It is important to remember lack of money is not the issue. It is a lack of will to invest in staff and improve wages. After all of landlords aren't complaining about their plight.
We could have been nurse training locals, with a $200 a week grant. All fees forgiven if they are in the workforce after three years.
But neo liberalism has our political masters worshipping at the altar of the balance sheet.
I was involved in a serious car accident about a month ago, arrived at the hospital (Accident and Emergency) at 5.30pm by ambulance, accident occurred at 3.30pm, finally got a glass of orange juice with the breakfast at 9.00am the following morning. I was not even given a glass of water between 5.30pm and 9.00am, until the following morning. They were going to put me on fluids overnight however nothing happened, they were either too busy or communications were poor. I was a bit dazed from the accident so did not push the issue however not very professional IMHO. Got asked a million questions by numerous nurses and physicians but no follow through ???
It's been a mess for years. About 15 years ago I came down with what turned out to be appendicitis. In the waiting room for 2 hours before I practically collapsed on them, then trapped in ED for 22 hours because the hospital was on code red and didn't have a single bed anywhere. There were 16 patients also stuck there for lack of beds. For the duration, I was parked away very out of sight in a closet of a treatment room, because that's all there was.
I've ended up in ED a lot due to my chronic condition in the intervening years and spent plenty of time stuck on a trolley in the corridor. I'm absolutely terrified of needing EDs help again.
The code red/black which leaves hospitals completely gridlocked could be alleviated a lot by fixing the bed-blocking problem of people well enough to be discharged, but nowhere to go, so they have to keep them. Mostly the elderly. Better investment in age care (and not just for the rich) would be very cost-effective for the hospital system, and of great benefit to the general public.
It's like they need a convalescent ward, where people who aren't well enough to go home but are too well for hospital level care can go and be strengthened up.
In the olden days they used to have convalescent wards/homes associated with the hospitals. I went to one as a teenager after struggling with recovery after abdominal surgery.
But now you see it is much cheaper and therefore efficient (sarcasm) to skip the formal convalescence and send patients who would/should have been able to go to a convalescent ward/home back to their family. It is also much more 'efficient' to send patients home late on a Friday night when out of town family has had no notice and no chance to organise support.
Of course fiddling around with bed numbers is the stuff of modern hospitals. They shouldn't have to do it any more than schools should have rely on parental and community support eg cake stalls/sausage sizzles for the basics.
Health has been underfunded since forever – I worked there and I have written about this before.
Convalescent- that's the word I was trying to remember! I can remember when Kenepuru hospital had one of those, so more people could be discharged from Wellington Hospital. Bring back the Hospital Boards with the people who were able to be sensible about things.
George Monbiot in his recent book " The Invisible Doctrine." talking about the neoliberal approach to the NHS in the UK. "But funding cuts alone are a slow way to kill a service. You need accelerants and the most effective of themis the disempowerment frustration and elimination of the staff providing the service. Across the NHS doctors and nurses are leaving in droves as the pay is so poor. conditions so dangerous and the stress intolerable." Sound familiar? Different government. Same disaster capitalism.
My experience with ED – and general hospital care, for that matter (for a range of different family members, with different degrees of emergency), is that you need to have a very persistent and effective patient advocate with you. I've been that person on many occasions. Remaining pleasant and polite (it's not the fault of the overworked staff), but also persistent in reminding them of outstanding issues, and missing communications.
Cleared by Doctors to be discharged at 9.30am Tuesday morning waited in Out Patients until 5.30pm until I got the fking paperwork, what a pack of useless cts IMHO. Obviously some serious under staffing issues, or poor systems or both. Great for the wealthy who can afford private health care with their huge Tax Cuts. Baldrick, Reti and the Sud African Levy need a good boot up the a**s.
While I fully appreciate that having the paperwork immediately can be necessary for some, depending on the scenario, it's way better for your mental (if not physical) health just to leave, and deal with the paperwork later.
That's a practical response to a less-than-ideal situation. Last month Dad was discharged from P.N. hospital after a 2-day stay for a dislocated shoulder – the care he received in the ED / operating theatre / Ortho ward was excellent.
The Ortho ward staff were flat out (it was midday on a Saturday), and gave him the option of waiting, or receiving the paperwork by post. A letter duly arrived six days later – might have been sooner but for the three-deliveries-a-week NZ Post service.
Does this comment mean that the approval rating is not better than labour's rating in 2023? If true then this COC Government has not inspired us.
New Zealanders’ overall mean rating of the new Coalition Government’s performance has declined slightly to 4.5 – on par with the Labour-led government rating in the Ipsos Issues Monitor August 2023 wave, prior to the general election in October 2023.
Young Māori and Pasifika in Hawke’s Bay are no longer eligible on the basis of their ethnicity to receive some free healthcare services after the Health Minister intervened and demanded the policy be changed.
Sounds fair to me. Why shouldn't someone in a similar financial position from another ethnicity not qualify for the same assistance?
What the abandoned policy was implying is that because someone is from a Maori or Pasfika background then they must be poor and in need of assistance.
