A new record has been set for New Zealanders waiting more than four months for surgery, National’s Health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti (pictured) says.
“Health Minister Andrew Little has set a new record in the health sector – this time for the worst surgical wait list in at least a decade.
“This record comes three months after Minister Little’s announcement of a ‘high powered’ task force with their focus on decreasing the wait lists for surgery and specialists.
“Unfortunately for New Zealanders, the wait list has increased by a further 199 people needing surgery, bringing the total to 28,536 at the end of June.
“To be included on the surgical wait list, you must to be referred by a specialist – but those wait times have blown out too. People waiting more than four months to see a specialist is already up to 36,000.
“Emergency Department wait times are also reaching breaking point, with Christchurch Hospital ED reaching capacity and non-urgent injuries or conditions being turned away.
“New Zealanders deserve a plan to decrease the surgical wait list, the specialist wait list and the emergency room waiting time – not another task force or a new plot for Shortland Street.
“Despite being warned by the health sector in July last year, Minister Little has spent money on bureaucratic health reforms instead of on people. He has failed at his core responsibility of ensuring New Zealanders get timely access to health services.”
I never even got on the list for a new knee – so that another one. Mind you national didnt do anything either.
The answer is to close down ACC and use their $47 BILLION dollars to sort out health properly and then keep it that way.
Unless you’re Maori being that theynhavetheir own overfunded system?
Andrew Little or as he is called Little Andrew employs bureaucrats because he is incompetent. He also while trade union secretary allowed Pike River Mine workers to begin work in an unsafe mine. How did he rise up through the union? A story there? He also spent $50 million opening the mine to get the truth and achieved nothing.
He also oversaw a NZ pay rate far below Australia, a place where all our nurses go, along with a host of other occupations.
He is an infuriating little Fabian/socialist/communist jackass who should be sacked from parliament.
He is not the only one.
On another note; Candidates making themselves available to be members of parliament should be voted in at electorate level. Being appointed by the party has to stop. We then need a recall system where if they do not perform they can be ousted in between elections.
We then need to get rid of MMP where 50% of the members of parliament are appointed rather than elected.
The MPs have to be made far more accountable than they are at the present.
Being an MP is not a career.
Cronyism has to go.
The problem is that in a lot of ‘safe’ seats as happened in the old days, you could put a red ribbon or a blue ribbon around a goat and it would get voted in. Peter Dunne called the STV system as the ‘thinking person’s system’ but the Royal Commission’s preference for MMP won the referendum.
Peter Dunne may have said that, though all of us who supported STV thought the same. No points for Dunne on that one. Is there anything else he said which made sense? He was a typical freeloading career politician. The ridiculous bow tie said it all.
Mr. Little should resign he has clearly been promoted beyond his level of competence and into a field he has absolutely no experience nor ability in….actually that is the case for virtually every other Minister in this current regime….the whole lot should resign before this country sinks to a level beyond salvage.