Over-promise, under-deliver on health

Written By: - Date published: 10:35 am, January 15th, 2010 - 7 comments
Categories: health - Tags:

Last year, Tony Ryall announced health reforms (ironically, an additional layer of beaurcracy) that he claimed would save $700 million over five years, about 1% of the health budget. Now, Labour has revealed, that estimate is at the high end of a range and the low-end is just $350 million. Worse, this isn’t even an official government figure, it was produced by some private consultants. The Government has gone ahead with this major reform without even getting Treasury to work out the cost and benefits.

Looks like yet more over-promise, under-deliver.

It’s more of the lazy, ideological attitude of this government. They’re not really worried about working out the best solution. Instead, their ideology tells them what solution they want, then they come up with a fig-leaf of research to justify their decision.

Meanwhile, Ryall’s mate Murray Horn, an ex Treasury Secretary who somehow got the job of providing the fig-leaf for National’s reforms, has been appointed head of the National Health Board his report proposed (multi-talented guy). Horn is being paid $1,500 a day for the job and working two days a week. $150,000 a year for working two days a week. I thought you had to be a minister in Key’s government to get that kind of deal.

7 comments on “Over-promise, under-deliver on health ”

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  1. BLiP 1
    15 January 2010 at 10:55 am

    More proof – as if any was needed – that National Ltd®’s figures cannot be trusted – that’s the digits and the people.

  2. Bored 2
    15 January 2010 at 11:24 am

    If Horn is being paid such vast amounts for so little effort, is it not surprising that he merely delivers a fig leaf of “received wisdom”. His job is to provide within the same fig leaf “credibility’ to justify whatever policy is being driven.

    The really funny thing that happened to Ryall was the information recently generated by more reputable sources stating that the health system in NZ (compared to the likes of that model of free market values, the US system) was in fact in reasonable shape. This despite the effort of Ryall’s publically paid Goebbels squad to generate the opposite image amongst the public.

    So who is correct: I for one don’t give any credence to politically driven spin, especially where it sits independent of any broad and well established corroborative evidence per se? And I object to paying taxes to support bloated salaries for propagandists within the offices of politicians (of any flavour).

  3. zelda 3
    15 January 2010 at 11:29 am

    They used to have centralised data centres for the health Boards.
    But when National implemented the CHE model in the early 90s they broke that system up .
    So national is undoing something they created 15 years ago and calling it progress.

  4. randal 4
    15 January 2010 at 11:51 am

    looks like the tax working group to me.
    i.e. welfare for tory supporters.
    now that we have the web it is much easier to hold people like ryall up to inspection so they are a bit more careful these days with their PLANS.

  5. tc 5
    15 January 2010 at 12:53 pm

    Now if only they’d apply the same logic to Electricity/Education/Employment/Environment/telecoms etc in terms of reversing their retrograde reforms……we may just move forward in some fashion.

    An idiot could figure out what’s needed in the Health systems IT consolidation (back office/finance/procurement and leave clinical systems at the DHB level)……yet Ryall needs a mate to do it which says alot about his capability……Doh !

  6. Craig Glen Eden 6
    15 January 2010 at 1:55 pm

    What I want to know is whats happened to the extra 400 nurses National promised during the election.

    I would love to see where they are because I rang both the Nurses council and the NZ Nurses Organisation during the Election. Both were not aware of any shortage for any DHB. Talk about making up shit, National one crisis after another.

  7. Draco T Bastard 7
    15 January 2010 at 6:47 pm

    Instead, their ideology tells them what solution they want, then they come up with a fig-leaf of research to justify their decision.

    NACT don’t do research (nvm, actually understanding science) – that’s for the trendy lefties. That’s how they find it so easy to disregard reality – their ideology tells them everything they need to know.

    I thought you had to be a minister in Key’s government to get that kind of deal.

    Obviously, it’s for their mates as well.

    now that we have the web it is much easier to hold people like ryall up to inspection so they are a bit more careful these days with their PLANS.

    They try, very hard, to keep them hidden. It’s very hard to be corrupt in an open society. There was no way that National would get the treasury benches without promising to be Blue Labour.