If the policy focuses on need rather than race, then both Maori and Pasifika will get the lionshare of that assistance anyway if they are most highly represented in the group that needs help. And, others in a similar position won't miss out simply because they are of the wrong racial group to qualify.
Yip if we actually had a health system that functioned st a level that could cope with all new Zealand needs it would solve the problem of trying to play whakamole with different group needs
Race based assistance meets a need. Surely a thinking person would advocate for assistance for those who remain in need rather than creating more need by cutting assistance for those whose needs are being met.
But there are a lot of people in any given race who don't need assistance. Giving aid to those people creates inequity in itself.
Surely, shifting the aid away from those people and redistributing it to others in need who would otherwise miss out is a good thing? That means more people in need get aid not less, including those in the target race groups who are in need.
Someone really should do something about all them well browns getting assistance they don't need, eh
That is a nonsense thing to say. There are plenty of "brown" people now who are neither Maori or Pacific Islanders who would miss out under the abandoned policy.
Nothing to do with skin colour and insulting of you to suggest that.
As was your intimation that somehow people who don't need it are receiving assistance.
,focussing on those with need
And as the linked article says, regardless of ethnicity those who held a community services card, lived in the most deprived areas or were diagnosed with one of several long-term conditions such as diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease are included in the OurHealth Hawke’s Bay scheme.
So the next cab off the rank will be those who historically have been neglected by primary health care services and are most likely to present acutely at a secondary level; young Māori and Pasifika.
Which looks to me like sound public health policy.
Not many successful business people are under 24 – whatever their race.
Maori and Pacific people face barriers to accessing primary care. We know this because their rate of accessing primary care is very much lower than for non-Maori/non-Pacific. There is no reason to believe they have less health need than others – in fact it is likely they have more health need. Making it free is one way to remove a barrier to accessing care.
The alternative is for them to turn up at the hospital to access free treatment or because untreated simple conditions have become complicated. Hospital level care is very much more expensive then primary care.
Maxine Ronald: Why do we have to keep explaining the ethnicity gap?
It’s so frustrating and it’s tiring. There’s an actual physical tiredness of having to deal with it, especially when it’s been landed on us as a surprise, as a headline out of the blue, which creates the conditions for racist reactions and interpretations.
I wouldn't want my surgeon to be tired – how about you?
Successive governments have been obsessed with "changing health systems".
Change the system – it will bring better outcomes for all of us – we are told.
Billions get spent on changing the system, but changing the system is largely a reshuffling of responsibilities in upper management. We had DHBs, then we didn't. One government even tried making patients pay to come in for treatment. All the reorganisation in the world has done little and cost lots.
It doesn't bring us what is really needed – more doctors, nurses, other health professionals, hospitals, clinics, equipment, etc and (despite what the CoC says) good administration people.
There is not enough support for young people to enter the medical profession. If a village in India can gather the hundreds of thousands of rupees to pay to train a man or woman to become a doctor who might one day work in NZ then why the f.. can't we do this in New Zealand for one of our own? We have the people, but obviously can't be bothered with the job of finding them and training them.
It is much easier just to look overseas for the ready-made people. Trouble is every other western country is doing the same so it becomes a kind of auction where the highest bidder wins, and that is not often New Zealand.
The NZ public health system, once said to be the envy of the western world (although that is arguable) has been let down by governments that have regarded it as a business, rather than a service. And poor planning! God knows, we were told two or more decades ago that with population dynamics – largely ageing and immigration – our health service needed to come up with plans how to cope with the changes but that hasn't happened.
Our population stands at over 5 million now, our health system is funded and staffed as if it were still 2-3 million. No wonder the cracks are becoming obvious. Things will not improve under the CoC, despite the political spin that comes from them daily. It increasingly seems that the CoC regard health spending as "wasteful spending" and perhaps it is better spent building billion dollar highways and by-passes.
One of the fundamental things we need to do with our public health services is stop running it like a business.
The ol' self-serving NAct 'small government', privatise everything two-step. Underfund public services, then ‘Sell Sell Sell – everything must go – how else to keep donors/shareholders in the manors to which they are accustomed.
While it is of course normal for such businesses to lobby in their own interests, we need to be cautious in accepting the advice of an organisation such as NZCID or its international counterparts.We should be equally wary of the expertise offered by their membership and other commercial entities with similar vested interests. They cannot be assumed to be objective judges of the merits of privatisation.
This just underlines what is already in bold and italics: as Savas stated, privatisation is more a political than an economic act. It is also of course a commercial act. But we have seen that little can betaken at face value. Apparently objective comparisons are loaded with political intent. Theoretical advantages have little empirical support (and indeed should lead to questions about the strength of the theory). Objectives change to fit the available factoids, and commercial interest is disguised as expertise.
