Mayor's Message To Health Minister: Don't Go Down The Private Route

Scoop

2 days ago

Whakatāne Mayor Victor Luca has pleaded with the Health Minister to not allow the privatisation and Americanisation of New Zealand's healthcare system.
Dr Luca, a research scientist and president of Whakatāne Grey Power, was granted a half hour to make his case to Health Minister Simeon Brown in Auckland on Thursday.
He was joined in his meeting by fellow Whakatāne Grey Power members, Raewyn Kingsley-Smith, Suzanne Williams, Vern Scheffer and Catrina Jones.
Dr Luca has been seeking the meeting since April. 'I was blown over because I wasn't expecting a response,' Dr Luca said.
Before the meeting, he told Local Democracy Reporting he would be asking Mr Brown not to take the route toward privatisation.
'We do not want a health system that in any way resembles what goes on in the United States, where the health service is dominated by private businesses,' Dr Luca said.
He said there was a widening gap between health services for the 35 percent of New Zealanders who could afford health insurance and the 65 percent who couldn't.
'We are definitely headed towards a two-tiered system like they have in the United States.
Mr Brown said his priority was ensuring all NewZealanders had access to timely, quality healthcare.
"New Zealanders don't care who does their operation – they just want it done, and done quickly," he said.
He said he greatly valued the opportunity to meet with local mayors and to discuss the health issues that mattered most in their communities.
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Dr Luca asked Mr Brown for 'definitive proof" that privatisation would improve economic outcomes and benefit patient outcomes.
He said he had put the same question to the Ministry of Health several years ago, which said it was not privatising the health system.
Since then, he said his research showed New Zealand was headed down a track toward privatisation.
'I've got the proof that they are,' Dr Luca said.
In 2023, he made requests under the Official Information Act to all District Health Boards asking for a breakdown of full-time equivalent staff numbers in the public and private sectors.
The data he received, which dated back to only 2020, showed a 30 percent increase in privatisation in some fields over the three years.
The specialties that had the highest levels of privatisation were sports medicine, general practice, muscoloskeletal medicine and urgent care.
After Thursday's meeting, Dr Luca said Mr Brown had not denied privatisation but was not able to provide the proof he sought that privatisation had economic or patient outcome benefits.
He said they emphasised the equity issue.
'We can only hope our little gambit has made him think a bit more about the equity issue and the plight of all those people who don't have insurance.'
The Whakatāne deputation also addressed the issue of operation waiting lists with the minister.
Dr Luca recounted his experience of having to wait over a month for an appointment to see his GP.
Grey Power's Ms Kingsley Smith told the minister about struggling for five years with hip pain before receiving a referral to a specialist, her year-long wait to see one, and her current wait, possibly for another year, to receive a hip replacement surgery.
'It is devastating to be placed on a waiting list to see a specialist or surgeon and be laughed at when you ask for your appointment date,' she said.
''Ha ha, it won't be inside a year',' she was told. After seeking help for a sore hip that had deteriorated since an injury 11 years ago, she said the latest X-ray CT results clearly showed there was no ball left on the right hip joint. 'My only hope is surgery and it's urgent.
If it can't be done in time for me to make a good recovery, I think I will have to sell up and go into care.'
Mr Brown said the Government's Elective Boost programme meant thousands more New Zealanders were getting the procedures they needed sooner.
"Making full use of both public and private capacity is critical to reducing waitlists," he said.
Whakatāne Grey Power has been pushing the issue of health care for the past five years.
In 2022, the group put a remit together to the New Zealand Federation of Grey Power to put pressure on the Government on better health services.
Dr Luca has used his mayoral office to address the issue as well, holding an online Community Health Forum with national health experts in Whakatāne District Council chambers in Feburary.
He initiated the setting up a health equity advocacy committee within the council with input from local health providers.
Dr Luca also wrote to the minister on behalf of the council to express the community's concern at the removal of the secondary maternity services at Whakatāne Hospital.
At yesterday's meeting, he thanked Mr Brown for his support in that matter and for financing more doctor training.
'I think in terms of workforce, they are trying to get more doctors through the pipeline but you're not going to be seeing them for another 10 or 12 years.'