Bullying in hospitals further evidence of failed corporate regime

The recent loss of Auckland City Hospital's training accreditation because of bullying and harassment is further evidence that the corporatisation of health management has failed, according to Democrats for Social Credit Party health spokesman David Tranter.

Added to Dunedin Hospital's loss of its intensive care training facility status and orthopaedic training accreditation it is time to stop playing political games with health and face the fact that the supplanting of the practical expertise of health professionals by empire-building, career ladder-climbing bureaucrats and the irrelevant theories of money-grubbing "consultants" has had disastrous consequences for New Zealand's public health system which was previously the envy of many far more wealthy countries.

Annette King's crocodile tears over what she calls "The culture of bullying" in the health system conveniently overlooks the fact that while health management corporatisation may have been kicked off by National in the early 1990s, Mrs. King's setting up of DHB boards in 2001 - allegedly to make health issues more "open and accountable" - simply added a meaningless veneer of democracy while in fact establishing the total power of secretive bureaucrats over health professionals, Mr. Tranter said.

It is not as though there aren't relevantly qualified and experienced people who could advise the politicians of what is happening but with successive ministers of health opting out of getting "involved" in health issues there is nowhere for concerned people - health professionals or otherwise - to go to raise their concerns.

One ex DHB doctor who consistently speaks out in the local media is Dr. Lasantha Martinus of Greymouth who recently listed four main issues leading to the current culture in the health system. According to Dr. Martinus, "One was the lack of experience and inadequate training of doctors dealing with acute and general medical problems. The second issue was related to ACC and minimising compensation. The third issue was involvement of those profiting from failures in general practice and public hospital secondary care. Fourth was DHB management trying to achieve meaningless targets and competing with each other bullying weaker DHBs”.

In addition Dr. Martinus has consistently raised in the local media cases where failure to correctly diagnose what are often very obvious problems has led to unnecessary suffering and in some cases avoidable deaths, Mr. Tranter said. That no-one has challenged him would appear to confirm the accuracy of his statements.

It is a dreadful indictment of New Zealand's politicians that they appear to be collectively shrugging their shoulders as though the status quo is acceptable and that, as previous health Minister Tony Ryall repeatedly replied to my enquiries, "It is not acceptable for the minister to become involved". With the current minister recently telling me he wouldn't answer a question because his predecessor had already done so (he hadn't) it has to be asked whether there is any prospective health minister with the gumption to take on the bureaucratic juggernaut which can't even maintain basic hospital facilities, Mr Tranter concluded.

ENDS

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