Amidst all of this, the importance of the public interest, which is not simply about financial considerations, is lost. We have a highly deregulated [corrected] society and economy as a result of the programme of extreme neoliberalism from 1984 to 1999. Substantial parts of the programme remain in place, as we have seen. We have all too few levers remaining to manage our economy, environment and society in the public interest. The most powerful commercial forces have been strengthened and the countervailing power of government weakened or co-opted. Public services, assets and enterprises provide some of the levers we need. We should exercise great caution before taking any further steps toward private power, and indeed should be contemplating the reverse: reequipping the state to govern in the public interest.
Both National & Labour allow mass immigration which cranks our Real Estate Market but do not build any new schools or hospitals and do not train additional new Doctors and Nurses to cater for the increased population. Dumb, Dumb and Dumber, personally, I can not see this improving under Baldrock, Seymour and Winnie???
Winston Peters went over the Minister of Finance's head to negotiate (demand) with Luxon that MFAT (his baby) would have only very minor cuts to staff compared with 6% cuts that other departments had to implement. Tail wagging the dog again. So unfair, wrong and shifty.
NZ Health System is stuffed in my IMHO, I thought it wasn’t bad 20 years ago when I had Cancer Treatment however successive Government both National and Labour have been running it into the Ground. TAX CUTS got this NACTACTNZF Government elected however what about health and education for us people in the Lower Socio Economic Groups????
There is an insidious form of privatisation happening in GP clinics. American interests are buying up clinics in N Z. The first thing they do is extract a “ management fee” which is non- taxed here and bank it in a tax haven, thus guaranteeing the clinic runs up a huge tax loss in subsequent years. This is the model that rest homes use and Winston railed about a few years ago but he has gone suspiciously quiet, maybe they found some loose change as a political donation. A few years ago an accountant acquaintance who had a few too many told me that a certain spectacles seller had a similar scheme whereby 38% of every dollar that went thru the door was repatriated to the Channel Islands, no wonder your prices can so low.
If I had any energy left I’d try to get into Parliament and stick it to these thieving bastards. This has to stop.
…these youth essentially would tell you, "the reason we took up arms is because we can't keep living like this".
You know again a lot of them had served time inside Israeli prisons, being subject to torture and ill treatment. The combatants I have spoken with would tell me, 'I would rather be killed than go back to that torture chamber'.
And it's really significant, that not just had they been in Israeli prisons, prior to choosing to take up arms, but they were taken to prison as minors.
So the Israeli regime essentially designed in [resistance].
Resistance is inevitable because truly you can see how they reach a point where it's enough, it's truly enough.
And they will try any means possible to try and gain their Liberation and their freedom. And the recognition [is] that they are protecting not just themselves, but to the best of their capacity, their community, against these Israeli incursions. [Which] as we have seen, are always lethal and target civilian infrastructure…
(AI generated transcript lightly edited to aid comprehension.)
Yes. Israel have always tortured their Palestinian prisoners. This includes rape. It is a well established fact that during the time of torture, the victim wishes that they were dead and given that many do indeed end up tortured and dead, it is quite obvious that many would choose to preempt the situation by being armed before the next contact with any Israeli defense or police or settlers. Armed Resistence increases your chance of avoiding more torture since if things go wrong, death is more likely than capture.
"…have proposed a formal recognition by the court of the crime of ecocide, defined as “unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts”.
“No countries have been willing to publicly say they oppose the adoption of ecocide as a crime, she said, but she expected resistance and heavy lobbying from high-polluting businesses, including oil companies whose executives could eventually be held liable if the offence were to be adopted.”
Obviously, as long as Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux are top-selling cars in NZ we won't achieve any of those reduction targets. So the short-term solution is to abandon any targets (see also the National Polluter Partner, ACT and NZ First in the Coalition of Destruction / Corruption) and hoping for a technical miracle in the meantime.
There will be some panic coming up between 2030 and 2050, when annual global temperature increase reaches the 2 degree mark already (maybe not permanently, but more and more frequently) and we have to reduce pollution not gradually but near instantly, like culling all cows at once and permanently mothball all those Ford Rangers and Toyota Hiluxes.
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And I said, "Mama, mama, mama, why am I so alone"'Cause I can't go outside, I'm scared I might not make it homeWell I'm alive, I'm alive, but I'm sinking inIf there's anyone at home at your place, darlingWhy don't you invite me in?Don't try to feed me'Cause I've been ...
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It may have been a short week but there’s been no shortage of things that caught our attention. Here is some of the most interesting. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt took a look at public transport ridership in 2024 On Thursday Connor asked some questions ...
The East Is Red: Journalists and commentators are referring to the sudden and disruptive arrival of DeepSeek as a second “Sputnik moment”. (Sputnik being the name given by the godless communists of the Soviet Union to the world’s first artificial satellite which, to the consternation and dismay of the Americans, ...
Hi,Back on inauguration day we launched a ridiculous RFK Jr. “brain worms” tee on the Webworm store, and I told you I’d be throwing my profits over to Mutual Aid LA and Rainbow Youth New Zealand. Just to show I am not full of shit, here are the receipts. I ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump over Gaza and Ukraine.Health expert and author David Galler ...
