Hospital hiring actually frozen, forcing doctors to make beds; 100 social workers cut in South Auckland; Treasury dials back new capex plans to pay for tax cuts, despite $100b infrastructure hole
I think this will need to get the 100 likes and be shared. The daily new reports of the loss of essential support staff impacting on doctors and patients is harrowing for many reasons.. The lack of implementation of recommendations made 18 months ago to agencies whose role is to protect at-risk children is similarly extremely disturbing... The public are being let down by this govt as it collects taxes from it.
Thanks Bernard - essential reading as always! Looking at the UK and seeing us pick up the austerity baton just as they've dropped theirs is depressing. Hopefully we only have 3 years of this. Cleaning up after 6 (or 9 or, cold sweat 12) is a scary thought.
Would be interesting to see how much $$$ Luxon himself has saved thanks to their various tax cuts by the 2026 election compared with the average earning, non-landlord NZer. C'mon Stuff, keep a running tally on your homepage like you did with KiwiBuild.
I've also heard that non-hospital health service providers that run contracts on behalf of Te Whatu Ora in the community have not had their 24/25 contracts finalised despite being one month into the new financial year. This leaves their operations, staffing and capacity at risk so health services are going to get worse not better.
The winter of our discontent. I cannot remember such as self serving incompetent government (although I did run away overseas after in 1991 so escaped the worst of the Richardson years).
Nats, ACT & NZ First = make the rich richer, keep the middle just about on board and the poorer worse off. Defund the public services to get them ready for closure or privatisation.
Never mind those caught without doctors, never mind about cold, damp houses, ignore reports, push any compensation for Abuse in Care victims until next year, every year.
'After another round of discounts, LDV's e-T60 (which is, so far, the only electric ute on sale in New Zealand) is sitting at $41,990, nearly a 50% drop on its initial price of $79,990.'
I just LOVE this. If I buy one for my weekly 2km trip to the local supermarket I'll be able to feel environmentally born-again superior AND have the schadenfreudean joy of pissing off everyone who wonders why I'm driving around town in a road-hogging, parking-space-blocking, gleaming-never-seen-a-cow double-cab ute.
Forgot to mention that the inpatient building of the new Dunedin hospital is now on hold indefinitely as the cost blowout is over $2 billion. I can’t help thinking that when it goes ahead, as usual no future planning will be included, which is the main problem with the old buildings.
The problem is the stop start nature of building these hospitals. The rebuild at Chch went for lowest cost bidder (CPB, also did Transmission Gully and are still not finished Chch Metro Sports Centre Parakiore) so ended up being late, and over cost. Also the govt of the day nickel and dimed the project so did not build the third tower, which is now being added at tremendous cost. We need a Ministry of Works approach so we have trained people embedded and retained rather than constantly giving away precious IP to consultants.
An important element in the Christchurch Hospital disaster was that it was under the Labour Party that this happened and the then Minister of Health, Andrew Little appointed Lester Levy to take over a successful and high performing executive. The resignation of practically all of this executive team was a disaster, and the supposed "deficit" (for this read underfunding) led to an even higher cost blow-out under Levy. It will be interesting to note just how successful Levy will be with his current challenges. I am extremely suspicious of any individual who is acceptable to both the large political parties. Do the politicians make the real call or are these individuals acceptable to bureaucrats. Or are they just really effective brown noses....
I was talking about the build of the Waipapa block which was mis-managed by the old MoH (govt) prior to being handed over to the former CDHB. The hand over was late due to numerous issues where the contractor did not meet the specification and the DHB rightly refused to accept delivery.
I endorse all the other points you have made about the shocking way the highly performing executive team were treated by the (Labour) govt and Levy.
Ian Powell wrote a couple of good articles three years ago related to the "brown nosing" behaviour by various actors within the MoH. I have yet to catch up with his current reflections !
Thanks for this article. I am really hoping that his appointment this time, and his almost certain failure, will rid this country of Dr Lester Levy's influence on our health system. Also, will somebody please OIA any correspondence between him and the current PM and senior officials in the Ministry of Health leading to his latest appointment.
Not cutting fat, stripping flesh to feed the poor landlords.
I find it impossible to describe the policies of this government as anything other than grotesque. How soon until the news reports begin picking up the inevitably gruesome consequences of refusing to fund health and social care?
