Health needs to be put to ministers

Otago Daily Times

8 hours ago

Wānaka's most vocal health advocacy group will be demanding more publicly funded services for the region in upcoming meetings with health ministers.
Health Action Wānaka have secured a private meeting with the Minister of Health Simeon Brown on July 1 in Auckland, in addition to a meeting with Associate Health Minister Matt Doocey on the same day, during his visit to Wānaka for the Rural Health Roadshow.
The group published a health report two months ago exposing urgent unmet health needs in the region and criticising the lack of strategic health planning to meet the Upper Clutha's rapid population growth.
Before publishing the report, Health Action Wānaka wrote to Mr Brown sharing their findings and requesting a meeting which they were offered a day after the report went public.
As part of the report, they worked with healthcare providers and interviewed locals who have faced inequity when trying to access services.
The report exposed gaps across a range of services including mental health, maternity care and aged care, while also highlighting key barriers, such as travel costs, for locals trying to access healthcare in the region.
Four members of the group's steering committee are set to travel to Auckland next month for a meeting with Mr Brown, while the remaining member and two representatives from youth mental health NGO, ADL will meet Mr Doocey.
Health Action Wānaka spokesperson Monique Mayze said in a statement that they wanted to leave both meetings feeling confident the ministers were considering their recommendations.
Part of the group's proposal are three "quick wins" which will include the introduction of telehealth psychiatric consultations, publicly funded blood collection within the next two years and funded radiology services.
Ms Mayze said that with the strong evidence they have collected, the ministers will be held directly accountable to the local community for what they choose to do with the information.
"Sometimes you have to be the squeaky wheel to get stuff done," she said. "And that's what we will continue to be until our community gets access to the publicly funded health services it needs".
The group announced both meetings on their social media and called for community involvement as they plan the specific questions they want to ask during the meetings.
They are also urging the community to attend the public questions and answers event with Mr Doocey as a way of showing solidarity in the fight for a more equitable healthcare system.
"We need hundreds of locals to turn up," Ms Mayze said. " ... to send a message to Minister Doocey and Minister Brown that something has to be done about the health services inequity in our community."
The group's meeting with Mr Doocey will take place before the public event and will be attended by one member of Health Action Wānaka and two representatives from ADL.
Ms Mayze said the representatives from ADL will be able to give Mr Doocey insights into the reality of mental health services in the region.
This will also help make a strong case for the group's proposal to introduce psychiatric telehealth services for NGOs like ADL.
The public event will be held on July 1 at the Lake Wanaka Centre, from 12pm to 1.30pm, as part of the Rural Health Roadshow.