In an uncompromising paper Treasury has basically told the Government that its plan for a third medical school at Waikato University is a waste of money. Furthermore, the country cannot afford it. That advice was released this week by the Treasury under the Official Information Act. And it comes as ...
Back in November, He Pou a Rangi provided the government with formal advice on the domestic contribution to our next Paris target. Not what the target should be, but what we could realistically achieve, by domestic action alone, without resorting to offshore mitigation. Their answer was startling: depending on exactly ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guest David Patman and ...
I don't like to spend all my time complaining about our government, so let me complain about the media first.Senior journalistic Herald person Thomas Coughlan reported that Treasury replied yeah nah, wrong bro to Luxon's claim that our benighted little country has been in recession for three years.His excitement rose ...
Back in 2022, when the government was consulting internally about proactive release of cabinet papers, the SIS opposed it. The basis of their opposition was the "mosaic effect" - people being able to piece together individual pieces of innocuous public information in a way which supposedly harms "national security" (effectively: ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to stand firm and work with allies to progress climate action as Donald Trump signals his intent to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords once again. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced the new membership of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC), who will serve for a three-year term. “The Committee brings together wide-ranging expertise relevant to disarmament. We have made six new appointments to the Committee and reappointed two existing members ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora, good morning, talofa, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, da jia hao, namaste, sat sri akal, assalamu alaikum. It’s so great to be here and I’m ready and pumped for 2025. Can I start by acknowledging: Simon Bridges – CEO of the Auckland ...
The Government has unveiled a bold new initiative to position New Zealand as a premier destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) that will create higher paying jobs and grow the economy. “Invest New Zealand will streamline the investment process and provide tailored support to foreign investors, to increase capital investment ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced the largest reset of the New Zealand science system in more than 30 years with reforms which will boost the economy and benefit the sector. “The reforms will maximise the value of the $1.2 billion in government funding that goes into ...
Turbocharging New Zealand’s economic growth is the key to brighter days ahead for all Kiwis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. In the Prime Minister’s State of the Nation Speech in Auckland today, Christopher Luxon laid out the path to the prosperity that will affect all aspects of New Zealanders’ lives. ...
The latest set of accounts show the Government has successfully checked the runaway growth of public spending, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “In the previous government’s final five months in office, public spending was almost 10 per cent higher than for the same period the previous year. “That is completely ...
The Government’s welfare reforms are delivering results with the number of people moving off benefits into work increasing year-on-year for six straight months. “There are positive signs that our welfare reset and the return consequences for job seekers who don't fulfil their obligations to prepare for or find a job ...
Jon Kroll and Aimee McCammon have been appointed to the New Zealand Film Commission Board, Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “I am delighted to appoint these two new board members who will bring a wealth of industry, governance, and commercial experience to the Film Commission. “Jon Kroll has been an ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has hailed a drop in the domestic component of inflation, saying it increases the prospect of mortgage rate reductions and a lower cost of living for Kiwi households. Stats NZ reported today that inflation was 2.2 per cent in the year to December, the second consecutive ...
Two new appointed members and one reappointed member of the Employment Relations Authority have been announced by Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden today. “I’m pleased to announce the new appointed members Helen van Druten and Matthew Piper to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and welcome them to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Coates, Program Director, Housing and Economic Security, Grattan Institute Marlinde/Shutterstock Most Australians can look forward to a comfortable retirement. More than three in four retirees own their own home, most report feeling comfortable financially, and few suffer financial stress. But ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The weekend byelection in the outer suburban seat of Werribee saw the widely-anticipated slap-in-the-face to Victorian Labor, which is absolutely on the nose. The question is: to what degree were electors venting against federal Labor ...
Mediawatch -Trump's alarmed the world with trade tariffs, turning off aid and proposing to take over Gaza. But New Zealand's had diplomatic drama in the news too - with the media in the middle of it. ...
By Rachel Helyer Donaldson, RNZ News journalist New Zealand should be robust in its response to the “unacceptable” situation in Gaza but it must also back its allies against threats by the US President, says an international relations academic. Otago University professor of international relations Robert Patman said the rest ...
A Christchurch man who lost 55 relatives in three Israeli airstrikes on Gaza says his remaining family will never leave, despite a US proposal to remove them. ...
Asia Pacific Report A national Palestine advocacy group has hit back at critics of its “genocide hotline” campaign against soldiers involved in Israel’s war against Gaza, saying New Zealand should be actively following international law. The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) dismissed a “predictable lineup of apologists for Israel” for ...
ACT Party leader David Seymour said he wrote to police about the treatment of Philip Polkinghorne because it's an electorate MP's job to pass on the concerns of their constituents. ...
MEDIAWATCH:By Colin Peacock, RNZ Mediawatch presenter By the time US President Donald Trump announced tariffs on China and Canada last Monday which could kickstart a trade war, New Zealand’s diplomats in Washington, DC, had already been deployed on another diplomatic drama. Republican Senator Ted Cruz had said on social ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown says New Zealand is asking for too much oversight over its deal with China, which is expected to be penned in Beijing next week. Brown told RNZ Pacific the Cook Islands-New Zealand relationship was reciprocal. “They certainly did ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Byelections occurred on Saturday in the Victorian state seats of Prahran and Werribee. The Liberals gained Prahran from the Greens by a ...
