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.