Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Licence needed for work use Learn More
Parliament

Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | Video | Questions Of the Day | Search

 

Te Whatu Ora Falling Short On Planned Care

“If you haven’t been shuffled on a waiting list for your ethnicity there’s a reasonable chance you won’t receive the care you need anyway. New data shows that Te Whatu Ora is hopelessly underdelivering on planned care,” says ACT Deputy Leader and Health spokesperson Brooke van Velden.

“Written Parliamentary Questions answered by Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall show that between 01 July 2022 and 31 March 2023 Te Whatu Ora fell 16,130 procedures short of its planned volume of 132,469.

“Only two of 12 areas of care met their targets. Areas such as Orthopaedics and Ear, Nose and Throat were thousands away from meeting their targets.

“The health system is slipping away from first world status and the Government seems uninterested in fixing it. It is focussed on a costly administrative restructure and prioritising waiting lists by ethnicity when neither of these things are improving Kiwis’ access.

“This collapse in standards is part of a gradual decline in New Zealand’s prosperity. In recent years New Zealand has been training 40 per cent fewer medical professionals per capita than Australia.

“The vultures are circling as New Zealand loses its first world status. Australian states are aggressively advertising for health professionals to cross the ditch, and with the higher pay available people will continue to leave.

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

“People like to think of New Zealand as a first world country but our income figures tell a different story. Until we have a government focussed on economic growth we will continue to see tragedies in our health system.

“Having better health services will take a change of direction for New Zealand. ACT’s Alternative Budget for Real Change shows a plan to arrest the decline and grow the economy. It would get the country back into surplus and allows New Zealanders to keep more of their income to invest.

“It will take real change to stop the decline from first world status and make our health system one New Zealanders can have faith in again.”

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

Featured News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.