A long time ago, Brian Turner wrote a poem in which, among the mountains, as he slept on a river flat … My speechless ancestors played like mice among my dreamsand he woke to the river running over my bed of stone. I have come to know that where a ...
Pacific Media Watch President Donald Trump has frozen billions of dollars around the world in aid projects, including more than $268 million allocated by Congress to support independent media and the free flow of information. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has denounced this decision, which has plunged NGOs, media outlets, and ...
Otago University professor of international relations Robert Patman says New Zealand should provide a robust response to Donald Trump's Gaza plan, and also "should stop tip-toeing" around Trump. ...
The new minister of transport has opened the door for public consultation on at least some of the speed limit changes the government said would be automatic. ...
Officially, they’re called ‘memecoins,’ but Kōura Wealth founder Rupert Carlyon says the crypto world has another name for them: ‘shitcoins’.In digital finance, that phrase is used for tokens that have no true value – in essence, a money-grab.A few days before his inauguration, US President Donald Trump launched his own ...
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was. Guy Williams has made a whole show off the joke that he is a “volunteer” journalist. So getting publicly owned by David Seymour while trying to act as a journalist is a good and timely reminder not to underestimate the nuance and ...
Many of Sāmoa’s beloved dishes are the result of cultural collaboration, writes Madeleine Chapman. All photos by Jin FelletIf you ever find yourself at a barbecue in a Sāmoan home, there’s 99% chance that sapasui (chop suey) will be on the table. For the past century, sapasui has ...
The funnyman takes us through his life in television, including Jono and Ben mayhem, live Telethon flubs, and funnelling all those experiences into his new comedy Vince. There’s an inciting incident in Three’s new comedy Vince where morning television presenter Vince Walters (Jono Pryor) is visiting sick kids in hospital ...
People often claim they just want Waitangi Day to be a celebration. At Waitangi, away from the headlined political acrimony and the marae ātea, celebrating is what most people are doing. The Spinoff Essay showcases the best essayists in Aotearoa, on topics big and small. Made possible by the generous ...
Is there anything more fashionable than a Māori get together? One of the best things about Northland is that nobody cares what they look like — probably because they’re all naturally more stylish than the rest of us, famously. Māori from the Far North, especially. In 27 degree heat, wearing ...
I’ve been in love with him since last July, but it’s only now in this tepid hotel room that I find myself wondering why. The first thing he does when we arrive is smoke a cone in the bathroom – he emerges, hacking up a lung, fists thrust into his ...
MONDAY“Name,” barked a representative of the lower orders.I regarded him with a look of stern disapproval, and told him from up high, “May I remind you that I have name suppression. I shall also thank you to ask with more respect as befits a former president of the Act Party, ...
Books of Mana: 180 Māori-Authored Books of Significance, edited by Jacinta Ruru, Angela Wanhalla and Jeanette Wikaira has just been released by Otago University Press. In this essay, Books are Taonga, Jeanette Wikaira explores her personal relationship to books and their value.For me, books are taonga. The knowledge ...
Get to know Tara, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Tara’s human for their support! Dog name: Tara Age: Two Breed: Mostly Border Collie and a little bit Catahoula Leopard dog If dog ...
Health NZ's CEO has resigned, but frontline healthworkers are sceptical that installing new leadership will make any difference to a system grappling with problems. ...
Health NZ's CEO has resigned, but frontline healthworkers are sceptical that installing new leadership will make any difference to a system grappling with problems. ...
Gail Duncan, Chairperson of the St Peter’s on Willis Social Justice Group, one of the organisations invited to submit on the Bill, says the Government’s actions are unprecedented. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amani Kasherwa, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, The University of Queensland In late January, a rebel group that has long caused mayhem in the sprawling African nation of Democratic Republic of Congo took control of Goma, a major city of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yee-Fui Ng, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Monash University An ad falsely depicting independent candidate Alex Dyson as a Greens member.ABC News/Supplied The highly pertinent case of a little-known independent candidate in the Victorian seat of Wannon has exposed a gaping ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Ball, Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing, The University of Queensland Nik/Unsplash You might have heard that eating too many eggs will cause high cholesterol levels, leading to poor health. Researchers have examined the science behind this myth again, and ...
