Simeon Brown considering new GP wait-time health target
In his first interview with Q+A since replacing Dr Shane Reti as health minister, Simeon Brown said he asked officials to explore primary healthcare targets, and said in his view there should be targets in this area.
He’s spending public health dollars on private hospitals rather than building public health capacity!
This is a privatisation agenda and Kiwis seem woefully blind to it.
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 $14billion for tax cuts, again is the electorate dumb enough to believe this?
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.
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He should be ensuring all of the public capacity is being used before giving the private hospitals one more cent of taxpayer money .Both Waikato and north shore have closed operating theaters ,should he not be giving priority to opening these before shipping the cattle to the private sector .
1975 I had my varicose pains removed and was in hospital 2 weeks
2023 I had them done again and was in overnight .
New technology and a change of opinion on bed rest means not so many bed are required.
I feel we do need to spend more on our health system but it needs to go to the medical practices so problems are caught early .
I agree which is exactly what Sir Arthur Owen Woodhouses committee wanted ACC to be basically a primary care medicare agency.
‘I feel we do need to spend more on our health system but it needs to go to the medical practices so problems are caught early .’
A good point Trevor BUT how long did you have to wait to have varicose veins removed in 2023?
I mention this as my neighbour needs a similar operation to you and has gone private because he has been waiting about three years.
The point(which you keep missing) is not how long people spend in hospital but whether we will be able to have a public health system at all.
Waste of time getting more GPs and Nurse practitioners when people are not able to get on the list to see a specialist as referrals are being denied. So, the list does not reflect those who need secondary health treatment. This is occurring due to lack of frontline staff and not enough clinicians. One has to be acute to get on the lists list and this cost more money in the long term to treat these people and is not an efficient process.
Also, if people are left till, they are acute many will die.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/03/10/mental-health-leaders-resign-in-latest-health-nz-departure/
Says it all about this CoC when highly intelligent health leaders resin.
Exactly I agree.
Update on this comment
This is not privatisation.
THIS IS A NECESSITY due to the situation we are in.
The facts over the last 35 years since 1990;
Training of Doctors Nurses and Gps has been under funded by both sides of the political divide .
55% of Public and private hospitals have been closed down or not properly maintained.
55% Public hospitals and private hospital beds have been reduced.
70% of elective surgery is done in the private sector.
35% of kiwis now have health insurance.
As i have been saying for a while now there has to be more cross party blind co-ordination between the private sector and the public sector (After all ACC already exists doing it).
As Simeon Brown says and I have been saying for 10 years the primary care sector needs a big boost .
Part of the reason we are where we are now is because one side won’t listen to the other.
The old kiwi saying comes into Effect “I’m okay Jack it doesn’t affect me.
So Why should I care”.
Well folks that attitude has come back to bite you.
WORLD HEALTH RANKINGS IN 2023;
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1376359/health-and-health-system-ranking-of-countries-worldwide/
Additional comment:
To train the additional Doctors , Gps and Nurses and Nurse practitioners in NZ will take at least 3 to 16 years depending on the specialty.
Rebuilding the infrastructure that has been closed down or reduced will take 20 years or more.
THIS CAN ALL BE LAID AT THE VOTERS FEET .
You didn’t care or ignored the events above because it did not affect you till now.
ACC already uses the private sector to do accident claims operations.
It has done so since it started in 1974.
This whole thing is about using processes already in place to speed up unnecessary blockages in the public hospitals after all this has been happening in the South Island for 15 years.
Also lets not forget ACC was meant to be a medicare agency not an accident only agency.
Now it will start to become what Sir Arthur Owen Woodhouses committee wanted it to be in the 1st place back in 1967.
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