The Green’s Health Priorities
It is inevitable that a future Labour Government will include the Greens, as they no longer have Jim or Winston to rely on. So with that in mind, let us look at what the Greens say their health priorities are:
1. In retrospect I have to confess that our decision to fund 12 months’ treatment with Herceptin was sheer irrational populism, and today I’m announcing that we will never do it again. In the same spirit, our repeal of the healthy school food guidelines and cutting funding to Healthy Eating Healthy Action projects were entirely about ideology rather than health, so we’re reintroducing them because we are quite concerned about chronic illness.
So their number one health priority is to provide a shorter period of treatment to women with breast cancer. I can’t wait for No 2.
2. Rather than making the grand gesture of a massive programme to build new operating theatres and contracting out surgery to the private sector, Government has today announced a programme of regionally (rather than locally) planning the best and most efficient use of our existing theatres, specialists and resources.
And their number two health priority is to have fewer operating theatres. This just gets better and better. Vote Green and we promise less treatment for women with breast cancer and fewer operating theatres.
3. I think we’ve had enough of committees, reports and endless restructuring, so rather than commission yet more I am going to require DHBs to work together and help each other whenever this is in the interests of most New Zealanders.
Their third health priority is that they are going to send a memo out to DHBs telling them to work together better. Such vision.
4. It is inadequate and unacceptable for us to set lower health targets for Maori and to continue to tolerate health inequalities. The performance measures I am setting for DHBs will focus on raising Maori health status to the same level other New Zealanders enjoy, and DHBs will perform to this standard (or they’re all fired!)
This one is so crazy, it has me laughing. The Greens are going to sack every District Health Board in New Zealand unless they can get Maori health status to the same level as non-Maori. Are they going to supply pixie dust to help them do the job?
It is an interesting insight into the mind of those on the hard left. They really believe that the reasons for the disparity between Maori and European has nothing to do with culture, genetics, environment, family and personal decisions – but is all the fault of the DHBs, who will be sacked if they can’t fix it.
5. In order to improve the position of those people with the poorest health, Government will be requiring all Government departments and crown entities to work together at a local level to identify people in need and to proactively offer services to improve their lives, and will be funding PHOs to take a lead role in this process.
So number five health priority is to send out a memo to Government Departments asking them to work better at helping people with poor health.
6. There is not enough money now to provide all of the health services that New Zealanders expect, and this will be worse in the future. Consequently Government is reorienting our health sector spending to focus resources in the areas proven to have the greatest impact on population health status, public health programmes and primary care, and as Minister I will also personally lead a national conversation with New Zealanders about how we best make decisions about how we should allocate limited resources in secondary and tertiary care.
And their final health priority is to have a conversation about umm health priorities, with an eye towards reducing secondary and tertiary care.
So in summary these are the Green’s six priorities for health:
- Reduce the amount of treatment for women with breast cancer
- Reduce the number of operating theatres
- Send out a memo to DHBs saying work better together
- Sack every DHB in New Zealand if they can not magically bring Maori health status up to the level of non-Maori
- Send out a memo to Government Departments to say be nicer to people with poor health
- Try and convince NZers to have less money spent on surgery and hospitals.
Oh I am looking forward to a future Labour/Green Government. It will be such fun.