Everything you missed from the third day of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard four hours of oral submission. Read our recaps of day one of the hearings here, and day two here. Parliament was quiet on Friday for the third day of hearings on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thomas Jeffries, Senior Lecturer in Microbiology, Western Sydney University Tijana Simic/Shutterstock The news last week that three people in Sydney were hospitalised with botulism after receiving botox injections has raised questions about the regulation of the cosmetic injectables industry. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jens Blotevogel, Principal Research Scientist and Team Leader for Remediation Technologies, CSIRO Mino Surkala, Shutterstock Lithium-ion batteries are part of everyday life. They power small rechargeable devices such as mobile phones and laptops. They enable electric vehicles. And larger versions store ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edith Jennifer Hill, Associate Lecturer, Learning & Teaching Innovation, Flinders University Netflix Netflix’s new limited series, Apple Cider Vinegar, tells the story of the elaborate cancer con orchestrated by Australian blogger Annabelle (Belle) Gibson. The first episode opens with Gibson’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dee Ninis, Earthquake Scientist, Monash University Greece’s government has just declared a state of emergency on the island of Santorini, as earthquakes shake the island multiple times a day and sometimes only minutes apart. The “earthquake swarm” is also affecting other ...
Blimey, who could of seen this coming
Patient dies in ED waiting room at Rotorua Hospital https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/527510/patient-dies-in-ed-waiting-room-at-rotorua-hospital
It is important to remember lack of money is not the issue. It is a lack of will to invest in staff and improve wages. After all of landlords aren't complaining about their plight.
We could have been nurse training locals, with a $200 a week grant. All fees forgiven if they are in the workforce after three years.
But neo liberalism has our political masters worshipping at the altar of the balance sheet.
Totally this is about choice and they've chosen to manufacture a crises in health on top of entrenching the impacts of tobacco.
Keep them reeling appears the MO with voluntary redundancies being requested when insufficient resources are a current issue.
Theyre going for broke, literally.
I was involved in a serious car accident about a month ago, arrived at the hospital (Accident and Emergency) at 5.30pm by ambulance, accident occurred at 3.30pm, finally got a glass of orange juice with the breakfast at 9.00am the following morning. I was not even given a glass of water between 5.30pm and 9.00am, until the following morning. They were going to put me on fluids overnight however nothing happened, they were either too busy or communications were poor. I was a bit dazed from the accident so did not push the issue however not very professional IMHO. Got asked a million questions by numerous nurses and physicians but no follow through ???
It's been a mess for years. About 15 years ago I came down with what turned out to be appendicitis. In the waiting room for 2 hours before I practically collapsed on them, then trapped in ED for 22 hours because the hospital was on code red and didn't have a single bed anywhere. There were 16 patients also stuck there for lack of beds. For the duration, I was parked away very out of sight in a closet of a treatment room, because that's all there was.
I've ended up in ED a lot due to my chronic condition in the intervening years and spent plenty of time stuck on a trolley in the corridor. I'm absolutely terrified of needing EDs help again.
The code red/black which leaves hospitals completely gridlocked could be alleviated a lot by fixing the bed-blocking problem of people well enough to be discharged, but nowhere to go, so they have to keep them. Mostly the elderly. Better investment in age care (and not just for the rich) would be very cost-effective for the hospital system, and of great benefit to the general public.
It's like they need a convalescent ward, where people who aren't well enough to go home but are too well for hospital level care can go and be strengthened up.
In the olden days they used to have convalescent wards/homes associated with the hospitals. I went to one as a teenager after struggling with recovery after abdominal surgery.
But now you see it is much cheaper and therefore efficient (sarcasm) to skip the formal convalescence and send patients who would/should have been able to go to a convalescent ward/home back to their family. It is also much more 'efficient' to send patients home late on a Friday night when out of town family has had no notice and no chance to organise support.
Of course fiddling around with bed numbers is the stuff of modern hospitals. They shouldn't have to do it any more than schools should have rely on parental and community support eg cake stalls/sausage sizzles for the basics.
Health has been underfunded since forever – I worked there and I have written about this before.
Convalescent- that's the word I was trying to remember! I can remember when Kenepuru hospital had one of those, so more people could be discharged from Wellington Hospital. Bring back the Hospital Boards with the people who were able to be sensible about things.
Glad you got through that experience and came out OK, but it should not have happened like that – and it was 15 years ago.
The sad story continues. Stuff news report (10 Sept) says a patient waiting in Rotorua ED died before being seen.
George Monbiot in his recent book " The Invisible Doctrine." talking about the neoliberal approach to the NHS in the UK. "But funding cuts alone are a slow way to kill a service. You need accelerants and the most effective of themis the disempowerment frustration and elimination of the staff providing the service. Across the NHS doctors and nurses are leaving in droves as the pay is so poor. conditions so dangerous and the stress intolerable." Sound familiar? Different government. Same disaster capitalism.
Maybe they were deciding if you needed an operation and you were "nil by mouth" until that decision was made.
My experience with ED – and general hospital care, for that matter (for a range of different family members, with different degrees of emergency), is that you need to have a very persistent and effective patient advocate with you. I've been that person on many occasions. Remaining pleasant and polite (it's not the fault of the overworked staff), but also persistent in reminding them of outstanding issues, and missing communications.
Cleared by Doctors to be discharged at 9.30am Tuesday morning waited in Out Patients until 5.30pm until I got the fking paperwork, what a pack of useless cts IMHO. Obviously some serious under staffing issues, or poor systems or both. Great for the wealthy who can afford private health care with their huge Tax Cuts. Baldrick, Reti and the Sud African Levy need a good boot up the a**s.
