Mōrena. Long stories shortest: The news this morning is dominated by the crises cascading through our health system after 20 years of being starved of funding and staffing in real, per-capita terms. Auckland’s Starship hospital is now without a paediatric palliative care specialist, meaning there is none at all in Aotearoa. Hundreds marched against cuts in services in Napier. Almost a third of doctors who graduate here migrate overseas within a decade.
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Long stories short, my top six news items in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, March 24 are:
Fears are growing that dying children are not getting the end-of-life care they deserve while the country's only publicly-funded paediatric palliative care specialist is on extended leave. RNZ’s Anusha Bradley
Some doctors graduating from studies here, especially international students, are struggling to get intern jobs at hospitals because of funding shortages, forcing many to look at migrating. Medical Council records show 30% of doctors who spend five to six years training here have migrated within a decade of graduating, while the Medical Students Association says 25-30 graduates are not guaranteed internships. RNZ’s Ruth Hill
Resident Doctors Association head Deborah Powell says some graduates are going straight overseas, where they could earn more and pay off their student loans faster.
Powell said: "They [Health NZ] don't want to increase those numbers unless they get more money for it. It's bonkers, because we're short of SMOs [senior medical officers], and to get SMOs you need RMOs [resident medical officers]. And quite frankly, to get RMOs, you need medical school graduates."
Hundreds of Napier residents marched in protest against those funding shortages yesterday, campaigning against cuts to the city's after-hours health services. Hoping to forestall the protest, Health Minister Simeon Brown last week said a decision to shut Napier’s after-hours medical centre at nights and on weekends would be reversed, but residents remain angry it won’t have a doctor on site. RNZ’s Alexa Cook.
Napier protest organiser Sally Davenport said: “We have to do something - this is way not acceptable, particularly as we were totally and utterly cut off during the Cyclone. It's just wrong.” Napier does not have its own hospital. It was shut in 1998 in a round of previous cuts. Residents must currently drive to Hastings.
My Pick’ n’ Mix Top Six on Monday, March 24
Health cuts deep-dive via RNZ: Fears for dying kids as country's only specialist takes extended leave
Budget warning news by Jenee Tibshraeny in NZ Herald-$: ‘The price of borrowing has gone up’: Willis' pre-Budget warning
Provincial protest news by Caron Copek in Stuff: ‘We need to keep fighting’: Mayor tells people worried about healthcare. A rally took place in Napier on Sunday protesting declining levels of urgent overnight healthcare services.
Transport funding news by Sinead Gill in The Press-$: ‘Missing’ $78m for public transport in Christchurch reallocated to roads. The transport minister says the council gave up on accessing the funding intended for Greater Christchurch’s public transport, but a city councillor says that is “absolutely misleading”
Health funding & migration news by Mary Williams in ODT-$: Risk fed-up staff could take off due to Hospital build delays in Dunedin
Column by Andrea Vance in Stuff: David Seymour and the food fight he can’t win
My full Picks ‘n’ Mixes for today are here for paying subscribers.
Quotes of the day: Health Minister celebrates higher speed limit
In response:
“This is deranged. Health Minister can’t wait for more people to end up in hospital. Imagine being proud to have that on your conscience.” Auckland City Councillor Richard Hills via X in response. HT Stuff’s David Long
Number of the day
75% - Three quarters of seriously ill children in New Zealand don’t have access to specialist palliative care as the only specialist is in Auckland. Now that specialist is gone too. Reikōtuku report: “Unheard cries”
Substack essential
Charts of the day
Here come the landlord buyers. It’s only the DTIs that are stopping a much bigger credit-fuelled boom in our housing market with bits tacked on. This chart tells the story of New Zealand.
Video of the day
Cartoon of the day
Timeline-cleansing nature pic of the day
Ka kite ano
Bernard
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