No doubt the apathetic corporate media, in an effort to retain what little remains of their viewership/readership, will ignore or sanitise this. Especially without shows like Sunday.
The government capital investment graph descriptor starts with "Treasury released its first quarterly investment report yesterday".
Which is interesting given the Treasury web site shows a Treasury initiative to start quarterly investment reporting in May 2022, along with copies of quarterly investment reports dated June 2022, September 2022, December 2022 and March 2023. Then yesterday's release of the quarterly report for March 2024.
- why have the quarterly reports for June 2023, September 2023, and December 2023 not been proactively released? Is there something that doesn't suit the Finance Minister's narrative?
- the latest report includes the regular assertion made by government ministers about lack of information being provided by government departments. This was noted in earlier reports and Treasury was saying it was helping government departments to provide the necessary data for what was a new reporting system started in May 2022. Why has Treasury apparently been unsuccessful in getting the data it requires over two years after this reporting system started? Is it because that is what the current ministers want to hear?
(On the last point I note the practice in recent regulatory impact statements of government departments noting that the only option they given any analytical attention to is the option the Minister wants.)
While the anonymous doctor speaking from Hutt Hospital provides some nasty anecdotes about the staffing situation, their issue with cleaning seems unreasonable.
Cleaning "ED medical equipment, areas or items that may hold private patient information, or areas where patients' personal belongings are stored" can't be left to regular cleaners, and I believe their Ops director when he says this has always been policy.
Perhaps the fact that doctors hadn't been doing this cleaning has become illuminated by the short staffing, but this particular doctor seems to just be the classic self-important doctor, with lines like "I'm the most expensive person there".
Your comment shows unfamiliarity with how it actually works. Patient data is not just left scattered around. All access to electronic records is restricted and audited. Sheesh ...
And one of the reasons that the doctor is the "most expensive person there" is because it takes multiple years to train one and they are a scarce resource.
Hi Ryan, in part it could be taken as that, but the rest of the quote form the hospital person states that this is usually work done by healthcare assistants, i.e. it is there job to do these tasks. I can only guess there were not any available, and this doctor has taken up the slack and the reporter has picked up on this dissatisfaction that you have also internalized for some reason.
I can only suggest that the possible reason why this is not handled by cleaners is probably more due to the fact that they are not employees of the hospital system, but contractors. As contractors they have a separate reporting line and they don't do anything outside their contracted service provision.
If we're going to assume that the hospital admin and the group director are lying, then it's true we can only guess and suggest as to what's going on.
However, the quote we both referenced goes on to state these areas are "cleaned by clinical staff, with the work usually undertaken by health care assistants" - which sounds to me like a statement of fact as to how the work ends up being pushed down the rungs, rather than confirming it's only the assistants' role (especially with the further comments on Friday).
Don't get me wrong, I think a flat-kitchen-style "everybody just chip in" approach to cleaning sensitive areas is foolish, but I think it's significant that this doctor has a problem with the way it's handled only now that they're getting the pointy end.
Hi Ryan, I couldn't confirm if he is lying based on the information from the article. But he wasnt asked the next question as to why drs are doing it instead of healthcare assistants. Could it be that they have not rostered HCAs due to their employment status being more likely to be casual and also not effect the legislative requirements of the ED to be open, so by not rostering them or at least covering them if they are sick or absent they are saving$$? I took 5 minutes to search and found a job advert for a HCA or a ED DR and guess which one mentions cleaning and housekeeping.
Horrified on the breaking story about doctors having to make beds at Hutt Hospital. Another glaring sign of how much we are in the shite with funding our social infrastructure, and that we are grappling with a government that's austerity-plus fueled by (non-Pharmac?) supplied steroids. For coming up with solutions to this mess start by going to this site www.reimagineaotearoa.nz
I think this will need to get the 100 likes and be shared. The daily new reports of the loss of essential support staff impacting on doctors and patients is harrowing for many reasons.. The lack of implementation of recommendations made 18 months ago to agencies whose role is to protect at-risk children is similarly extremely disturbing... The public are being let down by this govt as it collects taxes from it.
Thanks Bernard - essential reading as always! Looking at the UK and seeing us pick up the austerity baton just as they've dropped theirs is depressing. Hopefully we only have 3 years of this. Cleaning up after 6 (or 9 or, cold sweat 12) is a scary thought.
