was gone. He mentioned the pandemic.
A raging pandemic is a different beast to an endemic disease, now extant.
Winter Energy payment ring a bell, shame for you to be loosing it!
No timeliness on your graph.
Patient have been referred back to GP because of lack of funding for 6 years. Standard letter states “you reach the medical score but at present there is inadequate funding”
Jacindas kindness didn’t extend to the elderly!
Strange comment elective surgery such as hip replacements was very high under Jacindas kindness .I will give my sisters details to you and you can give her a call and discuss her latest trip to whangarei hospital and what the specialist told her .
Jacinda inherited the mess left by Tony Ryall and Jonathan Coleman.
Jacinda And Helen Clarke before her had a massive mess that the average kiwi didn’t give a damn about until it bit them in the ass. Our health system now is one step away from total collapse due to decades of under funding BY ALL GOVTS no matter the party.
You get who you vote for, smoking,guns,guns at tangi’s a thick PM who’s letting Mr. 8 %and 6 % run riot within the coalition. Will heads roll over the navy ship will Collins resign!!!. NO no and no because each member of this awful government is in it for itself. Be afraid the new police commissioner talked about arming the police on his very first press conference. We will have no hospitals, schools or ferries but plenty of guns. There will be war cultural or otherwise and we know who to thank for it the racist greedies who always want more at the expense of their less well off neighbors.
Hi Bomber I have always voted Labour I thought they would look after their Seniors after they had paid their tax for.sixty years
Out of the need to be objective I agree there is a large degree of Labour Government legacy in play here.Is there a possibility of a non partisan approach?
You’re never objective Daniel, that much is obvious .
He’s Bob The First, that’s why
I have never ever voted National nor NZFirst nor ACT instead I supported Labour, Te Paati Māori or Greens.
I sure didn’t vote for them and will never do so. I just wish Labour would wake up and present a real alternative
Constant intergenerational baiting is as tiresome and immature as it is misleading.
A nationalized medical scheme was a great idea back in the 1950’s when wool was worth a pound(sterling) per pound and the world was experiencing a post war protein shortage. But those days are long gone, and our productivity hasn’t kept up with our wants. We’re a poor country that thinks it’s still rich. Higher taxes will just drive the wealthy and their wealth away which may even reduce overall government revenue.
A part of the problem is the Boomer population bulge the age when their bodies are falling apart, necessitating expensive procedures. I know this because I am one! Maybe a temporary fix is to prioritize those in work over the retired. Hard decisions have to be made.
I swear by the non-existent gods, you are gullible tool of the 1%.
Martyn – Heather Tanguay, aged 80, is not a boomer.
In most countries the baby boomer cohort covers people born from 1946 to the mid 1960s. https://www.britannica.com/topic/baby-boomers
In New Zealand the term baby boomer is often used as an insult and a form of othering. To clarify for those who persist with the notion that baby boomers are all the elderly, or who seem to believe the term applies to people when they become eligible for National Superannuation: the NZ baby boom cohort covers people born following the end of World War Two – from 1946 through to the early 1970s – i.e. people aged from about 52/53 through to age 78/79.
Some people who insult baby boomers are probably included in the cohort, and don’t understand its historical significance or know the time-frame.
The NZ phenomenon is explained in the following links:
https://teara.govt.nz/en/families-a-history/page-5
“Page 5. Baby boom begins: 1945–1959
As soldiers returned at the end of the Second World War, New Zealand experienced the first stage of the baby boom – high rates of early marriage and increasing family size. The fertility rate for Pākehā women rose and this continued until the early 1970s. Women generally married young and became mothers soon after marriage. In the mid-1950s, Pākehā women had on average 3.8 live births while Māori women experienced on average almost seven….
https://teara.govt.nz/en/families-a-history/page-6
Page 6. Baby boom continues: 1960s – early 1970s
During the 1960s and early 1970s most women were still marrying early and focusing on parenting, but the ex-nuptial birth rate rose, divorces increased and married women were more likely to be in the paid workforce. Conventional family arrangements were challenged as feminism began to have an impact. Changes in women’s lives and aspirations had implications for men as lovers, husbands and fathers…..”.
Half the reason America voted for Trump was soiled media sources. The other half, rich rule.
From my parents and my clients, after retirement, and that close existentialist relationship with life, most of the olds lose their way. No wisdom about. Sartre lost his way in the end. He was a bit of a prick anyway.