Ending healthcare's postcode lottery remains a distant dream
Analysis
When the Health NZ - Te Whatu Ora behemoth was rolled out three years ago, one of its core purposes was that New Zealanders with the same health needs should get the same treatment, no matter where they lived.
A single, centralised health agency would end fragmentation and spread
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NZ Herald
44 minutes ago
- NZ Herald
Greg Dixon's Another Kind of Politics: Calls for nationwide lockdown as 'Seymour derangement syndrome' spreads
Following Act leader David Seymour becoming the deputy prime minister last month, we're seeing and hearing a lot more from him. Photo / Getty Images Greg Dixon is an award-winning news reporter, TV reviewer, feature writer and former magazine editor who has written for the NZ Listener since 2017. Online only Greg Dixon's Another Kind of Politics is a weekly satirical column on politics that appears on Public health officials are warning New Zealanders to brace for a national lockdown as cases of the highly infectious 'David Seymour Derangement Syndrome' grow rapidly. Infectious diseases experts said an up-to-18-month lockdown might be the only way to save the country, and called for the government to act quickly. In the meantime, people were advised to socially distance themselves from Seymour, the maddening sound of his voice, his haunting image and his triggering name. 'The only way to prevent a lockdown for all New Zealanders is for Seymour to self-isolate at a remote silent retreat until the next election,' one official said. 'However, we don't believe Seymour is capable of making such a sacrifice for his country due to his own illnesses, which include the often fatal 'I'm the Only One Who's Right Disorder' and the incurable 'I Don't Care What You Have to Say Disease'. We also believe that Seymour, like US President Donald Trump, suffers from a chronic addiction to his own publicity.' The health official warned that if Seymour refused to self-isolate, the sanity of millions of New Zealanders could be at risk. 'If he won't self-quarantine, a lockdown for the rest of us is the only way to avoid a mental health catastrophe. It's us or him.' David Seymour Derangement Syndrome was first isolated and identified 42 years ago in Palmerston North. The only other recorded mass outbreak of the highly virulent disorder was during his appearance on season seven of Dancing with the Stars. Tens of thousands of people were infected then, many fatally. The disease is thought to be similar to 'Trump Derangement Syndrome', only less orange. The latest outbreak is linked to Seymour being included in Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's so-called 'Send in the Clowns, There Ought To Be Clowns Coalition' following the 2023 election. However the speed of spread had increased more quickly since Seymour introduced the Treaty Principles Bill last year. Following the Act leader becoming deputy prime minister last month, and the introduction of his Regulatory Standards Bill, the disease's virulence has increased 10-fold. It is now 'spreading like wildfire' and has become a national pandemic, the health official said. 'This last week and a half have been the worst of all for the spread of this disease. With Luxon in China and Europe, many more New Zealanders were exposed to Seymour as he attempted a series of prime minister impersonations, including holding his first post-cabinet press conference,' the expert said. 'That was like throwing petrol on a dumpster fire. If Seymour is allowed to do further prime minister impressions, the country is likely doomed unless there is a nationwide lockdown.' In related news, new research out this week shows that David Seymour Derangement Syndrome is now a leading cause of people moving to Australia. 'I'm not surprised,' the health official said. 'Getting the hell out of the country is the only guaranteed way to escape this pandemic.' Luxon 'completely relaxed' about possible end of world Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told a NATO leaders meeting this week that they should be 'completely relaxed' about the possible end of the world this year. 'I know I am,' Luxon said. 'I've found that being completely relaxed about things like rising homelessness, rising poverty and the destruction of the environment for profit is a great, effective way to prepare yourself to be completely relaxed about the end of the world,' he told leaders. 'A spoonful of chillaxing really does help the medicine go down.' With Russia's bloody war with Ukraine now in its fourth year, the horrifying 20-month Israel-Gaza conflict ongoing and fears that the Israeli and US attacks on Iran could lead, despite this week's ceasefire, to a broader Middle East conflict, many observers believe the world could be on the precipice of a world-ending war. However, Luxon said he was 'laser-focused' on pretending it wasn't happening. 'In my first 18 months as Prime Minister of New Zealand, I have learnt the best thing to do with bad news is to see it as an opportunity – an opportunity to change the subject,' Luxon told NATO leaders. 'So in the face of oblivion, the most important thing is to focus on what really matters to New Zealanders, and that's growth, growth, growth!' Jesus calls for Brian Tamaki to 'go back to Sunday School' Jesus of Nazareth has launched a scathing but holy attack on Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki about his knowledge of world religions. During a political march by Destiny members in Auckland involving anti-immigrant smears and flag burnings, Tamaki claimed New Zealand was a 'Christian country'. He went on to denounce the practising of 'foreign religions' here, statements implying that Christianity, like lacking a sense of irony, is native to New Zealand. In a strongly worded but Holy statement, Jesus said Tamaki seemed to have only a slim grasp of the history of Christianity. 'Clearly Brian doesn't realise that I am Jewish and that I practiced the Jewish faith in a place called Israel about 2000 years ago. It was my followers who founded Christianity. They also did that in Israel, which is a place that was, and remains, situated many thousands of kilometres away from New Zealand, not to mention Brian's peculiar church. Christianity is in fact a 'foreign' religion in New Zealand just like Islam, Sikhism and all the rest. I really think Brian needs to go back to Sunday School to learn a bit more about his own faith.' Jesus said that as far as he was aware the only non-foreign religion in New Zealand was the All Blacks. Political quiz of the week Photo / Facebook What self-driving-but-stationary metaphor is Prime Minister Christopher Luxon standing in? A/ His poor poll numbers. B/ Economy growth. C/ The high cost of living. D/ The country's sense of hope for the future.
