Patient Voice Aotearoa is calling for a National Health Summit, and urgent bipartisan political action, to address severe doctor shortages – and the cancellation of swathes of cancer services across the southern district – as reported by RNZ yesterday.

“We are alarmed at news that Dunedin Hospital has stopped services for patients with brain tumours, gynaecologic cancer and benign tumours, as well as some forms of stereotactic treatment” says Patient Voice Aotearoa Chair Malcolm Mulholland.

“It was also reported yesterday that nearly 5000 New Zealand nurses have registered to work in Australia since August 2022. In short, we are facing a healthcare crisis that demands urgent action – in consultation with patients – rather than another bureaucratic working group, as announced by Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand.”

“Kiwis should be extremely concerned” says Mulholland. “Cancer, one of our country’s biggest killers, takes the lives of 9000 people every year. We are now being told that certain cancer services have been stopped for a population of over 330,000. New Zealand is a developed country –yet our cancer services are arguably third world. Accepting the status quo is accepting lives being cut short.”

Patient Voice Aotearoa believes that what is happening in Southland and Otago is only the tip of the iceberg. Patient Voice Aotearoa regularly hears from concerned cancer and non-cancer patients and whānau members from all over the country about long wait times to be seen by a specialist, and protracted wait times for treatment.

“The problems plaguing the New Zealand health system are long-standing and require a long-term plan in response” says Mulholland. “That is why Patient Voice Aotearoa is calling for Labour and National to come together to agree on both short and long-term strategies to fix our ailing health system, rather than focussing on three-year election cycles.”

“It’s time for Dr Verrall from the deep south and Dr Reti from the far north to come together in the national interests of our health system. In particular, we would like to see a national health summit where patients, advocates, and representatives of the health profession can come together to discuss the issues and to agree on a plan” says Mulholland.

Patient Voice Aotearoa believes the focus of the health summit should be threefold:

1. Planning and future forecasting for the New Zealand health system

2. Addressing the New Zealand health workforce

3. Appropriately funding the New Zealand health system

The summit should identify both a short-term and long-term plan that looks to explore the overall structure of the New Zealand health system, how the future demographics of the New Zealand population should inform planning for our health system, the role of the private sector, a suitable immigration setting for medical professionals, competitive incentive packages to attract medical professionals, the transportation of patients and medical professionals within New Zealand and overseas, an appropriate health infrastructure, developing our own medical professional workforce, offering fees free to medical students who can then be bonded to the New Zealand health system, and the appropriate funding of the New Zealand health system now and into the future.

“This health summit would not be another bureaucratic working group or talkfest but a patient-centred approach to fix health without the political point scoring” says Mulholland. “Health should be the number one priority for our major political parties and a bipartisan effort to address New Zealand’s health system crisis – informed by patients and experts – is the only cure.”

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