Democrats call for public enquiry

Democrats call for public enquiry into patients complaints process

The systemic evasion by the authorities of patient complaints following failed treatment has led the Democrats for Social Credit Party to call for a full public enquiry into these matters.

DSC health spokesman David Tranter has written to all the agencies concerned during the past year and the evasive responses received and the repeated buck-passing by all concerned clearly demonstrates a wide-ranging cover-up regarding serious failures of treatment in the public health system.

Typically, patients' accounts told to Mr. Tranter over several years show that when a DHB receives a complaint which they don't want to properly investigate they delay, evade answering questions, and use their corporate solicitors to further confuse the process. If the patient and/or family take the complaint to the Health and Disability Commissioner they will typically encounter delays of several years (in one case years so far) in investigating. The excuse often put forward that it takes "years" to collect information is absurd given the age of instant communication.

“When patients try the Ombudsmen's office they receive similar responses. When I persisted with letters to the Ombudsmen about problems arising from the Health and Disability Commissioner's investigation process they closed the correspondence by referring me back to the Health and Disability Commissioner - yet another example of the entire sector's pass-the parcel tactics. Other agencies supposedly intended to assist the public including the Human Rights Commission and the Health Quality and Safety Commission appear to regard patient complaints as not their concern.

“The Health Quality and Safety Commission is all too typical of the bureaucratic empire-building in health. Despite having started in 2010 and having a $13 million budget, a board and large bureaucracy and a whole raft of so-called "consumer representatives", this agency was unknown to all but one of my many health sector contacts until I told them about it. Further, their CEO has told me that they don't cover "individual cases" and there appears to be no means by which their consumer representatives can be contacted by consumers - so how can they represent them? To top it all off their CEO and board chair will not allow their other board members to see my letters raising concerns about the organisation's function” Mr. Tranter said.

“Perhaps the most striking illustration of the evasion of these issues is that both the current and previous Health Ministers have responded to my letters of concern over the frustration of patient complaints by replying that it is "not appropriate" for them to be involved in the day to day running of DHBs. If widespread failures of treatment are not the concern of Ministers of Health one has to ask, who is ultimately responsible for the running of the New Zealand public health system?

“The Democrats call upon the Minister of Health to establish an independent public enquiry into the entire process regarding complaints by patients and/or their families when treatment has been inadequate, and/or incompetent. To cover up rather than follow-up is no way to react to the many obvious shortcomings in medical care, Mr. Tranter said.

ENDS

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