Would be interesting to see how much $$$ Luxon himself has saved thanks to their various tax cuts by the 2026 election compared with the average earning, non-landlord NZer. C'mon Stuff, keep a running tally on your homepage like you did with KiwiBuild.
Thanks for the ‘dogs just wanna have fun’ photo, a real spirit lifter after the list of political horrors.
Thanks! Jess is her name. The loveliest border collie!
I've also heard that non-hospital health service providers that run contracts on behalf of Te Whatu Ora in the community have not had their 24/25 contracts finalised despite being one month into the new financial year. This leaves their operations, staffing and capacity at risk so health services are going to get worse not better.
The winter of our discontent. I cannot remember such as self serving incompetent government (although I did run away overseas after in 1991 so escaped the worst of the Richardson years).
Got any names or details I could follow up on discretely? Feel free to DM me if you'd like. I'm open to messages from all paying subscribers.
Nats, ACT & NZ First = make the rich richer, keep the middle just about on board and the poorer worse off. Defund the public services to get them ready for closure or privatisation.
Never mind those caught without doctors, never mind about cold, damp houses, ignore reports, push any compensation for Abuse in Care victims until next year, every year.
Could they be more cruel, cynical & corrupt?
'After another round of discounts, LDV's e-T60 (which is, so far, the only electric ute on sale in New Zealand) is sitting at $41,990, nearly a 50% drop on its initial price of $79,990.'
I just LOVE this. If I buy one for my weekly 2km trip to the local supermarket I'll be able to feel environmentally born-again superior AND have the schadenfreudean joy of pissing off everyone who wonders why I'm driving around town in a road-hogging, parking-space-blocking, gleaming-never-seen-a-cow double-cab ute.
Forgot to mention that the inpatient building of the new Dunedin hospital is now on hold indefinitely as the cost blowout is over $2 billion. I can’t help thinking that when it goes ahead, as usual no future planning will be included, which is the main problem with the old buildings.
The problem is the stop start nature of building these hospitals. The rebuild at Chch went for lowest cost bidder (CPB, also did Transmission Gully and are still not finished Chch Metro Sports Centre Parakiore) so ended up being late, and over cost. Also the govt of the day nickel and dimed the project so did not build the third tower, which is now being added at tremendous cost. We need a Ministry of Works approach so we have trained people embedded and retained rather than constantly giving away precious IP to consultants.
An important element in the Christchurch Hospital disaster was that it was under the Labour Party that this happened and the then Minister of Health, Andrew Little appointed Lester Levy to take over a successful and high performing executive. The resignation of practically all of this executive team was a disaster, and the supposed "deficit" (for this read underfunding) led to an even higher cost blow-out under Levy. It will be interesting to note just how successful Levy will be with his current challenges. I am extremely suspicious of any individual who is acceptable to both the large political parties. Do the politicians make the real call or are these individuals acceptable to bureaucrats. Or are they just really effective brown noses....
I was talking about the build of the Waipapa block which was mis-managed by the old MoH (govt) prior to being handed over to the former CDHB. The hand over was late due to numerous issues where the contractor did not meet the specification and the DHB rightly refused to accept delivery.
I endorse all the other points you have made about the shocking way the highly performing executive team were treated by the (Labour) govt and Levy.
Ian Powell wrote a couple of good articles three years ago related to the "brown nosing" behaviour by various actors within the MoH. I have yet to catch up with his current reflections !
https://otaihangasecondopinion.wordpress.com/2021/08/24/the-third-coming-of-lester-levy-a-process-glued-together-by-hypocrisy-part-two/
Thanks for this article. I am really hoping that his appointment this time, and his almost certain failure, will rid this country of Dr Lester Levy's influence on our health system. Also, will somebody please OIA any correspondence between him and the current PM and senior officials in the Ministry of Health leading to his latest appointment.
Levy has been around so long that I remember him being interviewed by the late Sir Paul Holmes
Clearly a champion brown noser amongst the swelling CEO class.
Not cutting fat, stripping flesh to feed the poor landlords.
I find it impossible to describe the policies of this government as anything other than grotesque. How soon until the news reports begin picking up the inevitably gruesome consequences of refusing to fund health and social care?
No doubt the apathetic corporate media, in an effort to retain what little remains of their viewership/readership, will ignore or sanitise this. Especially without shows like Sunday.
