Health Inequity Called Out As A ‘Scandal’

Friday, 28 February 2025, 6:46 pm
Article: Diane McCarthy - Local Democracy Reporter

A Community Health Forum held in Whakatāne District Council’s meeting chambers on Wednesday looked to address what several experts described as a health system in crisis. The forum had experts joining virtually from around the world as well as a contingent of Eastern Bay health workers and other concerned residents attending in person.

The forum was six hours including breaks, and received 205 views within 24 hours.

Whakatāne Mayor Victor Luca, who has spent the past six-to-seven months organising the event, chaired the meeting and provided the introduction.

He described the health system as a complex system with issues that included underfunding, workforce shortages and inequity due to increased privatisation.

He provided data he has spent the past four years researching into the state of the health system, showing that New Zealand health services have been in decline for some years.

He discussed Kapiti Coast District Council’s support of health services in its district and said he planned to write a proposal for Whakatāne District Council to do something similar.

His first speaker was economist Professor Steve Keen, who is Head of the School of Economics, History and Politics at Kingston University, London.

Dr Keen described how the Government could finance a health system using a pure fiat monetary system.

Dr Luca described Dr Keen as his hero for his outside-the-box thinking.

Peter Crampton, who is Professor of Public Health in Kōhatu, the Centre for Hauora Māori at the University of Otago, talked about the need for strong primary health care.

He described these services as suffering from “policy neglect and underfunding” leading to consequent problems with access, equity and sustainability.

He said system leadership, strategy and investment were urgently needed.

Professor Robin Gould, executive dean of Bond Business School at Gold Coast’s Bond University felt the solution was a national public health insurance.

Dr Gould gave examples of other countries with health services that worked on this model.

“If you are serious about access [to health care] and equity, only one method achieves those goals, especially in New Zealand where we have this mixed delivery system of public and private ... National health insurance is a very important option we need to be thinking seriously about.

He sees this as working similarly to ACC and said while it would take an “astronomical amount of money” to set up, would be focused on providing the same level of accessibility to services regardless of socio-economic status and build solidarity within the community. He described the current state of the health system as a “scandal” giving examples of the inequities of how people with and without health insurance are treated.

“We don’t have enough of a national conversation about the scandal that sits, every day, around people suffering.”

Other speakers were health commentator and blogger Ian Powell, who is a former executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, local health advocate Sandy Milne, a former principal lab scientist at Whakatāne Hospital who has campaigned for many years for microbiology services to be returned to Whakatāne and specialist medical laboratory scientist Terry Taylor, who has over 30 years of frontline experience at the Dunedin hospital laboratory.

Dr Luca thanked all those who attended and expressed a hope that this would be just the first of many such forums to be held on the subject of health.

The forum can be viewed on Whakatāne District Council’s YouTube channel.

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