NZ Herald
13 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Ending healthcare's postcode lottery remains a distant dream
Analysis When the Health NZ - Te Whatu Ora behemoth was rolled out three years ago, one of its core purposes was that New Zealanders with the same health needs should get the same treatment, no matter where they lived. A single, centralised health agency would end fragmentation and spread
RNZ News
14 hours ago
- RNZ News
'Postcode healthcare' persists - new report by government watchdog
The report said access to treatment was to a significant extent, determined by where a person lived. (File photo) Photo: UnSplash/ Marcelo Leal Where you live (rather than how sick you are) is still a major factor in how quickly you get elective surgery - or whether you get it at all, according to a new report by the government watchdog. The report, Providing equitable access to planned care, which has just been tabled in Parliament by the Auditor-General John Ryan, showed elective services in the public system were often "not equitable or timely", with people with the same level of clinical need qualifying for treatment in some districts, but not others. "As a result, a person's ability to access treatment is, to a significant extent, determined by where they live," the report noted. "Some clinical staff we spoke with were of the view that a lack of capacity to provide treatment had led to some thresholds that no longer reflect clinical need." The Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022 required Health New Zealand to ensure access to treatment (such as operations to remove cataracts or tonsils, joint replacements and hernia repairs) was based on people's clinical need - not their background, circumstances, or where they live. However, the audit found Māori, Pacific peoples, people with disabilities, those living in rural areas or in poverty had worse access to planned care. Health NZ was gradually introducing nationally consistent thresholds for ranking access to planned care. "It has introduced a national threshold for cataract treatment. Work is under way to align other thresholds for orthopaedics, otorhinolaryngology (ear, nose, and throat conditions), and cardiology." RNZ reported on Thursday, the long wait times for ear, nose and throat services in Tairāwhiti, which had less than a quarter of the specialist capacity needed. Introducing a national threshold for cataract treatment had led to about 1800 people added to the waiting list in the Southern District and about 900 more people put on the waiting list in Counties Manukau, the new report found. In orthopaedics, threshold "scores" for orthopaedic treatment range from 50 in Auckland and Canterbury to 80 in Wairarapa. "This means that a person's condition needs to be significantly worse in Wairarapa than Canterbury or Auckland to qualify for treatment." District-specific thresholds still in place were also "obscuring the extent of unmet need for treatment in some districts". "Significant work will be required to deal with the changes in demand that will result from the introduction of nationally consistent thresholds across all specialities." The true level of unmet need was unknown, the report continued. "One possible measure of unmet need is the number of people who are assessed by a specialist but do not meet the threshold for treatment. "However, we also heard some clinicians will not refer a person for specialist assessment if they are considered unlikely to meet the treatment threshold. "Media reports during our audit suggested that specialities in some districts were not accepting referrals because they did not have the resources and would be unable to meet target time frames for assessing or treating people." Meeting the government's target for 95 percent of people receiving planned care treatment within four months by 2030 was going to require "significant improvement". "During our audit, the latest available reporting (for October to December 2024) showed that about 59 percent of planned care patients received treatment within four months of being placed on a waiting list. "The proportion of people receiving planned care treatment within four months has been in decline since 2017." However, the focus on improving wait times should go hand-in-hand with a focus on equitable access, the report writers urged. "Equity also needs to be a central consideration in Health NZ's work to improve timely provision of treatment. If this does not happen, there is a risk that strategies to improve timeliness could cause further inequities." Health was so interconnected, that too much focus in one area inevitably put pressure on the system elsewhere. For instance, the number of patients waiting longer than one year for treatment was cut from more than 4000 in October 2023, to 1916 by July 2024, although it rose again to 2630 by December 2024. However, in the same period, the waiting list for first specialist assessments nearly doubled, from 5000 to 9936, the auditors found. Health Minister Simeon Brown's push for more outsourcing to private providers needed to be carefully managed so it did not lead to greater inequities, the Auditor-General said. "Access to the private hospitals that provide outsourced treatment is not equally distributed across the country. This means that some districts can outsource patients more easily and at shorter notice than others. "In addition, not all patients can be outsourced for treatment. The people selected for outsourcing to private facilities are generally determined to be non-complex patients." Māori and Pacific peoples and people living in socially deprived areas were also more likely to have complications, which would bar them from treatment in a private hospital. "Health NZ needs to manage and monitor the outsourcing of treatment so that it does not compromise its focus on the treatment of patients in priority order or otherwise increase inequity in planned care." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