Could we have John Campbell on the Hoon, Bernard?
Yes please!!
The government capital investment graph descriptor starts with "Treasury released its first quarterly investment report yesterday".
Which is interesting given the Treasury web site shows a Treasury initiative to start quarterly investment reporting in May 2022, along with copies of quarterly investment reports dated June 2022, September 2022, December 2022 and March 2023. Then yesterday's release of the quarterly report for March 2024.
https://www.treasury.govt.nz/information-and-services/state-sector-leadership/investment-management/investment-management-system-reporting/quarterly-investment-reporting
Couple of questions arise:
- why have the quarterly reports for June 2023, September 2023, and December 2023 not been proactively released? Is there something that doesn't suit the Finance Minister's narrative?
- the latest report includes the regular assertion made by government ministers about lack of information being provided by government departments. This was noted in earlier reports and Treasury was saying it was helping government departments to provide the necessary data for what was a new reporting system started in May 2022. Why has Treasury apparently been unsuccessful in getting the data it requires over two years after this reporting system started? Is it because that is what the current ministers want to hear?
(On the last point I note the practice in recent regulatory impact statements of government departments noting that the only option they given any analytical attention to is the option the Minister wants.)
Yes, Bernard, share this out. A massive contradiction in that Treasury secretary position advertisement. Political neutrality??!
Worth sharing - austerity hasn’t worked anywhere else but Willis continues to slash and burn
While the anonymous doctor speaking from Hutt Hospital provides some nasty anecdotes about the staffing situation, their issue with cleaning seems unreasonable.
Cleaning "ED medical equipment, areas or items that may hold private patient information, or areas where patients' personal belongings are stored" can't be left to regular cleaners, and I believe their Ops director when he says this has always been policy.
Perhaps the fact that doctors hadn't been doing this cleaning has become illuminated by the short staffing, but this particular doctor seems to just be the classic self-important doctor, with lines like "I'm the most expensive person there".
Your comment shows unfamiliarity with how it actually works. Patient data is not just left scattered around. All access to electronic records is restricted and audited. Sheesh ...
And one of the reasons that the doctor is the "most expensive person there" is because it takes multiple years to train one and they are a scarce resource.
Hi Ryan, in part it could be taken as that, but the rest of the quote form the hospital person states that this is usually work done by healthcare assistants, i.e. it is there job to do these tasks. I can only guess there were not any available, and this doctor has taken up the slack and the reporter has picked up on this dissatisfaction that you have also internalized for some reason.
I can only suggest that the possible reason why this is not handled by cleaners is probably more due to the fact that they are not employees of the hospital system, but contractors. As contractors they have a separate reporting line and they don't do anything outside their contracted service provision.
If we're going to assume that the hospital admin and the group director are lying, then it's true we can only guess and suggest as to what's going on.
However, the quote we both referenced goes on to state these areas are "cleaned by clinical staff, with the work usually undertaken by health care assistants" - which sounds to me like a statement of fact as to how the work ends up being pushed down the rungs, rather than confirming it's only the assistants' role (especially with the further comments on Friday).
Don't get me wrong, I think a flat-kitchen-style "everybody just chip in" approach to cleaning sensitive areas is foolish, but I think it's significant that this doctor has a problem with the way it's handled only now that they're getting the pointy end.
Hi Ryan, I couldn't confirm if he is lying based on the information from the article. But he wasnt asked the next question as to why drs are doing it instead of healthcare assistants. Could it be that they have not rostered HCAs due to their employment status being more likely to be casual and also not effect the legislative requirements of the ED to be open, so by not rostering them or at least covering them if they are sick or absent they are saving$$? I took 5 minutes to search and found a job advert for a HCA or a ED DR and guess which one mentions cleaning and housekeeping.
Yes please share! We need voters to be reading this stuff.
Horrified on the breaking story about doctors having to make beds at Hutt Hospital. Another glaring sign of how much we are in the shite with funding our social infrastructure, and that we are grappling with a government that's austerity-plus fueled by (non-Pharmac?) supplied steroids. For coming up with solutions to this mess start by going to this site www.reimagineaotearoa.nz
Could an insurance company sponsor the natural hazards monitoring roles being made redundant? They would have an interest in the work
Yep, what they all said. Beam me up Scotty. 🚀