There is a serious question of whether New Zealand is still a first world country as increasingly tragic scenes play out in hospitals.

Our healthcare system is in crisis and it’s time to turn around the decline.

Despite billions in new spending, New Zealand’s healthcare system is training less, paying less and harder to access than first world comparators.

$1.9 billion was announced for mental health and addiction services in 2019, but the number of residential substance abuse bed nights have since decreased by 31%. From 2017 to the last financial year, Ministry of Health contractors and consultants have skyrocketed from 160 to over 600, with the cost to the taxpayer increasing sixfold. It’s little wonder Labour prefers to measure itself by amount spent rather than outcomes attained.

At the same time as centralising the DHBs, Labour divided our healthcare system with the establishment of the Māori Health Authority, continuing its fixation on ancestry over and above individual needs.

ACT’s vision is of a functional, first world healthcare system for New Zealand where all people are able to receive the treatment they need.

ACT would:

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Establish Mental Health and Addiction New Zealand (MHANZ), a standalone agency on a national scale, empowering patients to choose between a range of providers, rather than simply accepting what their DHB offers
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Seek an independent review of Pharmac’s operating model for greater transparency and timeliness in decision making, while ensuring accelerated assessment and funding pathways to improve access to new, more advanced drugs
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Attract more doctors and primary healthcare professionals under a new immigration policy and establish better pathways for training and accreditation
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Establish a national IT platform for patient management, and tender the public healthcare procurement function for ten-year intervals under robust performance measurement
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Allow lease-back and build arrangements with large, reputable global infrastructure investment groups for the refurbishment of existing public healthcare infrastructure and the construction of new facilities
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Repeal the Māori Health Authority, ensuring all New Zealanders receive treatment based on their individual need, not their ancestry.

Our healthcare system is understaffed and overstretched

There is a serious question of whether New Zealand is still a first world country as increasingly tragic scenes play out in hospitals.

ACT’s vision is of a functional, first world healthcare system for New Zealand where all people are able to receive the treatment they need.

ACT would:

Ready for real change?