While I fully appreciate that having the paperwork immediately can be necessary for some, depending on the scenario, it's way better for your mental (if not physical) health just to leave, and deal with the paperwork later.
That's a practical response to a less-than-ideal situation. Last month Dad was discharged from P.N. hospital after a 2-day stay for a dislocated shoulder – the care he received in the ED / operating theatre / Ortho ward was excellent.
The Ortho ward staff were flat out (it was midday on a Saturday), and gave him the option of waiting, or receiving the paperwork by post. A letter duly arrived six days later – might have been sooner but for the three-deliveries-a-week NZ Post service.
Three-days-a-week public hospitals anyone?
Does this comment mean that the approval rating is not better than labour's rating in 2023? If true then this COC Government has not inspired us.
And I thought Reti was a reasonable man but:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/health-minister-shane-reti-intervenes-to-scrap-hawkes-bay-health-policy-targeting-maori-and-pasifika/KFIDKUXIENFDBBGB35A26JY2KE/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
You dont get to sit at the cabinet table unless you've got the required qualities.
Todd played whistle blower and shane followed through.
National campaigned on providing healthcare on the basis of need not ethnicity
And just as National you frame it as a false binary and thus you’re propagating the lie.
Sounds fair to me. Why shouldn't someone in a similar financial position from another ethnicity not qualify for the same assistance?
What the abandoned policy was implying is that because someone is from a Maori or Pasfika background then they must be poor and in need of assistance.
If the policy focuses on need rather than race, then both Maori and Pasifika will get the lionshare of that assistance anyway if they are most highly represented in the group that needs help. And, others in a similar position won't miss out simply because they are of the wrong racial group to qualify.
Yip if we actually had a health system that functioned st a level that could cope with all new Zealand needs it would solve the problem of trying to play whakamole with different group needs
Do you prefer obstacles for all rather rather than removing obstacles for others?
I don't understand what you are saying. How does basing assistance on need create obstacles for people in need?
Race based assistance meets a need. Surely a thinking person would advocate for assistance for those who remain in need rather than creating more need by cutting assistance for those whose needs are being met.
But there are a lot of people in any given race who don't need assistance. Giving aid to those people creates inequity in itself.
Surely, shifting the aid away from those people and redistributing it to others in need who would otherwise miss out is a good thing? That means more people in need get aid not less, including those in the target race groups who are in need.
Someone really should do something about all them well browns getting assistance they don't need, eh
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Don't dilute the medicine.
One at a time is good fishing. Solve one problem and move on to the next.
That is a nonsense thing to say. There are plenty of "brown" people now who are neither Maori or Pacific Islanders who would miss out under the abandoned policy.
Nothing to do with skin colour and insulting of you to suggest that.
There are plenty of successful Maori business people who likely don't need this sort of assistance.
Thus,focussing on those with need rather than race is a far more efficient use of money as it targets more accurately.
As was your intimation that somehow people who don't need it are receiving assistance.
And as the linked article says, regardless of ethnicity those who held a community services card, lived in the most deprived areas or were diagnosed with one of several long-term conditions such as diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease are included in the OurHealth Hawke’s Bay scheme.
So the next cab off the rank will be those who historically have been neglected by primary health care services and are most likely to present acutely at a secondary level; young Māori and Pasifika.
Which looks to me like sound public health policy.
Anyone who fits the new criteria should get assistance. Hence, there is no reason for needy Maori and PI in need to miss out on assistance.
If they don't meet the criteria, then they probably weren't needy in the first place.
Not many successful business people are under 24 – whatever their race.
Maori and Pacific people face barriers to accessing primary care. We know this because their rate of accessing primary care is very much lower than for non-Maori/non-Pacific. There is no reason to believe they have less health need than others – in fact it is likely they have more health need. Making it free is one way to remove a barrier to accessing care.
The alternative is for them to turn up at the hospital to access free treatment or because untreated simple conditions have become complicated. Hospital level care is very much more expensive then primary care.
I wouldn't want my surgeon to be tired – how about you?
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2024/09/10/guest-blog-ian-powell-surgeons-college-exposes-false-narrative-that-frontline-services-dont-depend-on-back-office-functions/
Reti, a reasonable man?? Sorry, one can't be reasonable and a National cabinet Minister. It's not part of the job description.
Being reasonable and fair are not prerequisites for NACTACTNZF MP’s IMHO.
Successive governments have been obsessed with "changing health systems".
Change the system – it will bring better outcomes for all of us – we are told.
Billions get spent on changing the system, but changing the system is largely a reshuffling of responsibilities in upper management. We had DHBs, then we didn't. One government even tried making patients pay to come in for treatment. All the reorganisation in the world has done little and cost lots.
It doesn't bring us what is really needed – more doctors, nurses, other health professionals, hospitals, clinics, equipment, etc and (despite what the CoC says) good administration people.
There is not enough support for young people to enter the medical profession. If a village in India can gather the hundreds of thousands of rupees to pay to train a man or woman to become a doctor who might one day work in NZ then why the f.. can't we do this in New Zealand for one of our own? We have the people, but obviously can't be bothered with the job of finding them and training them.
It is much easier just to look overseas for the ready-made people. Trouble is every other western country is doing the same so it becomes a kind of auction where the highest bidder wins, and that is not often New Zealand.
The NZ public health system, once said to be the envy of the western world (although that is arguable) has been let down by governments that have regarded it as a business, rather than a service. And poor planning! God knows, we were told two or more decades ago that with population dynamics – largely ageing and immigration – our health service needed to come up with plans how to cope with the changes but that hasn't happened.
Our population stands at over 5 million now, our health system is funded and staffed as if it were still 2-3 million. No wonder the cracks are becoming obvious. Things will not improve under the CoC, despite the political spin that comes from them daily. It increasingly seems that the CoC regard health spending as "wasteful spending" and perhaps it is better spent building billion dollar highways and by-passes.
One of the fundamental things we need to do with our public health services is stop running it like a business.
https://asms.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Creeping-Privatisation_final-Sept-2023.pdf
https://thenewpress.com/books/privatization-of-everything
https://weownit.org.uk/privatisation
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/22/the-guardian-view-on-privatisation-the-god-that-failed
https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-want-to-privatise-everything
Baldrick and Reti should have a look at CUBA’s Health System they produce so many Doctors they export them around the World.
Both National & Labour allow mass immigration which cranks our Real Estate Market but do not build any new schools or hospitals and do not train additional new Doctors and Nurses to cater for the increased population. Dumb, Dumb and Dumber, personally, I can not see this improving under Baldrock, Seymour and Winnie???
To be fair every country in the world has the same problems.
Some of course a great deal worse.
NZ is ranked around 25th best in the world.
Guatemala is ranked 104 th.
But remember this is not Guatemala DR Ropata.
Not yet anyway
shane jones is working on it though, added and abetted by a penny pincher with out a soul.
Winston Peters went over the Minister of Finance's head to negotiate (demand) with Luxon that MFAT (his baby) would have only very minor cuts to staff compared with 6% cuts that other departments had to implement. Tail wagging the dog again. So unfair, wrong and shifty.
NZ Health System is stuffed in my IMHO, I thought it wasn’t bad 20 years ago when I had Cancer Treatment however successive Government both National and Labour have been running it into the Ground. TAX CUTS got this NACTACTNZF Government elected however what about health and education for us people in the Lower Socio Economic Groups????
There is an insidious form of privatisation happening in GP clinics. American interests are buying up clinics in N Z. The first thing they do is extract a “ management fee” which is non- taxed here and bank it in a tax haven, thus guaranteeing the clinic runs up a huge tax loss in subsequent years. This is the model that rest homes use and Winston railed about a few years ago but he has gone suspiciously quiet, maybe they found some loose change as a political donation. A few years ago an accountant acquaintance who had a few too many told me that a certain spectacles seller had a similar scheme whereby 38% of every dollar that went thru the door was repatriated to the Channel Islands, no wonder your prices can so low.
If I had any energy left I’d try to get into Parliament and stick it to these thieving bastards. This has to stop.
Happening in dental as well. Plus the dentists being pressured to meet targets for more profitable things.
Meanwhile the doctors and dentists get paid less.
'
Israel, Hamas' Biggest Recruiter
From Democracy Now!
@28:33 minutes:
Yes. Israel have always tortured their Palestinian prisoners. This includes rape. It is a well established fact that during the time of torture, the victim wishes that they were dead and given that many do indeed end up tortured and dead, it is quite obvious that many would choose to preempt the situation by being armed before the next contact with any Israeli defense or police or settlers. Armed Resistence increases your chance of avoiding more torture since if things go wrong, death is more likely than capture.
Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa want international criminal court to class environmental destruction as crime alongside genocide.
Good thinking.
"…have proposed a formal recognition by the court of the crime of ecocide, defined as “unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts”.
“No countries have been willing to publicly say they oppose the adoption of ecocide as a crime, she said, but she expected resistance and heavy lobbying from high-polluting businesses, including oil companies whose executives could eventually be held liable if the offence were to be adopted.”
Agree+100%
Looks like some people very slowly realise how big a transformation is required to meet our climate targets:
NZ Herald – Auckland councillor calls for rethink on plan to halve car use and increase cycling 13-fold by 2030
Obviously, as long as Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux are top-selling cars in NZ we won't achieve any of those reduction targets. So the short-term solution is to abandon any targets (see also the National Polluter Partner, ACT and NZ First in the Coalition of Destruction / Corruption) and hoping for a technical miracle in the meantime.
There will be some panic coming up between 2030 and 2050, when annual global temperature increase reaches the 2 degree mark already (maybe not permanently, but more and more frequently) and we have to reduce pollution not gradually but near instantly, like culling all cows at once and permanently mothball all those Ford Rangers and Toyota Hiluxes.